Thinking of having a Garden State Discovery Museum birthday party? This fun South Jersey birthday party location is a great time for all littles involved! Read on to see our thoughts!
Disclosure: This Garden State Discovery Museum Birthday Party is sponsored. Thoughts and opinions are 100% our own.
I have a confession.
I was dreading this year. The closer and closer we got to November, it was like a giant pit in my stomach. We were reaching this huge milestone. Our baby girl was turning five. FIVE. How did this happen?
I feel like we were just announcing her birth a few weeks ago. No way in the world has five years gone by already. I may have cried a little bit. Y’all, she’s growing so fast and there’s nothing slowing her down.
Serenity is a bright, determined, independent, and funny little kid. I’m so blessed to have her call me mom and so grateful for the moments we have and memories created together. I know there’s not much more time before I blink again and she’s 10, then 15, then off to college.
We are trying to savor all of the time we have.
It was time for a CELEBRATION at Garden State Discovery Museum
We celebrate birthdays every year, but we don’t have parities for every birthday. We only do parties on big occasions and five is a big one. I wanted a place that we could celebrate her and the great time we’ve had together.
Garden State Discovery Museum had everything we were looking for in a party:
- Themed party
- Ample time in a party room with a host
- Dedicated independent play time in the party facility
- Clean Up done for us
- and more
How the Parties Work at Garden State Discovery Museum
The celebration was all about the birthday girl, so a few weeks before her party, I showed her party choices.
They ranged from an art party to science party, princess party to pirate party. Naturally, she picked the pirate party. If you know our girl, she’s always had a fascination with pirates. It was her first Halloween costume when she was old enough to verbalize what she wanted to be and she’s loved them every since. So pirate day it was!
See our birthday video complication:
When you have a birthday party at Garden State Discovery Museum, you get an hour and a half in a private room for just your party. During this time, you can have food (by there or bring from outside), cake, open presents and anything else you have planned. This happened at the beginning of the party for us and I believe it at the beginning for all.
One of the coolest things about your time in the private room is that a special guest (a pirate in our case) arrives with fun for all. Our pirate captain brought in a bounty of treasure in her chest. Inside all the kids were invited to make pirate hats equipped with their names and own decorations. They also got tattoos and a treasure before she headed out.
In total, the pirate stayed for approximately 25 minutes.
Our hostess for the day also helped us get our food handed out, played an eye spy game, helped with the kids decorating art pieces (tablecloths) and ended our time with a birthday song and cake.
After the Party Room
After the hour and a half inside the private room, our friends were allowed to roam the Garden State Discovery Museum for themselves and see what they could discover.
I will note here that once you leave the party area to go out into the play area, the party is pretty much over. There is no way to keep your entire group together. And, while Garden State Discovery Museum isn’t a huge facility, it’s large enough that you just can’t keep everyone together.
Updated information: I did learn that you are able to rent out the entire facility. If this is an option for you, then obviously you could keep more tabs on your entire party.
There are so many play spaces set up for kids including:
- theatre
- art center
- rock wall
- sports area
- dinosaur discovery
- vet
- diner
- automobile
- and more
We literally love the Garden State Discovery Museum. Our kids would play they all day every day and constantly be immersed in a new learning experience every day.
Here’s some more pictures from our fun day:
Our big girl is on to braver adventures. She’s growing before our eyes and we can’t wait to see the amazing things she accomplishes in her life. She’s a fighter and she’s going to do big thing. Our hope for her is that she never gives up, always stays true to her beliefs, and follows her own dreams and goals.
See you at Garden State Discovery Museum
Garden State Discovery Museum in located in Cherry Hill, NJ. In addition to birthday parties, they have an amazingly interactive learning facility for children to engage in independent, role based play.
Currently, if you purchase a membership you get 10% off a party! Learn about joining Garden State Discovery Museum today. We hope to see you there soon!
Update: Garden State Discovery Museum updated all of their party rooms in 2019!
Our post was originally published on 12/11/2017 and updated in July 2019.