Hi. I'm hoping to get some ideas. My boy will be turning 8 this June and he wants to have a basketball theme party. I've been looking for some basketball venues out there and it has been quite hard finding one. Any feedback/ideas will certainly be appreciated.
when I taught grade school students/parents used to rent out the gym for a few hours on a sat or sun for a birthday party to play games and hired a gym teacher or active young teacher to run some games. just an idea. the rates for a school gym are usually very reasonable and you can negotiate with a teacher/coach to run some games. hope it helps!
Many park districts offer birthday parties, and often with a gym-centered theme. They're usually pretty reasonably priced. You can also check out my website, www.kidwinks.com. You'll see the purple text link on our home page (front and center) for Birthday Party Places for Kids. That will give you a list of well over 100 places in the Chicago area; become a kidwinks member, which is free, and you can sort that list by distance from your house. Kidwinks also has a Kids Eat Free Calendar in our Restaurants Section, an Events Section, and lots of ideas for things to do with your kids in the Ongoing Activities Section.
Good luck with your party!
J.
In the city, Drucker Center is also good. You can rent one of their gyms and have a couple of people who work there help run the party - they can do lots of different basketball-themed games. You decorate and bring the food, but it would be a perfect venue for a basketball party. A boy we know had a baseball-themed party there recently.
You could look into renting space at a gym, maybe a YMCA. The Y in Berwyn charges about $60 an hour for the room for a party and then another $60 for the gym and you do not have to be a member. You could also check out Orientaltrading.com if you are looking for any items for goodie bags or prizes. They also might have stuff for decorating.
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