Max decided he wanted a Pump It Up party this year. As he talked about it he suddenly got thoughtful and asked "Do they make you have pizza to eat though?" "Oh, no," I replied, "I'm sure we could bring our own food, like hot dogs or something."
Boy was I wrong. I called to schedule the party and the woman on the phone started talking about the pizza packages. "Wait a second," I said. "Are we not allowed to bring in our own food."
"Well, yes and no. You can bring in your own cake and pre-packaged snacks. But no other food including any kind of salsa or dip."
"Well, we have a problem then." was my response. I explained Max's dairy allergy and that he couldn't eat pizza.
"Oh, in the case of an allergy we can make an exception." I was momentarily relieved until she added, "You can bring in seperate food for the birthday boy, but you will need to order a pizza package for everyone else."
"That still doesn't seem fair for Max. It is his birthday and it does bother him when everyone around him is eating something he can't have. It's an emotional issue for him as well."
"Well, how about this, for the time your party is set up most people have already had lunch. You could do a pre-packaged snack and the cake, which you can bring yourself."
I found this to be acceptable and honestly less work for me.
I will give Pump It Up half-credit. The woman I spoke to was kind and understanding of our situation. She handle the conversation professionally and with tact while sticking to Pump It Ups rules. (I'm sure she personally did not make them). But under no circumstances will anything other than pizza be served at Pump It Up. You may not bring your own hot dogs.
8 comments:
My son will have his 6 b-day there next week:-) and M told me right away, he doeasn't want any pizza at all. I know it is hard for him to watch other kids eating pizza, so no pizza-fine with me. It's his b-day!we'll have only a cake and chocolate chip cookies. I have to make sure that's ok. Now I have to make his 'dino land'cake....
We had a great experience at Leesburg on a Sunday morning from 10 - 12pm, the staff was very accommodating. I didn't know about packaged snacks being OK, but I did put packs of pretzels and yummy earth lollipops in the favor bag - which were OK for all. Maybe different rules at each place, but their invite has a "cake served" option. We had no problem with that. Good luck!
We don't have Pump It Up here, but I won't even let my son walk into a Chuck E. Cheese, since I'm sure the entire place is covered in pizza grease. I hope I'm not throwing a wet blanket on your plans! I googled them out of curiosity, and the video did say that the play session is before the sit down and eat cake part of the party. I hope you post how the party went. Good luck! Libby
You should try Sport Bounce. They're not franchised so they might have better rules about the food.
Ran across your blog through the Readers Digest. I am a senior citizen and have been diagnosed as Lactose intolerant. At my age having to read lables. Bah Hum Bug. Anyway, I love Rice Dream Ice Cream. Since my intolerance is not life threatening (like an allergy) I can be a bit more "loosey goosey" about cross contamination. But I do read lables and try not to purchase items containing milk or milk dirivitives. I personally do not care for the texture of the Soy based ice cream we get out here in Washington state.
I like your blog and will be checking back again.
Oh, now I remember what I wanted to ask. Do you make your own ice cream? I have an ice cream maker but do not have a recipe for ice cream made with rice milk (or soy).
Nope, haven't made my own ice cream. But good idea of something to try with the kids. I wonder if it would turn out if you bought one of those balls that you roll?
That's so lame. Pizza. Hrmph.
Post a Comment