Birthday Party Locations & Activities

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.

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.

My son recently celebrated his sixth birthday, and when we asked him what he wanted to do for his party, he was adamant on having it at Cal-Star Gymnastics, a gymnastics and sports facility in Novato. He'd been to another party there last fall and obviously it made an impression on him. The price seemed to fit our budget, so we made the reservation and got ready to invite his friends.

Although I'd been to Cal-Star before for their drop-in Power Play sessions, I wasn't too familiar with their birthday parties. I didn't quite know what to expect from them, but I was more than pleasantly surprised at how fun and well organized the party was. The best thing about it, of course, was that all the kids had a blast. We had a wide range of ages there, from 3 to 8, and everyone had a really good time. Of course it didn't hurt that they were getting some great exercise and physical activity while they were at it!

If you live in Novato or spend time there, especially around the holidays, you can't help but notice the beautiful horse-drawn carriages traversing the length of Grant Avenue, and making their way around town in search of the most magnificent holiday light displays. These classy but decidedly old-fashioned vehicles are owned and operated by Novato resident Gary Sello and his Indian Valley Carriage Company. If you're looking for a family outing in Marin that is truly unique, fun, and stress-free, then you should consider the offerings of Indian Valley Carriage.

Based in Novato's rural Indian Valley neighborhood, Gary and Indian Valley Carriage operate several different carriages, including a formal black and maroon vis-à-vis (where up to six passengers sit facing each other), a three-seat surrey (with a fringe on top!) that can carry four to six passengers, and a large covered wagon that seats up to twelve.