30 Is Not So Bad When You Have a Bounce Party

Society tells us that we should freak out when we turn 30. TV and movies are full of women who say they’re turning 29- again. Why the stigma about being 30 years old?

You’re only as young as you feel. Okay, I feel much older than 30. But for my birthday, I wanted to feel like a kid. I wanted a bounce party.

I was one of the last in my group of friends to turn 30. (Although my husband is still 29 until April. And he never fails to remind me of that.) I didn’t freak out as the date approached last November. As a matter of fact, I was determined not to be one of those people who has a nervous breakdown about the big 3-0.

I’ve always loved birthdays, and last year was no different. I had a plan, too. My son is 3 years old, and he loves to bounce. His preschool rented a Mr. Bouncy Bounce every week in the fall until the weather turned too cold. I had talked about being jealous that we never had that sort of thing when I was in preschool. And that’s when it hit me.

There was an indoor bounce party venue in our local mall. I visited their website and submitted a question to the manager via their online form. It turns out that adults are allowed to bounce and play as long as there aren’t any little kids trying to use the same equipment, and the manager thought my 30th birthday party idea sounded like a lot of fun.

So my friends and I went to bounce around on the Saturday night following my birthday, since they were open late on Saturdays. There was only one kid there, and he was getting ready to leave. We had the run of the place.

I highly recommend this to all parents as a way to blow off some steam and act like your kids for once. We had a blast bouncing around, sticking to the Velcro wall, and racing each other down the inflatable slides.

But when you’re 30 like me, remember to stretch first. If you don’t, you’ll learn the lesson I learned. We are not our kids, and it really, really hurts the next day after using muscles you haven’t used in 15 or 20 years.

If you’re lucky, the staff at the bounce party facility will get a kick out of the whole thing and bring you a piece of birthday cake with a candle in it. (It was such delicious cake!) And if you play the arcade games that give tickets, you can redeem them for cheap little toys that you can give to your kids once you get home.

So yeah, 30′s not so bad- not so far. I’ll feel much better identifying as a 30-something mom, though, once my hubby becomes a 30-something dad!

Christina Gleason is 30 years old, wife to Tom and mother to TJ.  Read her blogs at Cutest Kid Ever and Uncharted Island, follow her on Twitter @cutestkidever or @ChristinaGayle, or connect with her on LinkedIn!

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