Celebrating her 7th birthday my grandaughter was able to tap into her creative side and make two…read moremasterpieces with great pride! The encouragement and gentle leadership from Robin allowed us to share an experience that will surely be a core memory forever. I highly recommend Painted Penquin!!

Good place where you can take a stress off, enjoy the art that you make and feel comfortable. The…read morePainted Penguin at Water Tower Place it's for kids and grown-up have enough assortment of sculptures, nice paint material and friendly employees. I was excited to spend there are almost whole day and I made my beautiful sculpture:)

WOW this place is large!…read more I took my daughter here earlier this week for her birthday and it was quite the day. We started off the day with shopping for a doll. She wanted one that looked just like her. A very nice salesperson helped us and gave her many options. We finally found one but still walked around and looked for accessories and just to meander through all the areas of the store. The second floor is so wild. There is a salon and so many different rooms. Make sure to make a salon reservation ahead of time. I made that mistake. I did know to make a Lunch reservation at the cafe. It was delightful! The food was surprisingly good! This is a pricey store but worth the memories and I know my daughter is so happy

So here's the thing I've actually been to this café twice as an adult. Obviously, I grew up as an…read moreAmerican girl doll lover I mean, come on I'm an American and a girl???? But my friends have had two separate birthday brunches here and you know what I'm not mad about it??? You got four courses for $38??? And you get to bring your own doll BYOD! I brought my own, of course, and she has a backpack......They always start you off with the cinnamon rolls, which are very flaky but good. If I was a child, I would eat 10 of these, but they only give you one. Then they give you this tea service ask plate with a variety of strange appetizers. For example, meatballs, fried ravioli and hummus bites. Very random, but that's OK. There is something for everyone at the American girl doll store. For my main on both times that I've been here I've had the quiche with the side salad. Look, I'll be honest it's a really good quiche. It's a quiche I would seek out if it wasn't at the American girl doll store. Finally, you finish with dessert, which is normally chocolate mousse, but if you're celebrating a birthday, you get the chocolate and vanilla cake with a side of ice cream with rainbow sprinkles. The cake actually isn't that good but the ice cream is. You also get a free nonalcoholic beverage! Look even as an adult I think this is a funny side quest or bit and like I said, the food is actually good. Yet again, another win for capitalism.

All 3 of my kids have similar birthdays so my daughter has been sharing a bday party with my son…read morefor the past 3 years. When she declared she was getting her very own "super girly" party this year I suggested an American Girl (her current obsession) Tea Party. She loved the idea so I did a bit of research on who hosted the best tea parties in town...and came across Mrs. Newberry's Traveling Tea Party. Mrs. Newberry is running quite the operation. She arrived hours before our party w/ her tea truck (no joke) full of gorgeous china, chairs, tables, unicorns (yes, unicorns) and more. Within hours she turned my kitchen into a gorgeous tea parlor that made my daughter exclaim "oh my goodness" and jump up and down for the entire day. And if that's not enough to excite a 6 year old she brings dozens of gowns, hats, and jewels for the girls to dress up in before they sit down for tea. Tea is a favorite pasttime of mine (Peninsula anyone?) and Mrs Newberry gave these girls quite the intro. While enjoying a cup of delish tea (aka: fruit juice) they stuffed their faces with pizza bagels, cupcakes, muffins, cookies, candy, cheese, fruit and more birthday cake (the only thing I actually had to provide). Delicious tea & food is only part of the fun. Mrs. Newberry read some adorable books, including our favorite Fancy Nancy, and had very engaging conversation with the girls. She had complete control of 26 mostly kindergarteners- even my 3 yr old son was mesmerized by her "show." She ended the "par-tea" with a craft project that I thought was a bit too easy for the girls (stickers on pumpkins and bats in honor of Halloween), but then again that's probably all they could sit thru after all the sugar. My only mistake was not sending the kids home after 1.5 perfect hours with Mrs. Newberry because when it was my turn to take over (which basically involved setting them loose in my basement) it was complete chaos. I had worried when I booked her that 1.5 hours wouldn't be enough, but like everything else Mrs. Newberry knows best. I only wish I could hire Mrs. Newberry to come entertain my kids every weekend....she truly is a real life Mary Poppins.

Thank you so much for such a fun day! Everything was perfect and my daughter had a blast! The…read moreunicorns were so lifelike and there were so many fun activities to do throughout the whole day!

Total cash grab! You pay just to get in the door entry, then you pay for face painting, and you…read morepay even more for water and everything else. They're smart....they know that little girls love unicorns and parents will fork over any amount of money to make their girls happy. Take your kids to the park and avoid this hustle!

First Class Experience! The instructor, Alex, was knowledgeable and friendly providing patient…read moreinstruction to my 11-yr-old and her BFF. The girls had a blast with their tails learning to blow heart shaped bubbles, swim like a mermaid and perform underwater forward/backward somersaults. Finally, they did mermaid poses in front of the inflatable shell for mom to take photos. Highly recommend the experience. One suggestion: Leave plenty of time to find parking as it's a bit limited right on campus, so you may have to walk a bit to the pool.

So much fun. Definitely a must do! I just thought our instructor would have a tail on too! Will…read moredefinitely be back!

My son and his friend really wanted a Mario Kart birthday party. I looked into all the race and…read morebumper car options all over the North Shore, but ideally wanted to rent my own cars and put them in a local gym. I did some research and discovered you could rent power wheels cars (genius) and bumper cars (for older kids) thru Party Wheelz. I booked everything thru Diane at Party Wheelz who was super easy to work with. We decided on 9 power wheels for the size of our party, which also had some other mario themed entertainment. The next step was finding a gym that would let us bring in the power wheels. We had a few options in the North Shore, but ended up settling on a beautiful gym in Northbrook that was just perfect. Diane and her team showed up 45 min before party time to set up the cars and the obstacle course. When all the kids arrived they couldn't be more excited when they saw both the obstacle course and cars. In fact, they wanted nothing to do with the other activities including mario and luigi characters and playing nintendo because they just wanted to race the cars over and over again. Diane and her team kept things super well organized and I was impressed with how the kids waited patiently for their turns, although no one needed to wait for more than a few minutes. She also even had goody bags for the kids which included fun glasses and whistles, although I think all the adults who stuck around could have done without the piercing whistle sounds. Overall, it was a hit and I think perfect for a group of 1st grade boys. I think it's ideal for ages 4-7 and beyond that I'd look into the bumper car options for older kids.

Oh my god, funnest 5th birthday party ever! We rented 5 cars and added a 6th day of to accommodate…read moresome bigger kids. Diane, the Party Wheelz Owner, was responsive, professional, and seemed to take true joy in the day along with us. Communication was easy before, during, and after the party. Dropoff was a breeze and the end of party was seamless. We had 2 straight hours of fun on the cars, smiles all around. I would highly, highly recommend Party Wheelz for any kids' event!

We took my daughter here for her birthday the other day, the "pay your age" deal is awesome! It…read morejust applies to the bear itself, all other items are full prices, but still. So fun! It was my daughter's first time at build a bear and she loved it. She liked picking her bear and see it being made for her. And loved adding a heart inside. The staff is so helpful and kind. Made the experience that much better. I love the touch with the birth certificate. Shout out to Brad for helping us so much and bravo with suggesting a name! We were lucky enough to get a gift card from a friend for the shopping trip and ended up going home with 6 outfits and three pairs of shoes for this bear. Excellent location.

Our bear builder at the navy pier BAB shop was an awesome guy , he's great with the kids and really…read morehelped our daughter , she'd been suffering with a lil anxiety as of late and he helped us record a little message of our voices to put in her bear , he talked us through everything and made her laugh and I would like to thank him for his kind words to her ....highly recommend giving this a try

Heads up, this place can be pretty chaotic with lots of kids in a small space. It's also a bit…read morepricey at $22 per child, but that does include a snack and parking validation. They have different play areas like a kitchen/home, vet clinic, grocery store, cafe, recycling truck, train tracks, and a fire truck. The 90-minute reservation was perfect for my toddlers.

What a wonderful place!…read more My daughter's school was off today- so we booked tickets to play at Play Street (in advance!) I am so happy this is in South Loop! It's extremely clean, the toys are high quality, and there is such a variety of items, experiences, and activities for the kids. We arrived about 10 minutes before our reserved playtime and we saw them cleaning and tidying up the space before they let us in. Each reservation is 1.5 hrs. We bought a play pass (5) to save a little bit of money. I'm glad I did, because we will for sure be back. They do cap the amount of kids that can play inside at one time, it looked like there were 20 Kids in there at the time. I cant be sure but it as a lot of kids but never felt overwhelming nor did it seem like my daughter didn't have a chance to play with something. There is a little pretend city? A small slide, an arts and crafts area, musical instruments, a book and blocks area and you can add on slime or painting experiences.

My two year old (plus a few months) has been doing classes with Skip & Scoot since she was about 18…read moremonths old and I can't say enough about the classes and about Miss Luci. Skip & Scoot classes are full of fun obstacle courses, activities, music, singing, dancing, stories and more. The bubbles at the end of class are always a favorite for my mini. Oh and the stamp... she loves to have her stamp that all of the kids receive at the end. These classes are great for entertaining and also exhausting my toddler - she always takes a good nap after a Skip & Scoot class. ;-) And if this wasn't reason enough, Miss Luci will often chime in with some tidbits about how this activity or that exercise is not only fun, but is building the brain and helping improve development in our little ones. Note about Covid: We have also taken the new outdoor classes more recently (after months of sheltering in place and doing virtual classes) and would like to point out that Skip & Scoot now has precautionary Covid procedures in place. All adults (including the teacher) are required to wear face masks and the whole set up is in an outdoor park with tons of space for social distancing. Everyone (kids and adults) are asked to use hand sanitizer prior to touching equipment and everyone in the class follows along with these measures and we feel very safe and comfortable. And it's so great for my kid to be back in this type of learning and play environment with other kids!

I hired Luci to teach classes at my playspace and she absolutely knocks it out of the park every…read moretime! Kids and adults love her and she's very knowledgeable about how to engage children's bodies and minds. Highly recommend!

Okay, so I am now on a mission to purchase a little trinket from every city I visit and while…read morevisiting Chicago we dropped by Pop Mart. Our hotel was only a 10 minute walk from Pop Mart so my friends and I knew we had to drop by. This store is a lot larger than ours in San Diego so there was ample space to walk around and I didn't feel super pressured by others. The team here greeted us right away and asked if we needed a shopping bag, I was only getting one and I knew having a shopping bag would definitely cause me to add more. They had so many options for Cry Baby I really want them all but only chose one. Obviously they're blind boxes so I ended up opening it in store and immediately latching it to my purse. Again there were so many options, I even saw the tempura shrimp Labubu ipod case. I would have snagged it by my friend bought it for me for my birthday. If you're in Chicago and shopping I'd definitely drop by here and pick up a little trinket instead. The prices do range depending on what you purchase but I think mine was $32? So worth it for me.

Feeling playful at this fun place to visit, especially now when it is a hot trend. But the store…read morewas super crowded and very warm inside. The store is well lit and laid out so you can shop by collections but be prepared to spend some dough on a pop collectible or a trendy gift. I needed a cool cocktail after the busy store so we headed past Nordstrom to Lao Sze Chuan on MI Ave for a Lycheetini. (And I think my Labubu appreciated the lovely tone of my Lycheetini)!