Indoor Pool Party for 7Th Birthday

Does your child know all the kids in both 1st grade classes? Maybe you could invite the class she is in and ones she knows from the other class. From my experience not everyone will make it but with it being a pool party you will probably get a good response and a lot of parents will probably want to be there especially if their child isn't a real good swimmer. You can put in the invitation that you are paying for the child and they are welcome to come and swim but need to pay for their own and any additional family members. As for the limited 25 people area. I don't know what to tell you.
I reserved a pool and paid a flat fee. not per person fee and could have up to 120 people there as that is how many the pool could have so all their families were invited. All of the families didn't come but there were several that did especially if they knew their child wasn't a good swimmer.

You will probably not have too much time for games but if you wanted to do one. Maybe you could have a relay with grass skirts and lay necklaces. They run down to the other end of the room put on the grass skirt and lay and run back to their team and take it off. The next person puts it on and runs down to the other side and takes it off and runs back to get the next person and keep doing this until the first team gets all of theirs done.

Is there life guards? With kids that young you want to make sure you have enough adult supervision to make sure they are safe. Most kids that age do not know how to swim on their own and some will get brave and jump off in the deep end not realizing it is over their heads.

I just had a pool party at the Olathe YMCA for my daughter's birthday in January. I didn't have to pay extra for the parent's to swim so that may be something to check into. Also--I would invite everyone. There is always going to be someone that can't make it. Also check with facility about the room restrictions. I could only sit 20 kids at my daughter's but the parents were fine just standing around talking amongst themselves. The order that I did the party was cake and then presents and then swimming. I did the presents even if the kids were still eating the cake because we were on a time limit of course. I wouldn't do any other games! The kids will be bouncing off the walls already so no need to stress yourself out even more. Make sure to put on your invites that kids should come already dressed in swim-suits and to bring a towel--unless this is your party favor. I gave out towels as party favors--they were only $1.50 each at Wal-Mart--that I had put a little puffy paint design on a few days before.
One last thing. Check to see if there will be lifeguards on duty. If not, then maybe consider switching locations. Safety with that big a group is a necessity!! Hope this helps!

We just hosted my daughter's 7th birthday there and it was the best thing. We did not plan a game. By the time the kids ate cake/ice cream and my daughter opened presents the time in the room was almost over. All they really wanted to do was swim. I felt very comfortable with the amount of life guards that were on duty and they are very watchful.
I would invite all of the kids from her class. There is almost always someone that does not show up. And you can always ask for extra arm bands. They gave us about 5 extra although we did not need them.
You probably already know, but you take the decorations there the day before and they decorate the room for you. They just ask no confetti or streamer. We took table clothes, plates, napkins, a banner, and table weights for the ballons and they will blow the ballons up for you and put them on the tables.
We had a helper that made sure we were set and took care of anything we forgot, she even brought a cart for the presents so we could take them upstairs to the car.
It was the most hassel free birthday party that I have ever had for one of my kids. Instead of making gift bags which can get pricey one you buy all the stuff and the bags, I bought a bubble set (has the bubbles, and a couple of things to make different shape bubbles) for each of the kids and they were happy as larks. By the time I estimated the cost of goodie bags for each kid it was over 40.00. By the time I reached that amount I stopped figuring. The bubble sets are $1.17 at Hobby Lobby back in the pary section if you want to know.
Good Luck and Have Fun.

I did put on the invitations to have the kids wear their swimming suits under their clothes so they could just take off their clothes and go so there were not any changing clothes issues. I also included in the invitation that there were locker rooms if they wanted to have them change before they left. It worked out fine since the kids left a few minutes apart the the other kids could maximize the time to swim. This took the responsibility of me to make sure their child changed and the parent knew what to expect when they picked up their child.

As someone who has planned a lot of events for kids, your first stop should be the coordinator at the MRCC. They should be able to guide you thru some of these issues or help you work around number concerns.

If they can't help you, look into another venue (YMCA), and tell them you'll be doing so. Loss of business may prompt them to go above & beyond.

You need to either invite the entire class and put wording on the invites, "RSVP by __ - space limited. Or you should only invite your daughter's closest friends, the ones she spends time with outside of school, and include friends from church/community. It would be rude to invite all but a couple kids, but parents should understand if the invite only goes out to 2-3 kids - and those invites should be delivered in non-class hours, not in front of all the other kids.

This is a great opportunity for you to teach your daughter about social graces - think of that as you make your decisions and you'll be fine!

As far as games, ask MRCC if you could have games during the swim time. Toss nurf balls into the center of floating innertubes or doggie paddling and blowing a ping-pong ball from one side to the other and give out prizes... things like that (maybe little sample shampoos and body sprays for when they go home and shower?). I'd avoid anything that required serious swimming skills though.

If there isn't a lifeguard, you should pick up the tab for the parents. You will want them there. If there is a lifeguard, you could ask them to pay - again, make sure to note it on the invitations. People should know exactly what they're walking in to. (Having been a lifeguard, there are limits as to the number of people in the pool per lifeguard - you may just have to pay for a second guard if you increase your number of swimmers).

I hope you guys have a lot of fun! I'm ready to jump in, that's for sure!

T.

Hi J., I just had my daughter's bday party in OCT for a swimming party at the YMCA. You may seem like 1 hour is a long time but it is not. By the time you get the kids cake and they are eating...it's takes a awhile....like 30 minutes or so. Then you have presents and then you have to get reafdy. Believe me time will fly to fast, you will be shocked! Have fun!

We did the MRCC for my daughter's 12. Easiest party ever. Don't worry about the hour. You will have just enough time to open presents and have cake and ice cream and clean up. Then, by the time they get their suits on and everything sorted and put into lockers, your time will be up. If the parents want to swim, they shouldn't expect you to cover their fee.

I haven't had a party at the center --- mainly b/c of the numbers/parent thing.....

I couldn't come up with a polite way to say --"Extras must pay --- even if you don't plan on swimming."

I would probably invite all the kids and pay the extra if they happen to all show up.....usually there are one or two who can't come (Said the parent who invited 17 to a Wonderscope party and had 16 RSVP they were coming)

I don't know if there is a way to include the party policies from Matt Ross in your invite or something like that. Maybe some information about how they run a safe pool (many parents of younger kids may not feel comfortable leaving them at a pool if they are not strong swimmers)...I really struggled with this one -to the point that I decided against the party.

You might want to call the center and ask them if they have heard of a good way to handle it...Almost every week I hear them explain their party policies to someone....so I would think they might have some ideas. The woman who is in charge is really nice and I would think she would be helpful if there is a solution to this.

I think you will probably be fine just using the room for the party - cake, unwrapping presents etc....You will probably have a hard time holding them back from swimming. I would probably just let them go swimming once they are tired of whatever is going on in the room.

PS I would definitely figure out a way to address the parent thing---My ds attended a party where the mom wasn't aware that EVERY person who stays had to be counted in the head count. B/c she had invited a lot of her family for cake --she ended up paying for a bunch of extras and was really frustrated. I actually think she had more adults there than she did kids--and I don't think any of them planned on swimming.