Birthday Parties

If you're looking for a place to hold a children's birthday party in southern Marin, check out Tiburon's Ark Row Center for Enrichment. In addition to offering numerous enrichment classes and programs for both children and adults, this facility in downtown Tiburon offers fun theme birthday parties.

Choose your party theme (superheroes, princess, surfing, sports, etc.) and Ark Row Center will provide an activity or project, including art, dance, games, and more. All supplies are included. You bring the cake and paper goods, and pizzas are welcome, too. Parties take place in the spacious art studio room or the large outdoor patio.

Theme parties cast $200 for two hours for 8 children and $18 for each additional child. Party time slots are from 10 am to noon, 1 to 3 pm, or 4 to 6 pm. Call Robin for your party consultation at (415) 435-2200.

Ark Row Center for Enrichment is located at 122 Main Street in Tiburon. For more information on the center and their wide variety of programs and classes, visit www.arkrowcenter.com.

It's been a while since we've been to TrainTown, the miniature railroad located in the town of Sonoma. It's been around since before I was a kid, and it's the kind of place that takes you back to a simpler time.

Sonoma Train Town offers train-related activities for that are fun for everyone from toddlers to gradeschool-aged kids (and adults, too). It's also a short drive from pretty much anywhere in Marin.

Looking for a place to play indoors in Marin? They're few and far between (and indespensible when it's raining!), but luckily Jump N Bounce! LLC recently opened in San Anselmo. Come and jump, play, and slide on their giant inflatable pirate ship play structure daily from 10 am to 6 pm. Sessions for children ages 2 to 6 are from 10 am to 4 pm and ages 7 to 12 from 4 to 6 pm. The cost is $5 per 20-minute jump session, but if you go there and mention that you heard about them on Marin Mommies, they'll give you $1 off.

Sessions start at five minutes after the hour and half-hour (please arrive ten minutes early to sign in and get the safety talk). Each session is also limited to eight participants, so it won't there'll be a minimum of crowded craziness and a maximum of fun.

Looking for a unique hands-on birthday party for kids ages 9–15? Celebrate your child's birthday with a fun and delicious cooking party at Sausalito's Pine Point Cooking School! The guests and birthday girl/boy will learn to prepare a tasty Mediterranean-inspired lunch or dinner, and of course eat it, too.

Partygoers will cook appetizers, marin courses, side dishes, and dessert. Possible dishes include Greek cheese triangles, roast polenta, chicken saltimbocca, and pizza. The menu is planned with the birthday honoree's tastes in mind. The lesson turns into a party as everyone eats what they've cooked around the dining table (parents are invited, too). The celebration wraps up with party favors and a rousing chorus of "Happy Birthday" over dessert!

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“Wow!” my son shouted as we walked in the door and laid eyes on all the LEGO kits and pieces in the room at Play-Well Teknologies in San Anselmo. We have been trying to visit “the LEGO place” (as my son calls it) and try one of their drop-in open-play sessions for a while now, but something always seemed to come up. We finally made it there last week with some friends for a playdate, and we all had a blast.

Play-Well TEKnologies' Marin Engineering Center features a large area dedicated just for the drop-in play. In fact, it's the largest drop-in LEGO center in the country. My son was in awe—they seemed to have every type of LEGO imaginable. Dozens of bins keep the LEGO pieces, reportedly over a million in all, organized by color, size, type, or theme, including wheels, ships, planes, engines, pirates and much, much more.
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Bring the petting zoo to your party with the Barnyardigans, a mobile petting zoo and pony ride company that specializes in children’s birthday parties. The Barnyyardigans brings animals to your birthday party venue whether it's your house, backyard, or local open space area or park—they'll even work with you and your local city recreation department in finding a suitable party venue that permits animals. They're certified and fully insured, and are licensed by the Marin Humane Society. You may have even seen the Barnyardigans zoo at various spots throughout Marin and Sonoma counties this fall, including the Nicasio Valley Farms pumpkin patch and Garlock Christmas Tree Farm in Sebastopol.

Everyone loves cupcakes! The little personal-portioned cakes have been favorites for birthday parties and other festive occasions for as long as anyone can remember, and they're currently experiencing a resurgence in popularity. These new artisan versions feature high quality ingredients and innovative flavors (as well as many of the classics we all know and love).

SweetFace Bakery, a gourmet bakery using local and organic ingredients and owned and operated by Marin resident Lena Shagoury, specializes in these tasty morsels (as well as full-size cakes and cookies), and offers a new take on birthday cupcakes: the mobile cupcake party. SweetFace's SweetRoll, their mobile bakery truck, will bring all the cupcake party ingredients—"naked" cupcakes, frosting, decorations, equipment, etc.—to your party site where partygoers can have fun creating their own ultimate cupcakes. And then eating them, of course.

Looking for the right tunes to set the mood for your Halloween party? The Chills might be the very thing you're looking for! In fact, if your kids are like ours, this CD will get quite a bit of air time around the house, even when it's not Halloween. The Chills are billed as "An un-dead version of the Village People," but are in reality are local singer/songwriter Ira Marlowe and his Brainy Tunes team. Ira's put together a CD of terrifying tunes that children and families will find both spooky, hilarious, and irresistable.

Tracks include songs about ghosts (Ghost Story, Haunting School), mad scientists (Brat Machine, The Long and Curious Saga of Dr. Trulaine), the Blob, creepy little men (Fear of Little Men), and other spooky things. Favorites in our home include Here Comes the Mummy, and Boogerman's Theme. Some of the lyrics are definitely on the scary side, and The Creeps is recommended for children 5 and up. That doesn't stop our 3-year-old from loving the album, though, so it all depends on the kid, ultimately.