As I might’ve whinged about previously, Rory’s birthday falls first thing in January and I’m shithouse at getting organised in time. Every year! So this year being the year he turned five and started school I said let’s have your party a couple of weeks after school starts, then we can invite your new class! Roars thought this was a brilliant idea, and I did too, as it gave me PLENTY of time to plan it.

Well this promised 5th birthday party did not happen in the first few weeks of term. Or even the next few weeks. D’oh!

Middle of second term we I finally got sorted. Thank God Roars had decided he didn’t want his party at home because we ended up with nearly 40 kids coming! Jeez. We had it at Rebound Stadium/ Reboundland in Tallebudgera Valley, which is an indoor sports centre in an old hangar that moonlights as an inflatable fun park on weekends! We discovered it when the boys played indoor cricket there last year and it’s perfect for kids’  parties; safety-padded entertainment, disposable tablecloths and floors you can hose down afterwards.

Thanks to the stupid slow cooking party pies I got there only 8 minutes before the party was due to start! Gah! Luckily (for me, not the guests) there was a huge bottleneck at the door because of course everyone arrived on time, so I chucked all the food on the table, got the esky out and put the cake behind the bar just before they got in. (Yes, there’s a bar as well! I told you it’s perfect for kids’ parties.)

The kids got their wristbands and headed for their specially prepared padded room. No time to waste; there were 16 different obstacles to throw themselves off!

And here’s a friendly blown up caterpillar. Which will happily swallow your child…

… then poo them out again.

The live action version of this would’ve been even more disturbing had it not been made hilarious by Rory laughing his head off then calling for help because he got stuck there between the cheeks. This is why we tell you to eat your vegetables kids!

They played hard for hours, occasionally returning to the table to stuff their faces before haring off again. Us parents watched them for a while but it was too bloody exhausting.

I retrieved the cake (getting approving glances and validation from some of the staff in the process… do you guys have a tip jar?) and we all sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to our extremely patient and forgiving nearly five-and-a-half year old. Rory’s choice of cake -the boys discovered those bloody Power Rangers on Netflix a couple of weeks ago and are completely obsessed.  I think it looks more like a space pirate personally.

And then, even though our 1.5 hour table time was up we had another 1.5 hours playtime! Perfect for running off the post- party sugar rush before sending them home. Isn’t that thoughtful?

This place gives you insanely good value for money – $8 for under 5s and $16 for over 5s to throw themselves around a padded room for three hours. It’s perfect for letting off steam on rainy days … and one of these days I’m going to have a go too. I’ve always wanted to put on a velcro suit and  stick to the wall!

– Michelle