April 2006
Happy (Active) Birthday to You
Having a physically active birthday party for your child is not only a great way to celebrate a special day, but it can also introduce everyone at the party to a new activity.
“A lot of the kids that are in birthday parties end up signing up for the summer camps or other programs,” notes Marisa Goeres, volunteer coordinator at Stone Gardens, an indoor climbing gym in Ballard.
An active party can also give kids a good example of how to incorporate exercise into socializing. Kyle Wintermute, ice rink manager at the Comcast Community Ice Rink in Everett, says an exercise activity creates a healthy outlook on things to share with friends, aside from food.
Activities that emphasize physical fitness can start early in life. Jodi Sides, owner of The Little Gym in Everett, oversees birthday parties for kids as young as a year old. The parties include general gym play and activities led by one of their instructors. “Our goal is to have kids up and moving for an hour,” she says, “whether it’s playing games or doing group activities like the parachute.”
It can help to bundle the activity with something your child already likes. Louise Fellows, the director of Cameo/Carrabas Dance in Bothell, creates theme parties on demand. “It could be a ballerina party, or hip-hop or Cinderella,” she says. Each party includes theme-appropriate costumes and a lesson from an instructor, which is also tailored to what the parents and child want. “They learn a routine if they want to, or they can just do freestyle or creative dance,” Fellows explains.
A party in a studio can be a great introduction for would-be dancers. “It introduces them to dance and to a studio setting, which if a child wasn’t taking classes, they wouldn’t know,” she adds. This includes boys – Cameo/Carraba Dance teaches classes in breakdancing and hip-hop, which are popular with boys and girls. Dance parties are best for kids who are at least 2 years old.
Ice-skating involves the grace of dancing, but its association with hockey makes it appeal to a wider range of children. “I think that kids like it because it’s something that’s unique, that you can’t do anywhere else but an ice rink, unless of course you live in Michigan in the middle of winter,” Wintermute says. “The birthday parties really focus around the skating portion of it, not just the sitting down and eating portion of it.”
Many skating rinks offer the services of a skating teacher, who can give a lesson or lead everyone in games. While kids may not end up making like Sasha Cohen across the ice by the party’s end, they’ll at least get a good sense of how to skate safely. Skating parties are best for kids 4 and older. Skating is good cardiovascular exercise, and it improves balance and coordination, which is a better take-home gift than the best goody bag.
Few children would say no to an afternoon of swimming, especially in an indoor pool in the colder months. There are public pools available for rent (see “Swimming” in the listings below), and many private facilities offer their pools for parties. Daniel Carr, director of Safe N Sound Swimming in Seattle, has managed many successful swim parties. “I don’t know of one kid that wouldn’t like to swim longer than their parents would let them,” he says.
Safe N Sound provides lifeguards with the pool. They can sit back and make sure everything goes smoothly or they can lead the partygoers in games like Marco Polo and Sharks and Minnows. Carr says that swim parties are best for kids between 6 and 10 years old.
If the birthday boy or girl is too energetic to be constrained by gravity, the greater Seattle area has many indoor climbing gyms to help them slip the bonds of earth. Party packages typically include equipment, instruction and the use of a party room. Stone Gardens in Ballard holds climbing birthday parties for kids as young as 5.
“It’s definitely a good outlet for energy and trains them to be a bit more disciplined,” says Goeres. “It’s a huge confidence builder if they climb to the top of the wall, and they know they did it by themselves. Unlike any other sport, there’s no one else helping them, so what they’re doing on the wall is all theirs.” Along with learning to climb, kids can play games on the walls, like climbing blindfolded or in pairs.
However, with the Northwest coming into the gentler and drier seasons, it’s a great time to have a party outside. This region is blessed with a plethora of parks, many of which have pavilions and shelters that can be rented for parties and events.
Depending on what the park features, the children could embark on a scavenger or treasure hunt, with goody bags as prizes. Entertainment can be even less complicated – a wide-open space filled with excited kids is an easy setting for an afternoon of tag and relay races. Many parks also have trails, if your child is interested in hiking. For a comprehensive listing of trails in the area, try the Washington Trails Association at www.wta.org, or 206-625-1367. Their search engine includes filters to find trails that are specifically good for kids or ones that are barrier free.
It’s a bonus if your child’s party introduces a group of young people to a great new hobby, but an active afternoon can be as simple as kids jumping up and down in an inflatable castle. Pump It Up in Kirkland houses all manner of inflatables – houses, slides and even inflatable boxing and jousting arenas. Bouncy House Inflatables, Astro Jump and others bring the equipment to your backyard, and their bouncers can match almost any theme from dinosaurs or horses to rockets and forts. Some companies also bring water slides, bungee runs, obstacle courses and Velcro walls to your home.
There are scores of options for memorable, active birthday parties in our area. Our resource directory lists many more possibilities to make your child’s special day as unforgettable as possible.
Breanne Boland is a Seattle
freelance writer. Her birthday is in April, and she plans to go bowling.
| Active Birthday Party Choices
Bouncies and Buses All-4-Fun, 206-763-4386, www.all-4-fun.com. Bowling Climbing Walls and More Dance Studios Fun Spots Gymnastics and Tumbling Parks Skating Swimming Other Party Options Partying at Home Dress up and Imagine Entertainers Puppets Special Experiences Partying Abroad Animals and Zoos Arts and Crafts (including Knitting and Ceramics) Fun Spots Go Karts Special Experiences Theater |
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