MONKEYING AROUND
Active tots who
love spending time outside might want to try the Ultimate Tykes Challenge at Chelsea Piers (designed for ages 3-5)
where they can compete in potato sack races, play tug-of-war and enjoy a moon
bounce. Exerblast offers an
“out-of-this-world” birthday experience. Teams of birthday guests will “blast
off” into a high stakes obstacle course, with the help of adventure guides.
They’ll navigate geometric twists and turns in a light-censored jungle gym.
After cool-down, they can enjoy cooking activities and a customized cake. The 92nd
Street Y offers a Gymnastic Party package in
which kids can get active with spiral slides, ball pool, air bounce and a
spider net. At the West Side YMCA, kids
can play on the new rooftop playground, replete with a slide and spongy
surface. Or they can check out the Early Exploration Play Center and enjoy an indoor treehouse, climbing
wall, pirate plank and more. Also, consider the 14th
Street Y, where you can have a rooftop party and
take advantage of Noah’s Ark playground, water sprinklers and riding toys. The McBurney YMCA also offers an indoor
playground, pool and dance parties
ALL
ABOARD!
How about a
transportation-themed party? The New
York Transit Museum offers a tour housed in a 1930s subway station. The party
includes activities led by museum staff, use of the lunchroom for sugar-coated
treats, and invitation inserts complete with directions on how to navigate the
current transit system. Subway party packs are also available. Or choose a Taxi
& Trains Adventure at the Museum of
the City of New York, with activities including subway scavenger hunts and
cup-stacking relay races.
FARM FUN
Who
says you have to leave the city to experience a farm party? Art Farm in the City offers a number of
themed birthday parties, including an Exotic Animal Party in which kids will
meet live animals and partake in music and art activities. You can also get the
full farm experience from April through October at the Queens County Farm Museum, where children can take a tractor-drawn
hayride!
MUSEUM MADNESS
Kids ages 4 and up can choose from four
birthday party themes at the American
Museum of Natural History: Dinosaur Discoveries, Cosmic Blast-Off, Safari
Treasure Hunt or Underwater Treasure Hunt. Or consider the Intrepid Sea,
Air & Space Museum. You get to pick the entertainment from your
very own costumed party host. Or, visit your favorite celebrity in wax form at Madame Tussauds and enjoy a “SCREAM”
interactive thrill experience.
SWEET TREATS
Taste Buds offers ages 2-13 the opportunity to
chop, mix, swirl and bake their way through the most appetizing birthday party.
Enjoy pizza, sushi, cupcakes, and gingerbread houses in the Kids Kitchen in Chelsea or Taste Buds will come to you! Also,
consider Home Cooking New York for
your next party. They’ll help you host your own Iron Chef Competition to see
which party guest can make the best Mac and Cheese. Kids go home with a recipe
book. And at Dylan’s Candy Bar, enjoy
games and crafts centered around sweets, a cotton candy machine, make your own
cupcakes and more.
DISCO PARTY
Kids can turn back the clock with Three Little Birds’ newest birthday package, the Disco Dance Party!
They can take part in a dance party complete with disco balls, 70s music, open
play and a selection of food and cake. And at 74th St. MAGIC, kids can enjoy a disco party in a transformed
private club! The day ends with the birthday child and friends leaping through
the air in an exclusive flying swing.
BALLERINA BASH
At Ballet Academy East, the birthday child
and friends can enjoy a personalized ballet class with a birthday theme of the
child’s choice. After the lesson, guests will dance a ballet story told by the
teacher and enjoy some party favors and refreshments. At Twinkle Party, kids can dress up in tutus, dance with a
professional ballerina and put on a performance for their parents!
MOVING AND GROOVING
Create your own birthday party with classes in
dance, movement and fitness, drama, musical theater and more at Manhattan Movement & Arts Center.
At Medieval Times in New Jersey, birthday
party packages are available in which kids can travel back in time and cheer on
a knight in a jousting competition. Spend your birthday in a ballet, jazz,
hop-hop, modern, African or Salsa dance class at Peridance Capezio Center. You can
even pick a “Glee” or “Michael Jackson” dance theme. Or celebrate your little
one’s first few birthday milestones with music and craft activities for babies
and toddlers at Poppyseed Pre-Nursery.
At Reebok Sports Club &
The Sports Club LA for
kids, there are a variety of birthday party activities to choose from,
including rock climbing, toddler gym, dance, movement, art, music and
carnival-style parties.
BIRTHDAY PERFORMANCE
Enjoy
a special afternoon of singing, dancing and acting at TADA! Theater. There will even be an original birthday song written
just for you! At Discovery Programs,
kids can choose from 8 different themes including a Broadway Bound party for
ages 6-10 in which invitations, goodie bags, table settings and food and
activities will all be included. At Kidville,
kids can enjoy their own private performance from the Big Apple Circus or sign
up for a “Calling All Future Oscar Winners” party, where they can create their
own script and put on a play.
GLOW-IN-THE-DARK BOWLING
Choose
from two Bowlmor Lanes locations for
the ultimate bowling experience. Get rolling with glow in the dark lanes, “The
Spare” and “Ultimate Party” package, which includes unlimited bowling time,
shoe rental, an arcade card and custom cake.
WILD ZOO ADVENTURE
Kids
can get up close and personal with a custom planned birthday party at The Central Park Zoo. While party
planners handle the details, guests can go behind the scenes with live animals.
Experience a meet and greet with a penguin, toss fish to sea lions and make
treats for polar bears to eat! Or, choose from a variety of indoor and outdoor
spaces to host your party at the Bronx
Zoo, and explore over 4,000 wild animals.
MOVIE MAKERS AND
MOVIE LOVERS
Kids
can tap into their inner artist at Children’s
Museum of the Arts with Animation Celebration—learn the basics of
claymation to create a short animation movie! Applause NYC offers over 10 party package themes for your
movie-lover’s birthday. Choose from “Peter Pan,” “Grease,” “The Wizard Of Oz”
and more. The package even includes an interactive show and musical
performance!
GYM’S THE WORD
Birthday
parties are private at Jodi’s Gym,
where kids have the dedicated space to balance on beams, spring from bars and
tumble on mats under the supervision of trained professionals. Columbus Pre-School and Gym also offers
private gymnastics and food, drinks and fun with the gym’s staff. At Gymtime Rhythm & Glues, kids can
choose from themed parties in sports, Tae Kwan Do, Fabulous Foodies, sports or
gymnastics. And at My Gym, the
birthday child can choose specific games and songs and enjoy gymnastics,
puppets and music in a range of birthday party packages.
RIDES & GAMES GALORE
Looking
for the ultimate arcade experience? Head to Dave & Buster’s and receive a power card to use at a variety of
games. Different packages are offered, but a meal is always included and the
birthday child can trade in tickets for some awesome party favors at the gift
shop. Victorian Gardens Amusement Park
in Central Park offers all-inclusive parties, featuring
unlimited rides and games.
BRING ON THE MUSIC
At The Early Ear, music teachers will
introduce the birthday child and guests to musical instruments and lead them in
song and dance. Little Maestros
offers fabulous birthday parties with Broadway-level entertainers and a
high-energy performance that features instruments, bubbles and a mix of kids’
classic songs and popular music. Parties at Moving to the Beat feature Robert the Guitar Guy, alternating
music, humor, puppets, magic, instruments, singing and moving.
TOY TOURS
FAO Schwarz offers an Ultimate Late Night Party in
which kids can explore the most famous toy store and then sleep over! Other
birthday packages include scavenger hunts, tours with a Toy Soldier host and
classic party games. Is your little girl a fan of Madame Alexander? Celebrate her birthday with tours of the historic
doll factory and get a behind-the-scenes view of the doll creation process,
including a trip to the Doll Hospital, a meet and greet with the design team
and exclusive shopping.
CHOOSE YOUR OWN PLAYSPACE
From
face painting and puppy-petting zoos to barnyard buddies and Under the Sea
themes, you can customize your party at the indoor play space Citibabes. At apple seeds, the birthday child can choose from themes like
“Welcome to the Jungle,” “Game On,” “All About Music” and more, while enjoying
free play, music and art. At New York
Kids Club, all-inclusive packages are offered that allow children more than
an hour of exclusive facility use, kids’ performers and age-appropriate
activities.
MAGIC AND
FAIRYTALES
Kids can spend
their birthday as a magician’s assistant and take part in a world-class magic
show at Fantasma Magic. They’ll get
hypnotized, enjoy pizza, an ice cream cake and more. Budding actors and actresses
will also love the Galli Group’s “A
Show & A Party” package, in which they’ll enjoy a fairytale show, meet with
the actors and receive autographs.
EXCITING EXPERIMENTS
At Mad Science, kids can spend their
birthday engaged in hands-on experiments that include tornado tubes and watch
chemical reactions. All parties include a make-and-take chemistry experiment. They
can choose from other fun science themes at Liberty Science Center, like making their own kaleidoscope or
taking part in a dissection. Or take a trip to the New York Hall of Science and enjoy exhibit tours, science
demonstrations and themed parties on the Rocket Park Mini-Golf Course.
PAMPERING PRINCESS
Treat
your birthday girl to a full makeover at one of the city’s Cozy’s Cuts For Kids locations, where she’ll wear a jeweled tiara
and enjoy glitter hairspray up-dos, make-up and manicures with her friends. The
day also includes music, dancing, pizza and beauty-themed arts and crafts. Kids
can dress up in glamorous clothes and jewels and strut down a catwalk in a
birthday celebration at Let’s Dress Up!
The day even includes a tea party with flower-shaped tea sandwiches, candy
served in glass slippers and pink lemonade “tea.”
YOGA ANYONE?
How
about a Yoga Spa party or “Downward Doll” party where even dolls are invited at
Karma Kids Yoga? Learn kid-friendly
yoga poses, breathing exercises and games. East
Side Yoga offers a Yoga Mat Decorating Party, where kids can take a class,
have fun decorating their mat, and leave with a card of yoga poses they can
practice at home. At Yogi Beans, the
festivities include playful yoga poses, fun exercises, engaging songs and novel
games. And Yoga Stars throws 90-minute parties for little yogis and yoginis, which can include t-shirts, mats, balloons and catering.
MARTIAL ARTS FUN
At East Side Tae Kwon Do, consider a Board
Breaking Party, learn techniques to break boards and then bring them home as a
souvenir. Kids can also kick, punch, and chop their way through the big day
with a birthday party at one of the city’s leading martial arts studios,
including Tiger Shulmann’s Karate and
West Side
Taekwondo.
CERAMICS & CRAFTS
Kids
can decorate a ceramic piece and take home their own creations at Color Me Mine. They can build their own
chocolate house and more at The Craft
Studio. Kids At Art lets your
child celebrate his birthday with a mural painting and fun craft projects in a
private studio. Or how about some plastercrafts, pottery painting and mosaics
at Little Shop of Crafts? Kids will
leave with a t-shirt signed by all the birthday party guests. If Tie Dye is
your child’s thing, consider Tie Dye
Town, where he can make his own tie-dye slime and tee-shirts. Or head over
to Make Meaning, where kids can
create candles, soap or jewelry. They can also make personalized keepsakes like
books and calendars at Scribble Press.
PASS, KICK, SCORE!
Hire
Super Soccer Stars to come to a
public park near you for a Kick Off Soccer Package, which includes 90 minutes
of time on the field, culminating in a mini-World Cup tournament. Or enjoy a
bash with Soccer by Coach Fher, who
ensures a 1:6 coach to child ratio and provides all the necessary equipment for
a fun soccer game.
CREATIVE KIDDOS
At Hi Art!, kids turn candy into sculpture
and work on creating live music. At Loop
of the Loom, they will learn to weave and create a handmade scarf, dress or
felted toy. Kids can literally make a mess at their birthday party at Kids at Work, where they’ll dive into
messy art projects, jam with musicians or create a science project. And at Moomah, they can journey through the Funky Forest and will be guided through creative art
projects.
PARTIES THAT TELL A STORY
The Scholastic Store offers up Clifford’s BIG Birthday Bash,
featuring a special story time and craft project inspired by the Big Red Dog
himself. An “Imagination Celebration” premium birthday party service that
customizes every detail was recently launched. StoryTime by Design offers a great storytelling experience for your
child’s birthday party, featuring original music, audience participation and
themes including a Beach Party or Ice Cream Party.
PICK YOUR SPORT
Sports-lovers
can enjoy an hour of playtime at the sports facilities at Asphalt Green, choosing from gymnastics, martial arts, a sports
party, or a pool party. Or celebrate your special day with a trained coach at The JCC, where the party can focus on
basketball, gymnastics or soccer. Kids
In Sports offers parties including baseball, basketball, football, hockey
and soccer, relay races, tug-or-war, and parachutes, and even a carnival-style
party. Vanderbilt YMCA has sports celebrations
like soccer, volleyball and fitness and other customized birthday experiences. SPORTIME at Randall’s Island lets
little ones choose from tennis, rock-climbing, dance or pool parties.
PING-PONG AND
BILLIARDS
Is
table tennis more your child’s speed? Check out SPiN, co-owned and created by Academy Award-winner Susan Sarandon.
The venue specializes in ping-pong and has plenty of tables to play on. A VIP party room is also available. At Slate, hang out in spacious lounge
rooms, play billiards and enjoy a special meal prepared by expert birthday
planners.
CULTURAL
EXPERIENCE
SUSHISAMBA recently
launched kids programming and parties that combine a kid-friendly menu with
activities from SUSHISAMBA’s tri-cultural coalition of Japan, Brazil and Peru. Pair the delicious
menu with a sushi-making class, origami craft workshop or capoeira dancing—an
African-inspired movement that combines martial arts, music and dance.
For a birthday party venues and resources directory, click here.
