“Kids Party Place” Search Tips and Review of Creative Play Indoor Playground in Ajax

As a father of 2 toddlers, I have now become an (unexpected) quasi-expert on Play Places in the GTA.

Whether you’re there to let your kid blow off some energy, or hosting a party at one, here’s my review of a recent trip to Creative Play Indoor Playground & Party Centre in Ajax and some other resources for you parents out there who are looking for a place to host a party in the east end of the GTA!

First off, there are numerous places that summarize the party places available in the GTA already.  The most comprehensive one I’ve found to date (to save you the trouble of trying to check all 707,000 pages that come up on Google when you search “Party Place GTA”) is below.  There are tons of others so if the one below doesn’t work, just Google away!

Toronto 4 Kids – a pretty good summary of what’s out there to host kids parties.  Best aspect is that the places are sorted by location.

Second, you need to figure out a theme.  This is the easy part as all you have to do is ask your child and VOILA!, you have a theme.  What to do with that theme is a whole other matter…  Most party places can help you with the theme including games, special guests i.e. actors to dress up as (insert your child’s favourite character here), decorations and even loot bags!  Unfortunately, it all comes at a cost so if you’re too lazy/not inventive enough/have no time to do something yourself, be prepared.   If you do have the time, to paraphrase Hannibal from The A-Team, “you’ll love it when your plan comes together” as it can be extremely rewarding to see your child’s face light up as your custom made games/ideas bring their theme to life!  If there’s enough interest, perhaps we’ll start posting cheat sheets on different party themes that Dad’s can use/have used in the past to help each other out!

Which brings us to our most recent party place experience - Creative Play in Ajax.  Here’s our experience:

Details: Creative Play Indoor Playground and Party Centre, 539 Westney Rd. S., Ajax ON, 905-231-1900, www.creativeplay.ca.

Ambience:  Pretty standard across most party places where you have some separate rooms to host different-sized parties and a large play area with the big gym/playset for all to use and Creative Play follows the same model.  Creative Play’s space  seemed to be on the larger side versus many other play places we’ve been to which is always good when there are lots of kids.  For our recent spooky party, they were able to provide some Halloween decorations which were a nice touch.

Kids Stuff: Aside from the standard play gym/riding toys/toddler section, Creative Play had a unique area to host 2 on 2 hockey or basketball playing for younger kids; this section was always in use at our party.  They also had a painting station which you don’t see in most play places.

Kids Food:  We brought our own food to the party.  When we attended another party here for one of Book Boy’s friend’s, they had DIY (do it yourself) pizzas which Book Boy seemed to enjoy.  The staff were very helpful in supplying some things we forgot at home (cake knife, lighter for candles, etc.)

Coolest Thing About Play Place:  Book Boy’s friends really liked the hockey section.  Incredible Dad liked the availability of a back entrance to load the loot … I mean to pack the presents into the van easily.

Worst Thing About Play Place:  The party right before us were a bit tardy in getting out and with only 30 minutes between parties, there was a bit of a mess left by the last party.  But this was a minor point as we ourselves stayed a bit later and the owner (Christine) was totally understanding.

Tips to consider: Ensure you arrive about 30 minutes before your scheduled time to setup without a panic.  We only booked 2 hours for our party so getting there early allowed us to setup then just enjoy our time with family and friends.

Overall Experience:  Creative Play is a welcome addition to the Durham party place landscape.  Lots of space, good gym/toys/hockey space and friendly staff make this a place where Ballet Girl is now considering to have her party!  You can’t get a much better recommendation than that!

Nov/09 Update

We recently had a second party at Creative Play and had another great experience.  Both Jan and Christine were helpful and were always ready to make sure everything in the party was going well.  We had Ariel there and were relatively happy with the experience (but Ballet Girl was ecstatic!).

Also took some pics to include so enjoy and comment below about your experiences as well!   ID

Welcome desk.

Play and craft area.

Jungle gym and play area.

Other Posts That Might Interest You:

1. Halloween Kids Party Cheat Sheet!
2. Inspire Your Kids (because they’re really listening)!
3. Review of Chef Tommy’s on Bayly – Ajax