Children's Museum ( Easton, MA)

We had a quadruple birthday party for our kids and my husband's twin brother's children.  They were all born within a month of each other, and this year they turned 5, 3, 3, and 1.  In the hopes of little planning and preparation and responsibility in general, we booked the Easton Children's Museum for a private party.  It's actually a pretty great deal.  You and your party get the museum (closed to the public) for two hours.  You can have a before hours party or after hours party.  We went for the 5:30 - 7:30 deal in hopes that kids would party their brains out then fall asleep, which they happily did.  Our son didn't even open his presents until the following morning, and our daughter got to stay up a whole hour past her bedtime, which made for a late morning the next day.

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.

Disney on Ice: Celebrations (Boston, MA)

The TD Bank North Garden (or whatever the new name for the Fleet Center is) hosted Disney on Ice: Celebrations.  Essentially it's a celebration of all of the fun celebrations that kids love throughout the year: birthday, Valentine's Day, Halloween, a luau, a "winter wonderland" aka Christmas, and some scenes from celebrations from around the world (like a tea ceremony under a Japanese Cherry Blossom with Minnie Mouse).  Great show, talented skaters, and not overly crowded.

Because of all of the Big Dig construction in Boston, our GPS directions did NOT match the directions found on the Garden's website.  We decided to follow the directions on the website, which was a horrible idea because some of the vague directions "follow signs for North Station. Make a right at the next set of lights onto Nashua Street. Follow Nashua Street until the end and make a left at the lights. The TD Garden will be on your left."  That's where it all went awry.  There are TONS of signs for north station and TONS of lights.  We also had no idea where Nashua street ended because there is no sign.  So, we went back to the GPS and it took us the Goverment Center way, which was so much better.  Thankfully, we were there about an hour early so we got a spot in a lot beside the Garden ($20) that holds only about 25 cars, if that many.  The lot is right on causeway on a "fake" right immediately before the overpass of the  The Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge  (beautiful view). 

Our seats were about $15 each for the balcony (give or take a few dollars - a friend purchased them online for us).  Our son should have been free because he is two, but it was worth it to get him his own seat because he definitely needed one.  Even though we were above the lighting, we had a birds-eye view of the front/center of the stage.  It was really perfect.  

Because we arrived so early, my husband took our son to walk laps around the top floor.  He enjoyed some Mickey Mouse ears and a hotdog and walked and walked and walked until three minutes before the show.  I gave my daughter a bottle, changed her diaper, and prepared to sit her on my lap.  Our son was tired enough to sit in absolute amazement.  He especially LOVED the Halloween celebration that had Captain Hook and the Pumpkin King.  

Our 11 month old daughter jumped up and down on my lap (twirling now and then) for the entire show.  My arms were so sore that I had to pass her off to my husband for a little while.  He took that opportunity to walk out of the show area during the princess portion "to avoid exposing her to images that reinforce gender stereotypes".  The theme of the entire Valentine/princess portion was how will Minnie know when her prince loves her.  I actually think that's a much better message than something like actual disney movies that sometimes imply (or actually say), "you are nothing until you find your prince".  We of course didn't have this discussion until we were in the car on the way home with the kids sleeping in the back.  He also noted that for girls who might be "a little rough around the edges" or "a little manly", it's horrible for them to think that they need to be thin and princesslike to find a prince.  I pointed out that the men in the show were not chubby and unattractive either, so the princess segment was showing basically unattainable body characteristics of heroes for both sexes without prejudice.  

There was a 10 or 15 minute intermission, which was a little too long for our kids.  We got into the second half, and our son began to repeat over and over again, "I am hungry for a restaurant."  We left right after buzz light year and his dancing toys did their thing.  Unfortunately, we had no idea how to get down from the balcony area, so we TOOK THE STAIRS out to the exit.  There were a few families who had the same idea (as in leaving early, not as in using the stairs), and we all happily exited and found our cars without a big crowd crunch.

The lot we parked in was great.  There was an angry old man with an accent (possibly Italian) who yelled directions to ensure that we got out of the lot as fast as possible without hitting any other cars.  At first, we thought he was abusive and scary, but it turns out he is a parking genius.  After a quick U-turn on Causeway to get to 93S, we had no issues getting home.  It turned into quite a relaxing day for us because the kids were so wiped out. 

We recommend this for anyone with toddlers or older (we even saw some middle schoolers with tiaras on), but the baby might not have worked out if she wasn't so good with crowds and people.  We meant to bring in the Bjorn, but we forgot it in the car.   When we got home, our son asked to watch television in our bedroom so he could "relax".  That's exactly what he did: no nap, just some Oswald and Wubbzy while he held his light up Mickey wand.  A later show would have helped us get them right to bed, but the 11am show we went to had us home with the kids in slow motion mode by 2:30. 

 

Toe Jam Puppet Band (Various Locations)

The Toe Jam Puppet Band is typically at the Buttonwood Park Zoo in New Bedford, MA every Monday at 10:30am and 12:30am.  It turns out that they do all sorts of shows and also have CDs.  Even though they have pictures of all sorts of outdoor events, the Buttonwood Park Zoo gives them a classroom size room for quite a little party.  This YouTube video seems old because the gray haired hippie now has a long goatee with several elastics in it, but this video definitely gives a picture of the party happening today.  VIDEO  The two main guys were accompanied by a young saxophonist and a young (I think) bassist.  The group as a whole seemed to be high energy dead heads, which was absolutely fine with us (I apologize for the oxymoron, but trust me, it works).

Today was absolutely pouring, and I was home from work on a personal day, so we took some time out from the day's drama and went to the Buttonwood Park Zoo.  We didn't have to pay the regular admission because we are members, but we did have to pay to be admitted into the Toe Jam Puppet Band's Benefit for Victims of the Earthquake in Haiti.  It only costs $5 per family and $2 per person if it's a school or daycare or some sort of large group, but we didn't see any large groups today.  100% of their profits today went to the Red Cross.

It's clear that there are some kids who go all the time, so they know that they should sit right behind the red line and stay in the little mosh pit of children for fun.  Our two year old wasn't quite ready for that, so we hung out in the back for a while and danced ourselves with a few other families who were doing the same.  Our 10 month old LOVED the music and was shaking her arms and head wildly when the a song's tempo sped up.

The routine of these guys is to show some transparencies of funny things (dragons, ants, silly people) on the wall and get the kids to shout.  They also have a bunch of songs that ask the kids to run in a circle like wild maniacs following the silly guy with the brown beard.  Our son joined in when the "host type" guy ran around with a little bubble maker during a song.  Our boy was then into it and separated from us.  Unfortunately, he ran right in front of the aforementioned guy with the brown beard, and the guy tripped over him.  Thankfully, he didn't crush other children, our son or the large bearded man.  Our son did get kneed in the back and wiped out, but he thought it was hilarious and continued to pretend to be an airplane.  The guy didn't seem annoyed at all that he wiped out while performing.  10 points for him!

They let you take carriages right into the room, which was awesome for our daughter.  There are also restrooms immediately outside the room that the band is in.  Maybe I have missed this in other places, but I was soooooo thrilled that when I went to change my daughter on the ladies' room changing table, I didn't have to balance her on my lap in a small stall to be able to go myself.  In the large handicapped stall, there is a tiny plastic seat, it looks like a little car seat.  I buckled her right in there, and I did not have to do some sort of bacteria ridden balancing act against the stall wall.   We have been going to that zoo for years, and I have never noticed that before.

We left the Toe Jam party before it was over because our son didn't understand when it would be his turn to play the instruments and wouldn't let it go.  Because it was pouring rain, we went out the side door and ran to the  aquatic center, a building right after the bears near the path to the elephants.  

Despite musty smell that lets us know that fish live in there, it was awesome.  We were alone, so our son moved the stools himself to check out the turtles, snakes, fish, and other animals.  There were also some birds that were flying around on their own.  Our son said, "Watch out daddy.  The bird's beak is very sharp!"  He was right, but we assume the birds were supposed to be "free range" because we have seen them on the loose before.

My husband and I agree that the Toe Jam Puppet Band at the Buttonwood Park Zoo is pretty cool for our kids, but we probably would not bring them during the summer unless we could be guaranteed that there would be no school aged children.  School aged children would surely trample the toddlers.

Harvard Museum of Natural History - Cambridge, MA

The Museum of Natural History was a HUGE hit with our two year old.  It was $9 for each adult and $6 for kids under three, so we got in for $18.  We parked very easily at a metered spot around the corner, and it was an easy walk to the door.  Unfortunately, we should NOT have brought the baby in the stroller.  There are tons of stairs, so people leave strollers at the bottom level.  The museum was WAY bigger than we anticipated, so our little 10 month old got pretty heavy by the end, and we cut it short.  It would have been better off with the bjorn.

There is a area to hang coats, which is very convenient, and our two year old was already going wild over the displays of vivid photographs of spiders and other creatures.  We had no idea how many cool bugs and huge displays of fossils they packed into that museum.  Because of the narrow hallways, we let our son walk on his own for most of the way, but he really couldn't get away (awesome).  The stuffed animals could really creep a kid out, but ours were fine.  If he couldn't name the animal, we read him the sign.

The full size fossils were so amazing.  There is one GIANT alligator looking thing that was absolutely overwhelming.  In that area, there was a museum worker who had us touch a fossilized shin and fossilized poop (jerk).  Our son was dumbfounded that the poop didn't stink

After the areas of all of the stuffed creatures, there is a huge room with a whale skeleton (and others) hanging from the ceiling.  There was so much too see, and the museum wasn't very crowded, even on a Saturday afternoon.  

It turns out that the Peabody Museum of Archeology is connected on the third floor, so that is free admission.  After leaving the minerals area that had giant crystals and meteorites, we went into a small area about the planets and found the restrooms that our son desperately needed.  He wasn't really into the (I think Egyptian) paintings, but when we got to the Mayan sculptures and displays, he loved them.  He called them "the castles" and asked if we were in one.  We could see that there was more to the museum, but without the bjorn, we had to throw in the towel, but we will definitely be back.

Roger Williams Park Zoo - Providence, RI

A trip to Roger Williams really isn't a quick visit.  It's a day trip.  Be sure to have a carriage, even for the toddlers because it is a LONG walk to get through the whole park.  If the kids get tired, you can skip the side path where the camels are, but even with that.  It's a big place for those tiny legs.  Be sure to pack food and drinks because the food there is good, but it isn't cheap and the food area can be crowded on spring/summer weekends.  Uncrustables and Fruitables are soooooooo easy to pack.

The General admission to the Zoo is $12/adult, $6/child (ages 3 - 12)and $8/senior (ages 62+); children under 3 are free.  In January and February, 2010: $6/adult, $3/child (ages 3 - 12) and $4/senior (ages 62+)  Still we go so often that we became members and paid $79 for the family.  We have gone WAY more than three times, so we made out fine. There are also a bunch of other places that accept membership for free or discounted admission (FULL LIST).

Parking is free but plan on it taking a WHILE to get a spot.  You may be tempted to follow the masses and drive through to the back parking lots, but if you arrive right before lunch time, you should get out of that crazy line and just check out the first parking area right in front of the flags in front of the zoo.  Many times families who didn't plan appropriately are hightailing it out of there, and you can get prime parking.

The giraffe/elephant areas are really awesome.  The giraffes come really close and our kids go wild for them.  They are also partial to the gibbon and the anteaters for some reason.

By the buffalo, there is an area called the wetland trails.  It's really a great end to the zoo visit.  It's also the area that is FILLED with pumpkins for an amazing Halloween event.

Overall this is a great zoo, but it is not a zoo that we can take the kids on a quick trip to any time of the year (like Buttonwood Zoo in New Bedford).  It's definitely a long afternoon if not a whole day, but worth it, especially during the spring/summer.

Buttonwood Park Zoo - New Bedford, MA

The Buttonwood Park Zoo is a perfect little zoo for babies and toddlers (maybe older but our oldest child is almost three, so that's all we can vouch for). The zoo is only 20 minutes away from our house, so we paid for a family membership that is $65 (family plus one adults guest), and we have more than got our money back.  Our son LOVES some of the evening events that we get at a discount because we are members, like Boo at the Zoo.  Some day we will go to the annual gala, but we haven't yet.

The elephants are really the big attraction, but there is a new cougar cub that my son can't wait to meet!

If the kids have any energy left after walking around the zoo, we go to the playground that is in the regular park outside the zoo.  There is a HUGE jungle gym on that rubber flooring type stuff, which makes wipe-outs SO much easier.  There are a few musical toys and of course swings and slides.

Also, outside of the zoo is a pond.  If you bring some stale bread or something, you can feed the geese and they coming charging at you.  Yes they do bite, so watch out.  We have not been brave enough to bring the kids actually out of the car to challenge the geese yet, but some day when the kids are taller than the geese, we will.

Parking is always easy.  We bring our own food (Uncrustables and Fruitables usually), but they have an inexpensive hotdog/french fry type setup that is easy and quick.  There are usually plenty of tables to sit and eat inside, but it's more fun to use the open area in front of the elephants for a picnic.

Ticket Prices:

• Adults: $6
• Seniors & Teens: $4.50
• Child 3-12: $3.00
• Children under 3: Free
• Parking: Free

Membership benefits include:

• Free Zoo Admission for one year
• 10% Discount at North Woods Gift Store
• Discounted Rates on Zoo Birthday Parties and select Zoo Programs & Events
• Invitations to Members-Only Events
• Special online notices of Zoo Programs & Events
• Reciprocal Benefits at more than 140 Zoos & Aquariums across the United States