I finally had to give the child a deadline. By mid-November, my soon-to-be-6-year-old still could not make up her mind what she wanted to do for a party for her birthday, which is Dec. 11. With Thanksgiving rapidly approaching, I wanted to start preparing. I'm not a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of mom.
After all, this is a December birthday. It's not like I can just throw some snacks on a picnic table and let the kids run around the backyard, like those July birthdays I'm so envious of. There could be 2 feet of snow on that grass in December! And I had decided on Dec. 12 of last year not to allow a party in my home again; it's unbelievable the mess a group of little girls can make.
So an outside venue that's inside a building was clearly in order. But where in the Berkshires could I do that? It's not like there's an obvious place like a Chuck E. Cheese's down the street. We had attended a birthday party at Zucco's Family Restaurant in Pittsfield in the past, and another at the Super Bounce Bouncy House at the Berkshire Mall, and another at Valley Park Bowl in North Adams, and they were all fun, but who wants to repeat what another mom has done? After all, kids' birthday parties can lend themselves to serious parental one-up-manship.
But Noelle was not to be rushed in this oh-so-important decision, and on the Monday of the week before Thanksgiving, I gave her to the Friday before
Her five options were Bisque, Beads and Beyond in Pittsfield; Berkshire Humane Society in Pittsfield; Villari's Martial Arts Center in Williamstown; Berkshire Dance Theatre in Bennington, Vt.; and the McDonald's in Bennington, Vt.
Why these five options? To begin with, Noelle is very interested in crafts, so Bisque, Beads and Beyond seemed like a natural fit for her. Alexis Jones, the production manager at the downtown Pittsfield studio, said the studio's parties are indeed a natural fit for children -- and adults -- of all ages.
"It's a chance to be creative," said Jones, who said parties can be centered around painting ceramic figures, beading jewelry or or creating stained glass. A private party room is available for groups of 10 and up and prices range from $13 to $16 per guest; parties are held every day of the week.
Parents like that they don't have to set up or clean up. Kids love it because they come home with something other than a standard goodie bag.
"They have something they have made to show for it," Jones said "There are a lot of memories made."
Option number two, the Berkshire Humane Society, was like finding a diamond in the rough. Sure, pool, movie and bowling parties are kind of obvious indoor fare in the area (and there are plenty of those throughout the county; again, see the list online at thefamilybeat.com), but who would have thought the humane society offered birthday parties? Karen Karlberg, the shelter's community outreach coordinator and party planner, said the facility has offered birthday parties for four years.
"My parties are awesome," she said. "We've gotten it down to a science."
Parties are offered on Saturdays from noon to 2 p.m. and Sundays from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. during the cold weather months and cost $125 for 10 children -- and all that money is a donation to the nonprofit facility.
"They really help the shelter," Karlberg said. "It's cash flow at a difficult time of the year."
Party-goers get to see a video about animals, visit actual animals, play animal bingo and more -- and the shelter takes care of goodie bags and gives a T-shirt to the birthday child.
"It's perfect," Karlberg said. "It's the best party in the world."
For Danielle Mack of Pittsfield, who had her son's 6th birthday party at the shelter, it certainly was.
"One of the things the kids loved was going into the room where the dogs are groomed," she said. "The kids all squeezed into the machine that dries the dogs. That was one of my son's favorite parts of the day."
Mack said the whole experience was easy on her and her husband, too -- especially because of the one big rule anyone considering a humane society party should know up front: no adoptions during birthday parties.
"Everyone that attended the party are animal lovers, especially my husband and I," she said. "Thankfully they don't do animal adoptions on the day of the birthday party. I think that made a lot of parents breathe sighs of relief."
Option number three -- Villari's Martial Arts Center in Williamstown -- was the closest to our house and therefore made me the happiest when planning a December event in the Berkshires. And what's not to love about a karate party? Rachel Louis of Williamstown had a joint party there for her 6-year-old twins and 17 other kids and had a great experience.
"It was super easy for us. All I had to do was bring the cake -- ice cream cone cupcakes, in our case," she said. "That's it."
Because her twins are students at the center, they are were able to help owner Nathan Sumner lead the guests in learning some basic karate moves for the first third of the party. That's something Sumner said is always a hit with the students.
"The kids really like it because they get to share something they do with their friends," he said.
After the lessons comes the food, with Sumner providing pizza and drinks, followed by presents and, if there's time, more karate drills. Sumner also prepares goodie bags, which include discount coupons for new students, which Sumner said is the driving force in offering the parties. The parties cost $125 for up to 10 children, with extra children costing $5 each.
Louis had to pay for some of those extra kids, but it was money well-spent, she said.
"My kids really enjoyed it. I think the other kids did, too," she said. "One of the moms reported back to me that her son, who usually came from birthday parties all crazy, came home in a ‘zen-like' state."
My daughter's fourth and fifth options were up the road in Bennington, Vt., which is not any farther for us than driving to Pittsfield. A Bennington student at Berkshire Dance Theatre, where Noelle takes dance and gymnastics lessons, has started offering parties in the Bennington studio. For $10 a kid, Juliet Mazzola will choreograph a dance to the birthday child's favorite song and then teach the dance to the party-goers. And the Bennington McDonald's has a PlayPlace structure that I sometimes take Noelle to play in on cold days. (Yes, I have seen the reports on the germs in those things, but I'm not a germophobe. She just has to wash her hands before eating.) Birthday parties there include Happy Meals for the kids and the use of the play structure.
So those were our five options; there are some other great choices in the area, but I had to narrow it down for Noelle to have a chance at deciding what she wanted to do. Other cool venues provide an educational experience: Mass MoCA's Kidspace offers parties, as does the Berkshire Museum. In fact, the Berkshire Museum, according to director of communications Lesley Beck, aims to make sure the kids attending parties there are "engaged" the entire two hours, whether they choose a "Dino Dig" theme or an animal theme that's based around the aquarium.
"It's a place where kids can be active, but it's in any kind of weather," Beck said. "The kids can really relax and have a great time."
Another off-the-beaten path idea is Animagic: Museum of Animation, Special Effects and Art in Lee. Kim Ostellino of Pittsfield said she was investigating a party there for her son.
"My son is always looking to do something different, and he loves museums, so when he saw an article on the museum, he was interested," she said. "The museum itself is free, and open every day, both of which benefit me, and it only takes about 20 minutes for the tour, which is just about right for his attention span. At the end of the tour, you can pay an additional fee to create your own animated video. They help you through the entire process, and you go home with your own artistic creation."
Ostellino said she, like me, had ruled out a party in her home for winter-born child.
"I don't think my nerves calmed down for about three weeks," she said. "I was pulling darts out of my ceiling and cleaning melted ice cream out of my heating vents, so, yeah, I don't see that happening again."
It's nice to know I'm not the only parent who has banned home parties, although am I the only parent who gave her child a deadline for choosing a venue? Maybe ... but it worked.
That Tuesday, four days before the Friday deadline, Noelle came to me and told me she had made up her mind: She wanted the craft party at Bisque, Beads and Beyond. I'd love to be able to report back on how it went, but this Family Beat is coming out before her actual party. I plan ahead, remember?
Anyone with an indoor venue to add to our online list of birthday party venues can email Family Beat editor Rebecca Dravis at info@thefamilybeat.com.
A NOTE FROM THE WRITER ON DEC. 14: The Bisque, Beads and Beyond party was awesome!
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