Birthday Party Venues for Toddlers/Young Children

M

moonchild508

Member
Does anyone have recommendations on birthday party venues in Irvine or nearby cities for younger children?  There was a thread on this topic in 2010 that included a long list of venues.  I'd like to narrow down the options based on people's personal experience.

We will also invite a few older children (up to 13 years old), so any venue that appeals to this age group set would be great too.  Thanks!
 
Funtopia at Senders One (in the same plaza as Roger Dunn).  This should appeal to younger children as well as 13 year olds.
 
Why not just have it at one of the lovely parks Irvine has to offer?
 
moonchild508 said:
Does anyone have recommendations on birthday party venues in Irvine or nearby cities for younger children?  There was a thread on this topic in 2010 that included a long list of venues.  I'd like to narrow down the options based on people's personal experience.

We will also invite a few older children (up to 13 years old), so any venue that appeals to this age group set would be great too.  Thanks!
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Baby Zerolot had her 1st birthday at Dave & Busters, the venue was the pool table and shuffle board room.  It was a blast.  All the kids (oldest was 5) had lots of fun at the shuffle board table and then unlimited game cards in the arcade.

Kid Zerolot had her birthday at the CV Park.  We catered the food.  They had outdoor electrical plugs and we brought our own canopy.  It was a blast.  We had plenty of room to do crazy games and even hung up a pinata.  We played iTunes radio through our Bose sound system at the park, it worked out really well.

We considered the following places but logistics for us determined otherwise:

My Gym

Pump it Up

Irvine Bowling

Boomers

Scooter's Jungle

Build a Bear

Goofy's Kitchen

Pretend City

Playland Cafe

Depending on the age of the kids in the group, how many kids & adults it can really affect the location, venue, and price.  Good luck!  I know how difficult it can be to plan a kids birthday party! 

Take lots of pictures and videos because that's how they will remember it when they're 16!  ;D
 
Thanks for everyone's input.  Will check out these venues.

We are considering the parks as well, but the cost to reserve the picnic shelter and provide entertainment such as a bounce house could really add up.  The party venues usually provide setup, party coordination and cleanup services, and that's very helpful considering we have two young kids whom we have to constantly keep an eye on so they don't run away. :)  That's difficult to do at a park while hosting a party.
 
moonchild508 said:
Thanks for everyone's input.  Will check out these venues.

We are considering the parks as well, but the cost to reserve the picnic shelter and provide entertainment such as a bounce house could really add up.  The party venues usually provide setup, party coordination and cleanup services, and that's very helpful considering we have two young kids whom we have to constantly keep an eye on so they don't run away. :)  That's difficult to do at a park while hosting a party.
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We are having the babysitter watch our little one during our party.
 
Meggie - Where did you get the insurance from?  We are also considering the clubhouse at our community.  The HOA requires proof of insurance for clubhouse rental, but our insurance company doesn't provide that.  Thanks.

I have to say this - birthday parties for kids are getting so expensive.  In the past few years we have been hosting the parties at home to minimize the costs.  Now my daughter is older and has been to a few bounce house and cupcake parties, she wants one for her birthday.  I am tempted to say no.  Wish our yard was big enough to accommodate a bounce house.
 
I think that 2010 thread is still pretty good, my last post there talks about Wildfire Gym which seems to be a great place for even young kids:
http://www.talkirvine.com/index.php/topic,1051.0.html

There is another one called OC Gymnastics in Costa Mesa that is a similar concept.

So over the years, we've done and been to:

Pump It Up - Irvine
Jumpin' Jammin - Mission Viejo (Kaleidoscope Mall)
Laser Quest - Mission Viejo (Kaleidoscope Mall)
Boomers - Irvine
Chuck E Cheese - Costa Mesa and Foothill Ranch
Wildfire Gymnastics - Tustin
OC Gymnastics - Tustin
My Gym - Tustin (near the train station)
Gymboree (the play location, not clothing) - Santa Ana
Gamez on Wheelz (at 2 house parties) - Orange County
House parties with bounce houses
Parties at clubhouses in Irvine
Sky High Trampoline (not recommended as I've seen kids get hurt)

Whatever it is, the food is always an issue because you have to figure how much to get, if parents are going to eat and usually end up with so many leftovers.

The great things about locations not at your home, people get there at a certain time, have fun, eat and then leave... no cleanup, no fuss, and you have the rest of the day.

The benefits about having it at your house is you don't need to bring anything to another location, you control the venue, you don't have to have a set time, people can come and go at different times, you usually can invite people who don't have kids (like your older relatives) but it usually ends up a much longer party depending on who you invite. When it's just kids from school, house parties can have a set time frame, but when you invite your own friends and relatives, it can be a whole day/night affair.

Like the Sky High Trampoline, I would be careful with renting your own bounce house. More than once I've seen kids get hurt and even a few times, fractured ankles.

And if you don't have the space, you don't have to have a bounce house your party, I've been to a few where they had a face painter, balloon artist, magic show, bubble lady etc etc. and those were entertainment enough.
 
Good ideas in this thread.

I was going to do my big boy's birthday at Laser Quest. It's a laser tag game located at The Shops in Mission Viejo. I noticed that mention of Big Air and think I may do that instead. My little boy's birthday is actually this week so I may have a good excuse to check it out ahead of time.
 
Laser Quest is fun for the kids,  been there a few times, some just for my kids to run around.

You can get the same experience at Boomer's Laser Tag.

I would be careful with Big Air/Sky High... I haven't been there once where I didn't see some kid get hurt.
 
you guys spoil your kids too much.  our birthday parties back in the day consisted of a pinata tied to a rope thrown over a tree branch.  then some home made cake and carne asada.

we arent even doing a party for our daughter when she turns 1, its pointless, she doesnt even know what is going on.
 
irvinehomeowner said:
Laser Quest is fun for the kids,  been there a few times, some just for my kids to run around.

You can get the same experience at Boomer's Laser Tag.

I would be careful with Big Air/Sky High... I haven't been there once where I didn't see some kid get hurt.
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"Mommy will kiss it and make it all better, now go and play" hurt? Or "Unplanned visit to Urgent Care" hurt? When I was looking at their website this morning, I noticed it looks super padded around the hard edges which gives the impression it would be great to prevent injuries. I was excited about that. But I suppose the kids could still smack into each other, bump noggins and get hurt.

My son has actually been begging me to get him a trampoline for his birthday. I am not down with that. I figured this is the next best thing. We definitely have a lot of room in the yard for one but I'm not okay with shelling out an extra annual homeowner's insurance premium which is required for one, injuries, so on and so forth.
 
qwerty said:
you guys spoil your kids too much.  our birthday parties back in the day consisted of a pinata tied to a rope thrown over a tree branch.  then some home made cake and carne asada.

we arent even doing a party for our daughter when she turns 1, its pointless, she doesnt even know what is going on.
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I agree, it's gotten out of control. Same as you, my parties growing were house parties as were most of the other kids'. It just consisted of having neighbor kids over for cake and Pin The Tail On the Donkey. That was about it. I had one party at a roller skating rink which felt like a big deal. These days, parents shell out! I'm definitely drawing the line at having one of those insane "My Super Sweet 16" party where the brat bawls their eyes out and screams, 'I F***ING HATE YOU!!" in front of the crowd because Daddy got them the WRONG COLOR top of the line Mercedes!
 
qwerty said:
you guys spoil your kids too much.  our birthday parties back in the day consisted of a pinata tied to a rope thrown over a tree branch.  then some home made cake and carne asada.

we arent even doing a party for our daughter when she turns 1, its pointless, she doesnt even know what is going on.
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You're just try to save up for La Quinceanera.
 
lnc said:
qwerty said:
you guys spoil your kids too much.  our birthday parties back in the day consisted of a pinata tied to a rope thrown over a tree branch.  then some home made cake and carne asada.

we arent even doing a party for our daughter when she turns 1, its pointless, she doesnt even know what is going on.
Click to expand...

You're just try to save up for La Quinceanera.
Click to expand...

maybe we will do at celebration at 15.5 in honor of both, sweet 16 and quinceanera
 
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