Venues make birthday parties easy and fun
Looking for an idea for your child's next birthday party? Whether they love food, dressing up, art or exercise, there are plenty of great options in the area that will take care of the planning and entertaining so you can just enjoy a memorable celebration.
Aperture Photography
214 S. Washington St., Naperville
(630) 244-4266 Ÿ kurtaper.com
Price: $299 for eight children, $30 per additional child
Kurt and Tori Aper did photography birthday parties for their kids for years, but just started offering them to the public in March. Girls ages 5 to 9 can have princess or fairy themes where they and their guests dress up in costume from the studio's huge collection.
“The fairy parties have been way more popular than the princess parties,” Kurt Aper said. “If you want to get down to it, fairies have wings.”
Once they're dressed up, each girl gets her picture taken in a forest scene complete with artificial trees, plants and rocks. When they're not posing, the girls play games and can see their friends' images on a big-screen TV. While it's geared toward girls, boys can come too and dress up as pirates or knights. At the end of the celebration, everyone takes home a framed photo of themselves and the birthday girl also gets a group picture.
Nick's Pizza & Pub
990 S. Randall Road, Elgin
(847) 531-5550
nickspizzapub.com
Price: $9.95 per child
Nick's Pizza Pub began hosting pizza parties soon after the restaurant's first location opened in Crystal Lake 14 years ago. Kids ages 6 to 11 get a behind-the-scenes tour of the restaurant, visiting the storage areas and walk in coolers. Then they take a place in the kitchen, where they don aprons, flatten a ball of dough and add sauce, cheese and meat or vegetables, making a mess as they create their own pizza.
“It's really hands-on for the kids,” said event manager Natasha Russo.
Along with their own individual pizzas, kids get soda, a bag of peanuts and samples from the gelato display case. They also go on a scavenger hunt through the restaurant, trying to spot items and animals amid the spot's eclectic décor.
PartyCakes PartyCakes
(847) 732-5774
partycakespartycakes.com
Price: $13.50 per person, 15 person minimum
PartyCakes PartyCakes does in home cake-decorating parties for kids ages 4 to 12, providing tablecloths and aprons for the kids and taking care of the cleanup. Kids spend the first 45 minutes of the 90-minute party topping pound cake, angel food cake or a brownie with a mix of edible and purely decorative items.
You can choose from themes like At the Beach, where kids decorate flip-flop-shaped cake with cookie starfish and gummy dolphins, or Cheeseburger in Paradise, which features a chocolate chip muffin representing the beef and nonpareils standing in for sesame seeds. Each child gets a box to bring their customized work home in.
“Each child's project looks different,” said owner Kathy Colombo. “It's their own creation.”
Thrown Elements Pottery
260 N. Evergreen Ave., Arlington Heights
(847) 818-1313; thrownelementspottery.com
Price: $15-$25 per person
Thrown Elements Pottery offers parties for people of all ages, including kids who can work with wet clay or paint pre-made ceramics. At painting parties, each guest gets to choose to color a plate, mug, trophy, pencil holder, figurine or a pair of tiles. At the hand-building clay parties, kids learn a certain technique rather than a specific item. For instance, a lesson on how to make bowls might lead to the creation of a teacup or a clay turtle. Wheel-throwing parties are available for kids ages 10 and up.
“The kids are learning something, they're enjoying something, they're accomplishing something and they can be proud of what they did at the end,” said owner Andi Ruhl.
After an hour of work, kids take a break for food then go back to their projects to add an underglaze to the wet pieces before they are fired in the kiln. After the party, the crafts are wrapped and labeled for the host to pick up and distribute to guests.
Xtreme Trampolines
485 Mission St., Carol Stream
(630) 752-1400
carolstream.xtremetrampolines.com
Price: $250 for 12 people; $360 for 20 people
The 45,000-square-foot facility includes 100 trampolines where kids can do acrobatic tricks, bound into foam pits, play dodgeball or just bounce around together.
Birthday parties typically go from ages 4 to 16, though people of all ages seem to enjoy bouncing. Owner Eric Beck said about a quarter of adults at parties pay an extra $11 for a pass to let them jump along with the kids.
“I think a lot of them come in with the intention of not jumping on the trampolines and then they see how much fun it is,” he said.
The party package includes 90 minutes of jumping, with 30 minutes for pizza in the birthday party area.
“We provide everything but the birthday cake,” Beck said. “We're trying to make it as simple as possible for the parents.”