A Birthday Celebration for Rowan and Lucas

My kids’ birthdays are just a little over one week apart. Rowan is March 20, and Lucas was born on March 29th (two years between them).  While my kids are still young I have chosen to throw them one joint birthday party. At this stage of our lives the kids’ friends all happen to be the children of my friends. Having all of the young kids and their parents at the party makes for a really fun celebration for everyone, but it also means there are simply WAY too many guests to fit into our small house.

Last month I sat down to research birthday party options for kids in Ottawa. Turns out, there are a lot of great options! I settled on renting out the McKellar Park Fieldhouse (through Dovercourt Recreation Centre). It’s a nice, big room with large windows looking out onto the McKellar Park Playground. I thought the kids would have fun ripping around the space, and I was looking forward to providing a yummy brunch for everyone.

I booked the room from 10:30 -12:30 (prior to nap time). I didn’t want to do much baking for the morning, as I knew how busy it was going to be. We served a bunch of Kettleman’s bagels, Thyme and Again scones and muffins, fruit platters, sugary cereal (fruit loops as a birthday treat), cinnamon buns, coffee and mimosas for the adults!

I wanted an activity or some form of entertainment for the kids and I had heard wonderful things about Derek McKinley of Sing Song Party Time. Derek is a super positive singer and entertainer. He gets the party going with some stretching and yoga fun for the kids before launching into a lot of great “get up and dance” songs on his guitar.

Derek brings along a suitcase of shakers, bells and tambourines for the kids to join in and play along with the songs.

The older kids at the birthday party (in the 3-4 year old range) were the most engaged in Derek’s playing. Lucas and his buddies were dancing along the whole time. I was very impressed with how Derek dealt with all of the different ages at the party (16 kids between 18 months-4 years old). And Derek didn’t seem to mind that we adults were eating and chatting throughout the performance. He played for an hour, and everyone had a great time. I highly recommend Sing Song Party Time.

After all of the singing and dancing it was time for cake! I baked a chocolate cake for Luke and a confetti vanilla cake for Rowan. Needless to say, there were a lot of toddlers hopped up on sugar by the end of the festivities.

The McKellar Park Fieldhouse bookings are for two hours, and very reasonable. I think everyone had a good time, I know my kids had a blast.

Here Are Some Other Birthday Party Ideas:

Now that I’ve talked in depth about my kids recent party, here are some other GREAT birthday party ideas for kids here in Ottawa.

The Museums

• The Museum of Nature – different options available from a “do-it-yourself” party (cheapest option, gives museum admission to guests plus one hour of lunch reserved space). Or other options available which included guided activities and/or a 3D movie viewing.
• The Children’s Museum – also offers different options with range of prices. You can just do a party room for food and then museum admission, or you can choose a theme party and include extras such as an IMAX movie and loot bags.
• The Canadian Aviation and Space Museum –  The Museum offers exciting birthday parties for young aviators from ages 3 to 12. The parties include hands-on activities and informative tours led by friendly animators. And of course there’s cake, juice, and balloons.
• The Canadian Agriculture and Food Museum – the Experimental Farm offers two party themes. Children ages three to twelve enjoy two hours of meeting the animals, games, crafts, and making — and eating! — a delicious treat. Kids 5 years old to 12 have the option of having a pizza making party, along with crafts and meeting the animals.
• The Canadian War Museum – parties at the war museum are for kids aged 5-10. There are diy parties available or theme parties such as “sneaky spies” or “king or queen of the castle”.
• The Diefenbunker Museum – parties for kids aged 7-12 years old. Birthday parties are spy themed where children can learn the art of espionage. Children will go on secret missions, crack codes, make spy gadgets, dress up, and “find Agent X” as they explore this 100,000 square foot wonder deep underground.

Party Entertainers

• Sing Song Party Time – I’ve obviously talked plenty about Derek and his music above. He is great for kids aged 1-12 and will come perform for an hour.
• Monkey Rock Music – a 45 minute show with your preferred Monkey Rock instructor, who will bring along their guitar, a big bag of musical instruments and the rainbow parachute to play with.
• Michael the Magician – if I’m being honest, magicians are NOT my thing (they kinda creep me out, no disrespect Michael) BUT kids love them! Michael the Magician comes highly recommended, and offers different kinds of party packages.
• Elliott Smith Magician – another popular magician in the Ottawa area, Elliott Smith promises a lot of laughs along with his magic show.

Princesses and Superheroes

• Little Princess Party Fun – choose a princess, super girl or ballerina entertainer. Choose the length of appearance and the entertainer will play games, do balloon animals, take photos and simple face painting. A great deal!
• Glass Slipper Princess Parties – another option if you are hoping to hire an Elsa, Rapunzel etc to come and entertain your little ones. They also offer anything from 30 – 90 minute long parties, and they will also organize princess tea parties.
• Ottawa Super Parties – a superhero (whether it be Batman, Spiderman, a Jedi etc) will come to your house and put on a show for 60 mins.

Parties for Kids Who Need to Run and Jump

• Dovercourt – Dovercourt Recreation Centre offers a whole array of birthday party ideas. You can simply rent a room from them to use, or have them run the entire party. It can be a swimming party with the use of their pool, or a dance party, arts party etc.
• Starr Gymnastics – a great place for kids to run, jump and have a lot of fun. Parties can be one hour play only, or one hour play and one hour of use of a party room. Instructors will lead party guests (up to 20 kids) in an hour of gym time.
• Ottawa Gymnastics Centre – another awesome space for kids to let loose and have fun. Party packages for kids aged between 3-12 years old. One hour of instructor led time in the gymnastics centre, and 45 minutes in the party room.
• Cosmic Adventures – with their party packages you get 30 minutes in the games room, 45 minutes on the play structure and one hour in the party room.
• Glebe Neighbourhood Activities Group – they will do custom parties for you, pick the theme whether its dance, sports, pottery, cooking..great for kids aged 4-12.
• Capital City Dance – does your kid love to boogie? Mine sure do. Capital City Dance offers parties for kids aged 5 and up. 2 hour long parties, the first hour for dance instruction (style of your choice) the second hour for food.

Other Unique Birthday Party Ideas

• Little Ray’s Reptile Zoo – get up close and personal with some amazing reptiles right in your own home! All packages are an hour long and can be done in English or French. Children will be able to touch most of the animals brought out one by one by a presenter. It’s super cool for any animal lover.
• The Zoo Crew – The Zoo Crew is another option if you want to bring the animals to your party, or you could go to their farm location in Osgoode and host the party there. If they come to your party, The Zoo Crew will bring along 7-8 animals (birds, snakes, bunnies, etc) for a one hour visit.
• Mooney’s Bay Pirate Adventures – this is only available for summer parties, and it looks so cool! A 75 minute long sailing adventure on an actual pirate ship. It’s not cheap, but worth checking out!
• Saunders Farm – another birthday party idea that is only available in the summer time (those summer birthdays have it so good!).  Jumping Pillows, Pedal Carts, 11 Mazes, The Splash Pad, Wagon Ride, Puppet Show, Farmer Bill’s Barnyard and Tree House, Captain Saunders Pirate Ship, Discovery Barn, and a pizza lunch!
• Valley view Little Animal Farm – open after Easter weekend to Halloween (not available in the winter), you actually just pay admission to the farm and you can reserve and use their party room for an hour. Sweet deal! My kids love the farm. Lots of animals and super fun play structures.
• Games to Go – a mobile video game theater for kids birthday parties that brings the party to your front door.

I hope this blog post helps you with some birthday party planning ideas. I would love to hear any more ideas if you have had a wonderful experience with another location or vendor.