THE BEST PARTY EVER // big sis’s hot tub disco birthday

Real talk time: I find organising children’s parties seriously stressful. Plus, this summer was a big one for Big Sis – celebrating her entry into double digits – so the pressure felt even more intense.

We had to come up with an idea that was fun and a bit more exciting than parties of the past, yet still appropriate for that awkward age where kids are not quite kids, but not quite teens either. I was searching for fun preteen party ideas when I spotted an advert for a local entertainment company, and we realised this was it – we were having a hot tub party!

PRETEEN PARTY IDEAS (AKA: HOW TO HAVE AN UNFORGETTABLE LOCKDOWN BIRTHDAY PARTY)

(edited to update – this celebration took place before COVID-19, but a hot tub rental is the PERFECT solution for a for lockdown birthday party – they can be set up in your own back garden while observing social distancing, and instantly inject some family fun into those tedious quarantine days).

Looking at the 4 FUN GROUP website, we started to get really excited – the company would come to our home and set up the inflatable hot tub rental in our back garden. Included in the hot tub party package was a gazebo, fairy lights, inflatable drink holders AND a karaoke machine. It was PERFECT! 

I chatted to the owner Costa, who told me he’d been running his hot tub rental company around Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Middlesex and Buckinghamshire for a couple of years, adding some bubbly fun to everything from 21st birthday parties, to long weekends, to New Year’s Eve celebrations (and – as of the unexpected turn of events in 2020 – lots of lockdown birthday parties too).

When the big weekend finally arrived, all I had to do was show Costa where the tap was, and he took care of all the rest: within the hour he had the hot tub and gazebo set up, fairy lights and balloons hung and a dozen unicorn inflatables bobbing in the rapidly-rising water.

Once the water reached the right level, we covered the hot tub over to let the heater do its thing. It takes a good 24 hours for a full tub to properly heat up; this is why Costa rents them out for four-day packages so there’s plenty of time to get steamy before the main event. We chose to get our hot tub party set up on Friday so it would be perfectly heated by the time the guests arrived at lunchtime the next day, AND we’d get a cheeky Sunday to enjoy it for ourselves!

It was a totally stress-free set up and I was pleasantly surprised by how good the gazebo looked afterwards; the girls couldn’t wait to jump in and give it a try.

We decided to give it a little extra blast of preteen party fun, with some rainbow bunting, a happy birthday sign and some coloured decorations. We set up the dining and barbecue area to one side, and a glitter and metallic tattoo selfie station by the sliding doors.

To the right was a chill out area, with jugs of cordial and big blow-up chairs, and behind the gazebo wa a tent the girls could use as a changing room/hangout area.

What do you think? 

The kids had a blast splashing about in the hot tub, taking breaks to blast our renditions of The Greatest Showman and Ariana Grande on the karaoke machine. OH fired up the barbecue, and the girls stopped to scoff back pizza and burgers, topped off with a lolly-laden birthday cake.

Lastly, the girls crowded around the makeup table, applying festival glitter and metallic tattoos and and generally just being squealy, excitable 10-year-old girls. It was perfect. 

A few days later, Costa arrived back to dismantle the hot tub rental, and we were all really sad to see it go. So much so, we’re already planning on getting it back again early in the new year, as they’ve just started offering movie screen packages.

I can just imagine it now – frosty, sub-zero temperatures outside, while we luxuriate in water heated to a delicious 40 degrees watching one of our favourite movies on the big screen. Who needs the Artic Circle, when we have our back garden?!

I asked Big Sis afterwards if she’d enjoyed her hot tub party: ‘Mummy, it was the BEST DAY EVER! Thank you soooooo much!’

I reckon that’s a yes, don’t you?

Do you have any other great preteen party ideas?

• have you read about our Back Garden Camping Adventure? 

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