Whilst I now wish I maybe had dropped Ethan off and picked him up later after it had all finished, rather than stay and juggle a wriggly little Logan who just wanted to launch himself at the kids party food table most of the time, I really liked the idea that the parents of the little girl had had all of the normal stress of throwing a child's birthday party and having her friends along too, taken off of them.
So it got me thinking that maybe hiring a party venue is something I might start considering for Ethan and then Logan when he's older. I love our little birthday days out and family parties, but even just with family, it's stressful organising everything and then hosting and soon I know he'll be asking for his friends to come to his parties too. With this in mind I thought I would share five different fun children's birthday party venues that I think would be perfect not only for children and their friends but for Mum's and Dad's too who just want to relax and enjoy their child's birthday party without the stress of hosting it.
1. Soft Play I've got to start with soft play as this my inspiration behind this post. I live near Milton Keynes and the party we were invited to was at Safari MK. It was organised really well and one of the best things was the party had it's own little theme. The little girl had chosen knights and princesses, but looking at their website I can see a whole range of different party themes that kids can choose from. When the kids were taken upstairs for their food, they ate in a room that was themed around the little girls chosen theme and the children also got to choose from a dressing up box within the room to really get themselves in to character!
2. The Rainforest Cafe I've been to The Rainforest Cafe a couple of times, most recently in Walt Disney World in Florida and it was brilliant for everyone. Ethan especially loved the mix of eating out and rainforest experience. Obviously this one is more specifically London based, but if you live in London or can get there relatively quick (it's about half an hour for us on a fast train to London) then I think this is a really cool idea. As you're eating out, all food is cooked and served for you and its an exciting and fun experience for both children and adults alike. Plus I read that if you book as a children's party they can arrange for the Safari guides to come and sing Happy Birthday, bring out goody bags and arrange a candle on the cake.
3. BowlingI think Ethan at three and a half is just starting to be at the right age for a bit of bowling, we took him for the first time earlier on this year and he seemed to really enjoy himself. We have a place called Hollywood Bowl in Xscape MK which isn't too far for us and for birthday parties they offer food and refreshments within different party packages. I think a birthday bowling party would be really fun, though maybe something we might consider properly when Ethan is 5+ to ensure that he has the best experience.
4. Crazy ClimbingAfter doing a little research I came across Crazy Climbing, something I hadn't heard of before. It's more for children aged 6+ and the site I found was Bristol based (crazyclimbbristol.co.uk) but it looks pretty awesome for the more adventurous sort of children. Party food wise pizzas, biscuits, fruit and juice are on offer at just £5 a head so it's a pretty inexpensive place to have a lot of fun if you have adventurous and daring little ones!
5. Bounce Indoor Trampoline Park This is another once I found recently that is actually quite close to where we live, although it has another location in Peterborough apparently. It's an indoor trampoline park which in itself sounds like so much fun. I've actually driven past it a few times and have said to Adam about taking Ethan there as he's such an active little boy and I think that he'd love it. I only recently realised that they do children's birthday parties. You get all of the usual sort of things you would anywhere else with your party package but then you can add extra party add-ons on and one of the things, which I think is so awesome, is the hire of a Go pro Camera for your child so you can capture their special day and all of their fun, I love that idea!
These are just five ideas though the more I browse the more fun things to do I find. It's great to find that lots of places that we already enjoy as a family have children's party packages.
What do you do usually for your child's birthday party?