Laser Tag Birthday Party Survival Guide

Having an end of August and early September birthdays are hard on my middle kids. I feel bad for them because their birthdays are two weeks apart so inevitably their parties are combined because I don't have the energy to do it twice. Summer parties are difficult because Washingtonians flee the oppressive humidity of August. Even if they understand why their friends can't attend, it's still depressing when only a handful of those you invited actually show.

That's what I was thinking when I scheduled the party for Labor Day weekend. With a friend's tales of childhood disappointment in my ears, who never had sleepovers or parties on her birthday because her friends were out of town over the holiday weekend, I over-invited in anticipation of no-shows.

As luck would have it, everyone came. Several more neighborhood kids loitered in the street in front of the house, patiently waiting to be waved over. Including my own four, my yard contained 31 children between the ages of 5 and 12. Thankfully, my neighbors were out of town.

I had the good sense to hire someone to run the party. Earlier that summer, my friend Celeste hosted an outdoor laser tag party at her home run by a game master. He brought all of the equipment to her house and organized the kids into battalions. We had planned for 24 and were concerned the kids would be disappointed they'd have to wait but the kids willingly took breaks in between battles to escape inside where it was cool to play air hockey and foosball. On another table were army men, tanks and airplanes. The weapons bucket in the basement that contained an assortment of Nerf Guns, pistols and light sabers emptied in a flurry of skirmishes, good versus evil.

Final casualty count: one watermelon, two canteloupes, 2 lbs of grapes, 4 lbs of strawberries, 136 servings Country Time Lemonade, two Costco-sized bags of chips and pretzels, and one vanilla cake that served 45.  The rest was a sweaty, smelly success.