birthday party ideas

OK. I’m calling it. Yes, it snowed in Toronto last night, but winter is over. Officially. The calendar and I both say so. It’s now just a matter of mind over sub-arctic winds.

As hard as it may still be to imagine a summer’s day, the sunny weather IS coming, and with it, the chance to gather outdoors for your parties, fairs and assorted extravaganzas.

Adventure Mania has a great range of bouncy castles for your events, with products to suit toddlers to teens.

A brand new offering for 2015, they’ve just brought in a movie screen bouncer, so that you can transition from daytime bouncing to night-time movie theatre. The rental comes complete with a PS3 console, a loud speaker, and a projector, with a movie screen that is 9 feet long, and 5 feet high.

There is a huge selection of bouncers with movie and game tie-ins, and you can combine them with various things, like slides and basketball hoops. For your little Frozen fans, one of their most popular rentals is the line of Frozen bouncers.

There is also a bouncer that operates rain or shine, so if you want your bases covered for your event, this is a great, safe bet.

Haley Chiappino is the Event Specialist at Adventure Media, and she is a delight to work with. Such a friendly ally in what can often be the stressful process of event planning. You can reach her at (905)864-3290 or info@adventuremania.ca. Best of all, if you mention this blog post, you will get a 10% discount for your rental. They rent everything from bouncy castles and slides to sno-cone makers and carnival games. All you need for a fun day in the sun. Based in Milton, they serve the entire GTA, and you can check out their full range of offerings here.

*Adventure Mania offered 4mothers1blog a rental for review consideration. The opinions expressed are our own.

You’ve all been to birthday parties with magicians and clowns, and maybe even with mad scientists and animal handlers, right? Well, when I did not register my son for fencing camp in time, I thought, “Why not hire a fencing instructor for his birthday party?”

It was a huge hit! I had seen the instructor working with a preschool fencing club at our local park. They used foam swords from the dollar store (no bruises! no lost eyeballs!) and practiced Official Fencing Positions. Sure, when they broke off to spar, very few of them stuck with proper form, but it’s fun, not the Olympics. I figured if he could handle a gang of preschoolers, he could handle my eleven-year-old and his buddies.

The event went off so well, I hired him again to do my seven-year-old’s party. Boys and girls loved the event equally, and, not a word of a lie, when I was sparring with one of the girls, I tried my hardest and I could not touch her with the sword. Take that, princess in distress stereotype! The kids all went home with their foam swords and a sheet illustrating the fencing positions they had learned. (I heard later that one boy was showing off his moves to his grandparents in England on Skype.)

You could do this with any number of skills: drumming, playing the harmonica, jewelry-making, painting, cartooning, knitting, carpentry. The loot bags create themselves, and the kids go home with a new skill. What’s not to love?