For the last 10 months, I've been "planning" Nathaniel's first birthday party in the back of my mind. Okay, okay, maybe it's really been for the past 19 months! I wanted to keep it fairly simple since he's so young, but still enjoyable for guests. (Don't even get me started on his 2nd and 3rd birthday party ideas....!) So, we planned to have a backyard barbeque for close friends and family. Simple, right? HAH. Not so much. As August drew closer, we started discussing logistics. And, we realized that there are a lot more family members and friends that we would like to share Nate's day with than there are parking spaces at our house. And, while shuttling guests to Nathaniel's party was a brief possibility, we realized that, in the event of rain (making the patio AND the deck off limits), our house isn't all that big either. So, I came up with the bright idea that we could rent a shelter at a local park! We could still have a laid-back barbeque with lots of family and friends, plus plenty of space to spread out! (Bonus: I don't have to clean my house before or after the party!)
So, I set to work to call and get prices on shelter rentals. I called 4 different parks, and that's where things got sticky. Apparently, picnic shelter rental is not as simple as I had so foolishly assumed. Let's call the parks by proper names: Park 1, Park 2, Park 3, and Park 4.
I called Park 1 (our original idea and favorite location). The shelter that we want is not available on our requested day (Sunday, 8/21), but it is on Friday (8/19). Now, Nate's birthday is the 18th, so the 19th would be perfect--except that Eric will most likely (and hopefully!) be working until late afternoon that day. Now my mom could help me with the set up and decorations, but I still wanted to explore more options.
I called Park 2, where I was transfered to the rental department. Then, I was transfered to someone in charge of picnic site rental. Then, she transfered me to someone in charge of shelter rental. He didn't answer the phone. I tried again a fews days later, then gave up when the same thing happened.
I considered Park 3, which has large shelter AND a playground. But, there was no phone number online. Luckily, I knew that a friend had recently booked this park, so I inquired about price and contact information from her. After hearing the price (more than Park 1 and Park 2 combined!), I decided not to bother calling.
The last party option was Park 4, a small community park about 45 seconds from our house. Since the park had a shelter with a playground nearby, I thought this might be the one! I called the Parks & Recreation Department for our city, and the girl had no idea how to reserve Park 4. She thought that maybe it wasn't able to be reserved, and I should just chance it for the party. As you might know, I'm not a take-a-big-chance-on-a-non-reserved-park-for-a-birthday-party-with-invited-guests sorta gal. I called the person who would most likely know what to do in this situation: my mom. She used her connections and got me a phone number for the Community Association. I called it, and the woman with whom I spoke informed me that she didn't deal with the park, but she gave me the name and number of a woman who did (we'll call her Park Lady). I spent 2 days calling Park Lady's phone number, but she wasn't home. Ever. FINALLY, in the evening of day 3, Park Lady answered her telephone. I inquired about the park price and availability. Park Lady told me that she didn't know anything about reserving the park; her husband deals with all of that. And, her husband works late, so he'd call me in the morning. Two days of no calls from Mr Park, and I decided to forget about Park 4. Suddenly, at 10:52PM, Mr Park decided to return my call! (Perhaps he has AM and PM reversed?) He was very nice and told me everything I needed to know about reserving Park 4. He also told me that the city will be digging a giant trench straight through the entire length of the park within the upcoming weeks to lay so pipes. So, despite Park 4's playground and ease of communications, I decided to forget about it.
And all of this backstory brings me to this morning, when I called Park 1 (our original plan and favorite location) to reserve the shelter for the evening of Friday, August 19th. I feared that someone else might have snatched up my day by this time...but nobody had! I was so ecstatic to finally be reserving a park, I didn't even mind that Park 1 has raised their rates and now were charging $10 more than when I originally called!
So, now that our party venue has been booked, let the decorations and food planning begin! (I've got my fingers crossed that all this will be easier than picking a park!)
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