This was absolutely the best $$ we have ever spent for a birthday party. Our kids have 14 cousins and of course friends in addition, so even a "small" party ends up a large party. The $220 covered the rental fee and the fireman hats (the museum used to be an Easton fire station). The other hosting family purchased 15 cheese pizzas that were delivered from Bill's House of Pizza in Easton 15 large cheese (HUGE) came to $175. We also got some cakes from Molly B's Cakes of Distinction and Design in Berkley. Each birthday boy/girl had his/her own six inch cake and we had a sheet cake for the masses, so that was roughly another $100. Lastly, we hired a professional photographer from Pure Style Photography for $200 to do family portraits, our kids' birthday pictures, and pictures of the entire party so that we could focus on the kids and on having fun without viewing the fun through a tiny window. Other smaller expenses were the goodie bags, water, juice, milk, and paper products. At BJs, they have big pack of Hefty Zoo Pals for $12, and it comes with plates, bowls, and sippy cups (144 pieces total)! We still have tons extra. If you consider that this expense knocked out FOUR birthday parties in one, we really only spent roughly $175 per kid, had no preparation or clean up, got amazing professional photos with no effort from us, and have three extra Saturdays without gigantic parties.
We had ZERO tears, injuries, and drama (that we could tell) because kids were SO engaged in the museum. Parents really didn't get to interact because they stayed with their kids, of which there were 15 ranging between ages zero and first grade - median age of 3. We did have a few problems though: one cake had a broken three (not my fault) and the SAME cake had one of the birthday girls' name spelled wrong (totally my fault - I did not pay attention to the confirmation). We also should have done the main cake in an orange or some other bright color because the colored cakes looked AMAZING! The other thing we would have done is actually have name tags or cards for seating so parents could sit next to their kids without having to figure out which kid has a brother or sister, which parent belongs to each kid, etc. The table is one really long table, so it's hard for everyone to move easily to and from the table, but we made the best of it and it was quick because kids really only stayed in the party room for 15 minutes.
There are a lot of great things about this museum. The museum has a fridge for you to keep your drinks in, four long tables one for cake/gifts and up to three long tables for guests (sits 20 kids comfortably). There is a sink right in the party room area, trash, recycling bin, and a restroom. The restrooms have changing tables and those cool seats on the wall to lock a baby/toddler in while you are going to the bathroom yourself. The museum has three floors that keep the kids VERY busy, and there was TONS of room for the kids to run and play without sharing issues. The lowest floor near the party room has a microscope and a few sciency things, the main floor has a cool ball that rolls around down a wall and through some balls - makes the kids go wild. It also has a stage for performance, a puppet show room, a face painting station (NEW face paint crayons), a camping station, a pirate ship, a train, and of course a fire pole that kids can't slide down, but parents can hold them so they can ring the bell. The top floor has a kitchen area, a baby area (totally cool), a craft area, a woodshop, a dinosaur area, and a doctor's office. The doctor's office is a TAD creepy due to the nude freakshow babies in what seems to be an incubator, but only the parents were creeped out.
With 21 adults and 15 kids, we had WAY TOO MUCH FOOD. In retrospect, we probably should have done 1/2 a sheet cake instead of a whole but still let each kid eat their own messy 6 inch cake. Additionally, we should have had a cake ONLY party because the kids DID NOT want to stay downstairs to party, they wanted to go back upstairs to play. It would have been fine for us to have told guests to eat before they come or just have had some double cut pizza available (maybe 5 pizzas) for anyone who is hungry.
The girl who was working at the museum was AWESOME. She chased around the kids and picked up any bit of trash so that we could keep with the kids. We drove back the next day to give her a $20 tip with a note for her boss that she's awesome because she was so amazing.
The only slight teary eyes were when the party was over, but by that point at 7:30pm, the kids were SO tired that they were thankful to sit in their car seats and get some rest. We will absolutely do this again. Even the first grader was having a BALL, so that gives us at least four - seven more years or merry-making at the Easton Children's Museum.
