It’s time to plan a birthday party. Your child wants to invite the whole class. Your house is a disaster that you don’t even want to think about. And you don’t have space to host 20 kids (plus your own) and maybe some grandparents. Enter the destination birthday!
While you still can’t invite the whole class, you can avoid most of the pre and post-party cleanup when you take the party outside of the house.
When you and I were kids there were only a few options for parties outside of the house. The still popular movie party was always a good time. Both Landmark and Cineplex offer birthday parties for kids. And I remember bowling parties as well. Limestone Lanes and Splitsville are the local alleys that could host your party.
But now there are a ton of other birthday options! Based on our limited destination party experience, and my Google researching skills, I put together this list of some fun destination birthday party locations in Kingston, Ontario.
Destination birthday ideas in Kingston:
Active Options
Putt N Blast – This is a popular location for parties. Whenever my girls go to a party here there are always at least 2 or 3 other parties going on. They come home exhausted from a good time.
The Boys and Girls Club – There are a lot of party options at the Boys and Girls Club. My girls have been to a handful of parties here and they think they’re a ton of fun. I’m not going to list them out here, but click the link and you can read about them all at your leisure.
Flamingo In The Backyard* – While this is not technically a destination party, it’s as good as one. If you have a pool (or a friend or family member with a pool you can use), Flamingo In The Backyard will help you host you a party in your own backyard. They have a few party options – rent a lifeguard so the parents can be managing the rest of the party while the kids swim, or have them run your party start to finish. I love the idea of letting them run the whole party – organize pool games, and keep everyone safe around the pool. Leaves us parents free to just keep an eye on snacks and take photos!
The Fun Zone (formerly Playtrium) – I’m not a fan of the Playtrium but they do offer birthday party packages. Rose went to a party there once and the staff didn’t collect her (she was left “playing”) for the cake and presents part of the party and she was very upset when we came to collect her. And we were upset that no one was really looking out for her well-being, but that’s a post for another time. At the Playtrium/Fun Zone they offer time to play, plus a room for food and gifts and then you can go play again for as long as you’d like.
Coach Led Parties
Aero’s Trampoline Club – This is a location we have used for a birthday party. Emma had her trampoline party here last fall and everyone loved it! They even let us adults have some fun jumping around. I’d highly recommend checking out the trampoline club for a birthday party location.
Gymnastics Parties – Loyalist Gymnastics, Trillium Gymnastics, and Kingston Gymnastics, (apologies if I left anyone out!) We had a party at Loyalist for Rose when she turned 5 and it was a ton of fun. We had an hour in the gym with a trainer and an hour in the party room. It looks as though they all offer similar packages.
City of Kingston – I thought to put Artillery Park on this list, but when I went to the city’s website I couldn’t find the link for parties at the gyms and pool. Turns out the city groups all their party options together on their own party page. So you can have a swim or gym party, skating parties, golf or outdoor swimming at the Memorial Centre pool. The last two are, of course, weather permitting.
Art Parties
Crock A Doodle – I have never been to Crock A Doodle, but they’re a pottery painting location. I saw many advertisements for their “drop your kids off and go shopping” pre-Christmas package and thought that was a fabulous idea! Since Emma is very into art I’m noticing more (and different!) locations for parties these days.
4 Cats Art Studio – There are multiple choices of art styles in their Kids’ Party dropdown menu. They all look amazing! We have never been, but maybe as the girls get older and can pare down their guest lists a little we’ll try this out. You can also have adult parties there – I’m dying to do something where people teach me to paint.
Other Destination Birthday Options
Parks – We have had great success having birthday parties in the park across the street from our house. It’s free, we take some snack foods and our folding table, and you can have unlimited kids. Some parks have splash pads so you could easily incorporate that into a summer birthday party. The link takes you to the city’s page that lists some of the parks with amenities. Our across-the-street park is just a big open space with trees and some play equipment. Take some blankets to sit on for the gift opening and wish for great weather!
While researching this post I came to the realization you can literally have a destination birthday anywhere around town that has group space. I thought of Improbable Escapes for an older teenager’s party, and swimming and a picnic at Grass Creek Park. There are so many places available that I couldn’t possibly list them all!
Have you had a great experience having a destination birthday party somewhere? I want to hear about it! Leave your story in the comments. We are always looking for new ideas and fun places for the girls to take their friends (especially when they want to invite the whole class!)
~Jess
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*Flamingo In The Backyard is a paid placement in this post. The opinions I’ve expressed above are mine and are not influenced by payment. Read my full disclosure.
