Birthday Parties

Looking for a unique hands-on birthday party for kids ages 9–15? Celebrate your child's birthday with a fun and delicious cooking party at Sausalito's Pine Point Cooking School! The guests and birthday girl/boy will learn to prepare a tasty Mediterranean-inspired lunch or dinner, and of course eat it, too.

Partygoers will cook appetizers, marin courses, side dishes, and dessert. Possible dishes include Greek cheese triangles, roast polenta, chicken saltimbocca, and pizza. The menu is planned with the birthday honoree's tastes in mind. The lesson turns into a party as everyone eats what they've cooked around the dining table (parents are invited, too). The celebration wraps up with party favors and a rousing chorus of "Happy Birthday" over dessert!

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“Wow!” my son shouted as we walked in the door and laid eyes on all the LEGO kits and pieces in the room at Play-Well Teknologies in San Anselmo. We have been trying to visit “the LEGO place” (as my son calls it) and try one of their drop-in open-play sessions for a while now, but something always seemed to come up. We finally made it there last week with some friends for a playdate, and we all had a blast.

Play-Well TEKnologies' Marin Engineering Center features a large area dedicated just for the drop-in play. In fact, it's the largest drop-in LEGO center in the country. My son was in awe—they seemed to have every type of LEGO imaginable. Dozens of bins keep the LEGO pieces, reportedly over a million in all, organized by color, size, type, or theme, including wheels, ships, planes, engines, pirates and much, much more.
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Bring the petting zoo to your party with the Barnyardigans, a mobile petting zoo and pony ride company that specializes in children’s birthday parties. The Barnyyardigans brings animals to your birthday party venue whether it's your house, backyard, or local open space area or park—they'll even work with you and your local city recreation department in finding a suitable party venue that permits animals. They're certified and fully insured, and are licensed by the Marin Humane Society. You may have even seen the Barnyardigans zoo at various spots throughout Marin and Sonoma counties this fall, including the Nicasio Valley Farms pumpkin patch and Garlock Christmas Tree Farm in Sebastopol.

Everyone loves cupcakes! The little personal-portioned cakes have been favorites for birthday parties and other festive occasions for as long as anyone can remember, and they're currently experiencing a resurgence in popularity. These new artisan versions feature high quality ingredients and innovative flavors (as well as many of the classics we all know and love).

SweetFace Bakery, a gourmet bakery using local and organic ingredients and owned and operated by Marin resident Lena Shagoury, specializes in these tasty morsels (as well as full-size cakes and cookies), and offers a new take on birthday cupcakes: the mobile cupcake party. SweetFace's SweetRoll, their mobile bakery truck, will bring all the cupcake party ingredients—"naked" cupcakes, frosting, decorations, equipment, etc.—to your party site where partygoers can have fun creating their own ultimate cupcakes. And then eating them, of course.

Looking for the right tunes to set the mood for your Halloween party? The Chills might be the very thing you're looking for! In fact, if your kids are like ours, this CD will get quite a bit of air time around the house, even when it's not Halloween. The Chills are billed as "An un-dead version of the Village People," but are in reality are local singer/songwriter Ira Marlowe and his Brainy Tunes team. Ira's put together a CD of terrifying tunes that children and families will find both spooky, hilarious, and irresistable.

Tracks include songs about ghosts (Ghost Story, Haunting School), mad scientists (Brat Machine, The Long and Curious Saga of Dr. Trulaine), the Blob, creepy little men (Fear of Little Men), and other spooky things. Favorites in our home include Here Comes the Mummy, and Boogerman's Theme. Some of the lyrics are definitely on the scary side, and The Creeps is recommended for children 5 and up. That doesn't stop our 3-year-old from loving the album, though, so it all depends on the kid, ultimately.

Popular San Francisco-based ballet school Tutu School is now open in its second location in Larkspur! At Tutu School, children ages 18 months to 8 years have the unique opportunity to learn basic motor skills and build rhythmic awareness through creative movement, ballet, and storytelling, all set to the classical tunes of great composers like Bach and Tchaikovsky.
 
Tutu School's mission is to provide a magical space and nurturing environment for children to develop a positive relationship with both music and movement through the exploration of ballet. Each class concludes with "Ballet Story Time," where students' imaginations take them to places where fairies, princesses, and whirling dervishes take flight.
 
In addition to their "Exploring Ballet" program, Tutu School offers "Tutu Toddlers" classes for toddlers to take with a parent or nanny; custom birthday party packages; and "Tutu Camp" during the summer months. Tutu School Larkspur will continue to provide a safe haven for toddlers and kids to learn ballet, while allowing their parents to relax at the neighboring shops and restaurants of the Larkspur Landing Shopping Center.

What child doesn't dream of being a cowgirl or cowboy, riding their pony across the range? When my daughter was invited to a Pony Party for a friend's birthday at Novato's Morning Star Farm, we were all pretty excited. In case you're not familiar with it, Morning Star Farm is the large equestrian facility that you'll see in west Novato at the corner of Novato Boulevard and Sutro Avenue, directly across the street from San Marin High School.

Morning Star's Pony Parties are for children ages 3 and up, and our suitable for children up to 9 years old, although older kids can be accomodated with larger mounts if needed. The Pony Parties include one hour of hand-led pony rides, a trip to the farm's petting zoo—which includes goats, lambs, pigs miniature horses, ducks, and bunnies, and play time on their large play structure. Each child's pony ride lasts five to seven minutes and takes them through Morning Star Farm's scenic grounds.

Looking for a unique custom cake for your next birthday party (or any other festive occasion)? Check out Cakeaholics, a Marin business run by three passionate young bakers. Safia, Khadija, and Asma create custom-made cakes, each one specially designed to the ideas and requests of the customer. They strive to make cakes that rise above your standard bakery and supermarket cakes in both taste and design.

Examples of their colorful and fun designs include a hamburger, a gumball machine, the Cat in the Hat, Thomas the Tank Engine, Barbie, and more. Birthday cakes are a specialty, as well as custom cakes for baby showers, weddings, and any other special occasion. Their prices are surprisingly inexpensive, too.
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