My little man deserves the best. The past five years have completely flown by and we really wanted to celebrate him in a BIG way! I took him painting and my husband took him to see his favorite movie but we wanted to go even bigger! We wanted to throw him his ideal party with his most favorite friends and family. So I asked him, “If you could have your birthday party anywhere at all, where would it be?” Without even missing a beat, he said Sahara Sam’s!

We’ve been to Sahara Sam’s a couple of times, before and after their new expansion, so my buddy knew exactly what he was asking for. He wanted the water slides and the Crocodile Flats, the bucket and The Congo Bongo river, he was eager to play in the water and to bring his friends along too! Sahara Sam’s actually offers several different birthday party packages so I gave him the choice and he wanted the most unique one, Waffles & Waves! His eyes lit up when he got the run-down of the party.

The party starts with waffles, covered with ice cream and your favorite toppings! It’s interesting watching what toppings kids go for, how different they all are. My son got basic waffles with whipped cream and was thrilled.  My oldest daughter however got chocolate, caramel, strawberry, nuts, and anything else that was offered to her! You can bring a cake but my son just wanted his waffle so we put a big five on it and everyone sang to him!

After those festivities were done, we all filed into the park with a big bin to put our things in. The bins have the birthday child’s name and party time on them and are kept in a designated spot. Some of my family members were more comfortable putting their valuables in lockers but when it came to our clothes and towels, I thought this was a perfect and convenient way to store our things while we headed into the water. We dropped all of our things and headed out for the fun!

My personal favorite part this time was the outdoor water park, maybe because this was my first chance to get to explore it! I’ve only ever been to Sahara Sam’s in the winter, when the weather is ice cold but it’s 84 degrees and sunny inside, perfect swimming temperature! The outdoor park has a big wave pool called Rip N’ Roll that at times had even better waves than the ocean does! The pool is big enough that it was wide open, not too cramped, and a fun way for all of us to be together, young and old! The outside section also had the Splish Splash attraction that would be great for the little and very little ones. In the summer, it can get extremely busy so I love that you can spread out a little by having the outside as an option!

The kids always love going up and down the slides on their own at Tim-Buk-Tu and the Lizard Lagoon so we spent a lot of time there! Meanwhile, the big kids were happy to have the opportunity to go with Grandma and their friends up on the big slides like The Nile Mile and Tut’s Twisters. That’s the thing about birthday parties, especially when you have a big family with a variety of ages, you need to have things that each kid can do and I definitely feel like Sahara Sam’s has that.  With everyone doing their favorite thing, it would have been easy to lose track of people.  Sahara Sam’s however allows one adult chaperone per child, so a guest’s parent could get in on the action too!

The fun doesn’t just end with the water though. Each party guest gets a complimentary arcade gift card to play together at the end. The arcade has cranes, skee-ball, driving games, tons of games plus everyone’s favorite: tickets to get prizes! My son didn’t care about the tickets, he just loved playing all of the games, but he sure loved the light up sword and dinosaurs that Daddy won him afterward! It turns out, Daddy is really good at the coin drop games!

My son had an absolutely amazing time at his party and he thanked us a million times over! That means that Operation Birthday Party was a success and for that my husband and I are both truly grateful. You only get one birthday and it should be a perfect one!

You can check out the Sahara Sam’s birthday packages HERE!

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*The Quirky Mom Next Door received admission for this event free in exchange for her coverage and honest review. All opinions and experiences are her own only.