Disclaimer: This post is part of a collaboration with The Pearl Hummingbird, however, all opinions are my own.
After hosting our baby's first birthday party in our house with forty or so guests, husband and I made a rule that we wouldn't host another sizable birthday party at our house because the prep, set up and clean up was so time consuming.
For toddler's second birthday we rented a room at Westmount Recreation Centre and then the leisure pool for an hour afterwards and the kids loved it. It was still a little chaotic though because we had to have the room set up and taken down within the two hour time frame, and needed to get downstairs and get changed for swimming as well. It was a lot to cram into a short period of time.
This year we did a lot of research and considered a few different options. First thing to note-- winter birthdays are difficult! I feel like there are so many more options for summer birthdays. Toddler would be so thrilled to have his party at the Hamilton Museum of Steam and Technology if he and his pals could ride the miniature trains all afternoon. Alas, a February birthday kind of needs to be indoors! We also considered play places that have jungle gyms and climbing equipment, but honestly, with three year olds you really need to be on top of them at those type of places and there would be zero percent opportunity for the adults to socialize.
Toddler and I had recently visited The Pearl Hummingbird on a snowy afternoon and it was the best time. I proposed the idea of hosting the birthday party at The Pearl Hummingbird, and husband was on board. Booking was super simple-- they are extremely responsive to all inquiries via Facebook Messenger, and after finding the answers to a few of my questions I gave them a quick call to firm up the details.
There are lots of options to make a fully customized experience for your little one's big day. The "village" as they call it has four party rooms of different themes-- "Camping Under the Stars," "Fun at the Carnival," "Life's a Beach," and "The Enchanted Garden." I knew we'd be doing a Disney Cars themed party, so the room theme wasn't a big deal. We ended up choosing the "Fun at the Carnival" themed room, and loved that it provided a really vibrant and colourful backdrop for all of our photos of the party.
I love that The Pearl Hummingbird offers two formal options for parties: The All-Inclusive, or the Bring Your Own Party which are both two hours in length. You can also do a Facility Rental where you get exclusive use of the Village at an hourly rate and bring your own party. All of the details can be found on the website here. We opted for the Bring Your Own Party because we only had 10 kids attending so didn't really need the extra 5 kids meals and because I wanted to have Cars themed table decor. So we ended up quickly setting up the room before the party and ordering Pizza Pizza for delivery, and family members brought fruit, veggie and cheese and cracker trays to round out the food offerings.
Although the party room rentals are two hours, guests are welcome to stay and play until the Village closes. So we had a party room from 3-5pm, and cleaned it up while the kids continued to play until about 6pm. I really loved that the kids could come and go between the party room and the Village as they pleased. When everyone arrived around 3pm we told the kids to go play for a while and they naturally gravitated back towards the party room around 3:30 to get some snacks. So we took the opportunity to sit them all down, feed them, and do cake and cupcakes. They were all done eating by about 4pm and still had an hour or more to play and burn off some of the sugar!
Rather than give you a full play by play of the day, I'll give you a recap of what I loved about the day and what I thought could have gone better.
What I Loved
The Village aspect of the venue is great for parents and kids. The kids can move from room to room while the parents can supervise from a bit of a distance in the hallway. If kids are in adjacent rooms, parents can still keep an eye on their kids while being able to socialize at the same time. The setup also really embraces the "it takes a village" mindset. All afternoon long parents were switching out whose kids they were watching based on where they were playing which was heartwarming.
Affordability. $220 for the venue for a three hour party (2 hour room rental plus one hour stay and play) seemed really affordable to me. The regular admission rate to play is $12.50, and the party rate per child (based on the 15 kid package) works out to $14.66 each, so you're not paying much for the actual room rental. The cost was only slightly more (~$20) than what it cost to rent the room and pool at Westmount last year, but it was so much less stressful!
Age appropriate. The Pearl Hummingbird truly captivates the preschool audience. It's imagination play based, which is right up a three year old's alley. It's not rough and tumble like play gyms are, so the parents don't have to be right on top of their little ones. And, there's a lot of variety between the 8 or 9 themed play rooms that there's something for everyone, quiet or outgoing.
Close to home. I was so happy when The Pearl Hummingbird opened within a few blocks of our neighbourhood. I like to try to shop local and use local businesses when I can because I want to see them thrive! It was so, so nice to hop in the car with the party supplies, drive three mins and be at our venue.
I also love that the mess of the party stayed at the party. Sure, we took down the decor and put stuff in the garbage, but those bits of red icing on the floor or garbage cans to empty, or hand prints to wash off of windows were taken care of by The Pearl Hummingbird. Hosting the party out of the house definitely saved us hours of cleaning before and afterwards.
Although the party was not exclusive (there was another party, and the Village was open to the public), it was not overly crowded and the kids had lots of opportunities to play with what they wanted and explore.
The staff. Although they were there when we had questions or needed them, they were totally hands off and we didn't feel like we were being monitored or babysat. We were just free to have a good time!
What I'd Change Next Time
25 people was a lot of people to fit into the party room. However, this is partly my fault. We ordered 3 huge party pizzas which took up an entire set of tables to serve. We also had way too much food on the table that was intended for food. Next time I'd order a few of the exact same pizza so they could be stacked on top of one another, and I'd bring a lot less food. The kids don't care about the food! They just want to play! If I'd planned the food better we would have had a second set of tables for adults to eat at or sit around and socialize.
No red icing on the cake!! The cake I baked was Lightning McQueen, so there was no way to do it without red icing. However, the red icing resulted in red faces, red hands, and red clothes. Sorry friends!
Husband and I always like to debrief about events on the way home. Although it was a super short car ride home (yay!), we concluded that the party was a solid 8.5/10 and that The Pearl Hummingbird was the perfect venue for a three year old's party. The kids had an absolute blast using their imaginations and creativity and we loved watching how excited they were. It was just like hosting a huge play date on a Saturday afternoon!
If you're looking for an affordable and low-key venue for your little one's party, I highly recommend checking out The Pearl Hummingbird as an option. Stay tuned! I'm going to do a separate post about the party theme, decor and supplies.
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