Three Kids and a Dog: Hailey's Haunted House Birthday Party

Hailey has the perfect birthday. Right around Halloween so there is always fun ideas when we are thinking of her birthday party. She likes to keep it small so she invited 6 friends to help her celebrate her Golden Birthday.

There was one activity that she said she wanted to do for her birthday party and that was a Haunted House so I scoured the internet looking for the best Haunted Houses for tweens. Most of the friends she invited were chickens so I didn't know how she thought they'd actually want to do this with her but I did the research and we found one that sounded perfect nearby. Plus, I accidentally stumbled upon the fact that you could buy fast passes to this Haunted House if you had a larger group so you didn't have to wait in line (which that night ended up being two hours long).

First though, we had the girls meet at our house to decorate pumpkins (the craft kind so they could keep them). Then we had a reservation at Jo Jo's Shake Bar for dinner. The weather was perfect so we were able to sit outside on their back deck where they had a pop Halloween display. Most of Hailey's friends had never been to Jo Jo's before so they definitely enjoyed the experience especially when the shakes came out!

After dinner it was on to the Haunted House which was actually a Haunted Forest. First, you climbed into a wagon that drove you through a forest. Clowns ran out of the woods and chased the wagons with chainsaws. The girls screamed. And, I wondered how many were going to make it through. We already had one drop out before the Haunted Forest who got picked up early by her Dad.

Next, the wagon dropped us off at a Haunted Trail and we began our slow descent into the forest as a group of 9 (Peyton came too). The girls clung to me, Tom and Peyton. Smokescreens, scary monsters and snakes and spiders came at us from all directions as we made our way through the trail. Halfway through, Hailey got bold and declared herself not scared of any of these ghouls and goblins. Miraculously, all the girls made it through. Most were happy they did it and Hailey said it was her best birthday ever.

Another fun and unique birthday party in the books for Hailey, and her official last party until her Sweet 16!