Cheeky Monkey Organic Peanut Snacks Review & Giveaway

Our family is very often on-the-go. As most fellow homeschoolers will agree - you often spend more time outside the home and words like car-schooling or world schooling apply much better! This of course brings on the challenge of feeding my kids nutritious and healthy foods and snacks no matter where we may be that day. Grab and go type options that are actually healthy are extremely scarce and my biggest pet peeve is the sheer amount of sugar even in organic kids snacks. So I was definitely excited to be introduced to Cheeky Monkey - a healthy, sugar free, organic kids snack.

We received a few bags of Cheeky Monkey to put to the test of two very hungry growing munchkins who scream "I'm hungry!" the moment they are done with their breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Honestly, I had no idea they would like these so much. At first Baby E, my older one, didn't take to the peanut snacks and gave them to her little brother Baby T, but surprise, moments later I saw her sneaking some from his bag. Then she asked for her own. Then I had to hide the stuff! After I tried it I had to hide it from myself frankly! It's a good thing they are full of protein and fill you up pretty quick, otherwise it would be very hard to stop. They are not salty, but with just a hint of sweetness - without any sugar, the organic peanut butter has that bit of sweet tastiness that's hard to explain. 

There is so much we like about Cheeky Monkey, I'm not even sure where to start! Most important to me I think is the three organic certifications that Cheeky Monkey has passed - COR (Canadian), USDA, and EU Certified Organic. Ultimately I think we all want to reduce our kids' exposure to pesticides, because no matter how hard we try they will be exposed here and there regardless. My job as a parent is to minimize that when and if I can, as much as I can afford to. 

Cheeky Monkey peanut snacks are also certified gluten-free. This means they are produced in a gluten free dedicated facility that is certified by the Gluten Free Certification Organization. While we do not have celiac disease, overall we feel better when we minimize our intake of gluten. For me the primary reason - gluten makes me foggy and zaps my energy. For my kids, an overload of gluten gives them bowel issues and irritability. Not a fan of them being moody! So I definitely appreciate the fact I have a gluten-free snack on hand.

Likewise, while we are not vegan by any means - I like the fact that Cheeky Monkey puffs are vegan and an entirely plant-based snack, yet very high in protein. They are also kosher certified by the Orthodox Union, if that's something that is important to your family. These were not a must for us personally, but a nice bonus on the list of positives. To top it all off, there are also no trans-fats, no sugar, dairy, or casein. Right now we do consume organic dairy, but there was a point in Baby E's life when dairy was actually life-threatening to her when as an infant she couldn't at all digest milk protein, not even when I would eat it and it showed up in breast milk. 

Before I agreed to review this, I wanted to make sure it would be something I would wholeheartedly let my kids eat without concerns and that it is also an environmentally sound and sustainably sourced product. While I would have preferred coconut oil, it was great to learn that the organic palm oil used to make the snacks is both Rainforest Alliance certified and certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. 

My kids are no longer babies, but this snack is actually safe and beneficial for babies. Not only does it quickly melt in the mouth so there is no choking hazard, a recent study also showed that 6 grams a week of peanut protein (about 1.5 ounces of Cheeky Monkey), can reduce the risk of developing peanut allergy. So it's perfect in small amounts even for infants starting solids! A great on-the-go addition to those healthy veggies you may start your infant on while continuing breastfeeding.

Last but not least, this snack was developed by group of people, including parents, that have a primary interest in health and wellness for their children and themselves. Much like me, but perhaps with way better skills at bringing such a great idea to life! 

One of my readers is going to get to try these yummy snacks for yourself, we hope your kids will love these as much as mine do! 

Giveaway is open to U.S. residents. Obviously, please do not enter if you have someone in your household with life-threatening peanut allergies. One winner per household, email address, or home address. If you have won this prize on another blog you are ineligible to win again.

Connect with Cheeky Monkey on Facebook and their website

Disclaimer: I participated in this event on behalf of Wendy's Bloggers for Cheeky Monkey. I received Cheeky Monkey products to facilitate my review.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Nature's Path & Stonyfield: Superfood Breakfast

You already know I have a soft spot in my heart for organic yogurt from Stonyfield. So I'm sure it's no surprise it is a frequent breakfast of mine! I really love my mornings when the kids are still asleep (which is often till 9 am since we homeschool), I wake up with dawn, tip toe downstairs, and mix up some yummy granola with a cup of Stonyfield Oh My Yog or just a regular large French Vanilla. Then I cozy up in my home office to edit wedding or engagement photos before they wake up and we start our homeschooling lessons, trekking outdoors, or simply playing. I've been buying the Nature's Path Chia Plus Granola for years and am a big fan, but I was excited to also try the Pumpkin Flax Granola that we received in the mail. 

It's a perfect combination of flavors, not too sweet and definitely not "blah". With the addition of the Nature's Path Qi'a it further elevates a breakfast to be a super-breakfast. Qi'a is naturally gluten free and packed with plant based protein, fiber, and omega 3s. There is no added sugar or salt, and of course it is certified organic and non-GMO verified.

As an eco-conscious mom and blogger, one of the most important things to me is how the food we eat is grown and sourced. With Stonyfield and Nature's Path I can be confident I'm feeding my family GMO-free foods that are of the highest quality, short of growing and producing it myself - and what busy mom has time for that? 

Not only is this a simple breakfast to throw together, but you don't have to stop there, the yogurt, superfood cereal,  and the granola may all be used as ingredients in creating a unique breakfast of your own, a great part of a cookie recipe that you can dream up! Baby E and Baby T love helping me in the kitchen, so they'd be the first to make up a crazy recipe and put random ingredients in the cookies. It might seem random, but Nature's Path has the perfect ingredients for a healthy cookie. 

My kids love putting the granola in their yogurt. In fact it's extended not just to breakfast, but they'll have it for a snack, sometimes for lunch, and believe it or not, even dinner! Okay, so that only happened a couple of times, but who am I to say no to a healthy organic "dinner"? 

How would you use Nature's Path granola or Qi'a superfood breakfast cereal?

Disclosure: As a Stonyfield Blogger I was sent Nature's Path products along with Stonyfield coupons for this review. All opinions are my own and I only work with brands whose mission I wholeheartedly support and would recommend to my readers. 

Tieks Review {Perfect Shoes for Moms and Female Photographers!}

As a mom and professional wedding photographer, my footwear choices are limited to whatever is the most comfortable. I am always looking for a pair that is comfy, compliments many outfits, and will last. That's why I was so excited to discover Tieks by Gavrieli! 

They are perfect for chasing toddlers.

They are perfect for running many errands, food shopping, and playgrounds. 

They are perfect for city strolls with a stroller. 

They are perfect for kneeling, squatting, walking, and standing on your feet for 10 hours making another bride and groom happy! (in my case)

I first ordered a pair in my normal shoes size - a seven. I put them to the ultimate test of an all day wedding and ended up with some blisters on my heels. I was sad, because other than that they were super comfortable and perfect. So I let the wonderful people at Tieks know about my experience and they sent me one size up quickly to replace my size seven with an eight. I've worn these at another wedding and they were perfect! You can see me below at the mansion right before the reception, wearing this beautiful pair of metallic pewter Tieks.  

These are the perfect flats for a single professional in the city, for the urban or suburban mom, or even the retiree who has no interest in heels and wants a well-made pair of comfy flats that will last. Most of all of course I recommend these for other female photographers, you'll love them! Will they cause a case of sticker shock? Perhaps. They did for me. If you are buying them to wear for your business though, it's a great write off! I don't plan to wear them for anything other than wedding photography, they are my special "favorite job ever" shoes. Tieks enable me to photograph a wedding without having to think about how uncomfortable my shoes are, which of course makes it possible to focus on giving my client the best experience and to have some fun with them!

I also love that the Gavrieli Foundation supports women entrepreneurs all over the world creating opportunities for them to support their families and communities. This is huge for me as an entrepreneur myself! Starting a business in the U.S. was not easy, and it is even harder in many other countries. I love supporting companies that in turn support other female entrepreneurs like myself. 

Connect with Tieks on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram!

Last 30 hours! Masala Baby NEW activewear preview and Organic Kids Pajamas Review

I've been searching for good quality organic pajamas in a market flooded with synthetics or cotton grown with pesticides. I was really excited to learn that one of my favorite kids clothing brands, Masala Baby, makes organic cotton pajamas! Not only that, they're also creating an impressive line of organic kids activewear, there are only 30 hours left of their Kickstarter campaign! Here is your chance to get your hands on some ethically sourced, organic kids activewear, a rare find. Once the campaign ends tomorrow, you'll be able to find the Organic Activewear on the Masala Baby website and Look.com starting December 15th! Perfect in time for the holidays if you're looking for useful presents.

Baby E has been sleeping in random cotton shirts and has been begging for some 'real' pajamas for months. Now that it's cooler, it's a must at bedtime here in New England! They were beyond excited to receive these pajamas and I was pretty proud of how little they need to be thankful and happy, one of those "Phew, they aren't totally 'first world' spoiled" moments. They even willingly posed for photos, these goofy adorable kids, I'm biased, I know. 

As you can see, the fabric and print is pretty amazing. I ordered a size up, Baby E will be 6 soon and she is wearing size 8 (sleeves rolled up in photos), Baby T will be 3 (next week!) and is wearing size 4. It shrunk a bit in the wash (delicate cycle, cold water), but the colors remain true and vibrant, plenty of room for them to wear it for more than one winter. So if you're in the market for organic pajamas, size up for your kids so they can enjoy them a little longer. 

I love the perfect cut and fit, I have a pet peeve - pajama shirts that are too short. No bare backs or tummies with these! Stretchy cuffs keep kids snuggly warm but make it easy to put on and take off. I love that there are no pesticides or flame retardants used in the making of these pajamas - after all, they wear them for a good 12 hours a day, so that's pretty important! 

Perhaps the only problem we've ran into with these pajamas is that they do not want to take them off! :) They want to wear them all day and I have to coax them into some clothes if we get out of the house (which I often don't want to anyway when it gets below zero around here!). 

Masala Baby also has an AMAZING line of baby and kids clothing, I guarantee you'll love it! It's beautiful, well designed and made, with vibrant modern prints and colors. I just love that it's nothing like typical clothing you see in a store, it has a ton of character and is so unique!

Visit their website

Support the Kickstarter Campaign

Connect on Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram

Pimsleur French Level I Language Learning Course Review

It's September! Can you believe it?! My little kindergartner Baby E is officially 'school age', though we are homeschooling for now and enjoying this fun age with our children. We got very excited when the Pimsleur French course arrived at our doorstep, excited for many reasons - learning a new language, refreshing my memory of learning it for 7 years back in school, and did I mention learning? 

I absolutely love seeing my kids' thirst for learning, their constant, insatiable need for something new. They are good at listening (no, not to me), so I thought this program would be just the thing to refresh my knowledge of French and to introduce it to almost 6 year old Baby E. For Baby T it may be a tad early, but he did listen nevertheless. Baby E is already bilingual, but I believe children only benefit from multiple languages and she demonstrated that dabbling in French is very much welcome at this point.

These days, I'm always looking for the "EASY!" button. Between running a growing photography business, homeschooling the kids, and keeping up with family and friends, I don't have any precious minutes to waste. So it was pretty exciting to listen to Pimsleur in the car with the kids, the time that often felt "wasted" as we carted from meeting with other homeschoolers, to field trips, and visiting family that all lives half hour to an hour away. 

Now that time is productive, but not in a "one more thing to do" kind of way. Pimsleur is fun and easy! It's exactly what I hoped it would be. Plus it is giving me what I've been missing all these years - practicing French. Speaking the actual language is so much more conductive to learning than just staring into a textbook! So here is a short run down of the reasons we like it:

1. So easy! Just pop in CD or transfer it to your iPod, phone, or tablet, and listen at your leisure during convenient times. 
2. You control the pace. You can repeat again and again if you need to or you can move on. You can refresh or you can have different members of your family at different levels. 
3. Lots of speaking. I think one of the pitfalls of learning a language in school is that you simply do not use it and speak it enough. Yes, you may learn grammar, reading, writing, but it all makes little sense if you aren't speaking it. Just like children learn by listening and speaking, this program mimics the natural way of learning. 
4. Affordable. I've seen many programs that are simply out of reach financially, but comprehensive course for just over $100 is a much better price and I believe a better return on your investment. 
5. Perfect for the whole family! It's great for my 5 year old and for myself, anyone can learn French with this program. 

This is just a short list of what we love most about this program. Also, I found it works especially well for my 5 year old because it gives immediate results, she loves the instant gratification of being able to say something in a new language!

I have to say I also really loved the packaging of the Pimsleur French I course, although it's not really something important. I appreciate everything being organized and the case is very handy for the learning collection of CDs. It's something that we will be using a lot and hopefully once we are done with level one, we can move on to French II! The Pimsleur French I language learning course is available for purchase on Amazon. If you're looking to start a foreign language in your homeschool this year, I highly recommend this program!

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. May contain affiliate links to where we love to shop - your purchase helps offset the time and energy we pour into this blog at no cost to you.

Nordic Naturals Baby's DHA Review & Giveaway

Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial. I only review quality products that I feel will benefit my readers!

My 'babies' are old enough to take Cod Liver Oil on their own, so I offered this opportunity to review Nordic Naturals Baby and Prenatal DHA to our reviewer, mommy to a nine month old little girl. Enjoy her review and don't forget to enter the giveaway! 

"It’s a well-known fact that omega-3 supplements are really important for our health. I remember back in the day being coaxed to take fish oil as a kid. It was nasty. The taste, the smell, the bad breath afterwards. As an adult, I finally get the importance of it and don’t even mind the smell so much. But that’s a hard thing to understand as a kid or a baby! I just started using Baby’s DHA by Nordic Naturals for my little one and it’s awesome! It has a such a clean and almost imperceptible scent and is essentially tasteless. I’ve been adding it to my baby’s yogurt and oatmeal in the mornings and she couldn’t care less. It comes with an pipette that is clearly marked and is super easy to use. The best part of it all is that it’s a really good supplement, unlike so many fish oils that actually don’t include very many omega-3’s.  It includes 100% arctic cod liver that has been purified and tested. It is non-GMO, contains no gluten or milk derivatives and is free from any artificial additives. It’s definitely pricey for a bottle, but I guess that comes with any really good product. For my 16-pound baby, the dosage is 2 mL, which makes one 60 mL bottle last for a month. I guess that’s actually not so bad, for $15.95. Of course, for a 30+lb baby, the 5mL a day would only last for 15 days.

Since I am still nursing, I have also been taking the Prenatal DHA supplements which “supports DHA maintenance during pregnancy and lactation.” The softgels are not huge, which I love! Also, you smell the gelatin capsule more than anything. I actually prefer to chew my capsules, and there is almost no smell/taste! I do wonder how I would feel about it if I was pregnant and sick. I had a hard time putting anything in my mouth the first trimester, but maybe this would be different. In any case, it’s a great source of omega-3’s for the developing baby and for the nursing baby. It’s also kind of pricey at $28.95 for 90 softgels (you take two a day).

Prenatal DHA size illustration

I love the Nordic Naturals website. It’s very informative and very transparent, which makes me trust the company even more. They have a bunch of other products available as well, so if neither of these apply to you, I would highly recommend looking through the website. They have everything from gummies for children to vegetarian products to softgels for pets!" 

Purchase Baby's DHA: direct | Amazon

Purchase Prenatal DHA: direct | Amazon

Please enter the giveaway using the Rafflecopter form below.

Connect with Nordic Naturals on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

My Babies Love the New Stonyfield Pouches! {Giveaway}

I participated in a Blogger Activation on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Stonyfield. I received coupons to facilitate my shopping trip and a promotional item to thank me for participating.

I was really excited to find out that Stonyfield launched YoBaby, YoToddler, and YoKids yogurt pouches! As you may recall, my kids live off of yogurt, especially in the summer. Stonyfield happens to be our go-to brand and you will often see some in our fridge. We recently made a trip to the store so we can use our coupons and specifically try out these new pouches so we can tell you everything we think about them. 

I love this new super-convenient way of nourishing my kids and giving them a treat that's actually healthy - we love these pouches for dessert! I love the grab-and-go convenience that now accompanies us on nearly every day trip, drive to the park, and picnic. I also love how this method of feeding them is actually clean enough for the car, so far we haven't had any 'squeeze accidents' in their car seats and I look forward to having these on hand for road trips. It is really important to me that these contain no high fructose corn syrup, GMOs, or artificial flavors - not just because I know those ingredients are not healthy, but because my kids have immediate reactions to such unwholesome additives. I know I can trust Stonyfield for many reasons, one of them being that Stonyfield employees proudly feed these great products to their own kids!

Oh wow, they look sad in these photos, don't let that deceive you! They were absolutely thrilled with these pouches and they were so concentrated on emptying them fast and ready to beg for another. I love how mess-free these are, in terms of convenience they are great. In terms of price point, I will still continue to buy the more budget friendly large tubs of Stonyfield yogurt for eating at home, and the pouches are nice to have on hand in the fridge for when we are on the go. Note: Hide the pouches behind other stuff in the fridge because the kids will beg for them when they see them upfront. Ask me how I know.

I have a preference for YoBaby and YoToddler products because I believe children (and adults!) need whole fat products for optimal development and brain function. Though I still would prefer Stonyfield YoKids low-fat yogurt over a non-organic whole fat product with weird ingredients. Of course the kids love all three options, although I think even they prefer the creamier, less watery consistency of YoBaby and YoToddler! Size wise, all of these are great for a snack, but they are not particularly filling, I find my preschooler needs two to fill her up - but of course it's perfect paired with another non-dairy snack, it doesn't have to be just yogurt. I wouldn't hesitate to pack it into our picnic bag of sandwiches for the kids to indulge in as a dessert after they burn off their energy! I also love that it is sold in many stores, so even if we are not in the vicinity of our home, I can count on finding some Stonyfield products in stores throughout the country. Find out on their website if they carry Stonyfield pouches near you!

Want to try these for yourself? Enter below and Stonyfield will send one winner 10 coupons for free pouches! 

Browse stonyfield.com 

Follow Stonyfield:

Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This post was created in partnership with Stonyfield. All opinions are my own. 

hotmilk | For Nursing Mamas Everywhere

Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.

So yeah. Weaning didn't go as planned. Why did I ever think it would work simultaneously with other huge changes for our family? Nursing is the only guaranteed comfort my two year old gets all day, and much needed one-on-one time with me. That's right, he is actually exactly thirty months young and in a short six months he'll be turning three. 

Even though technically Baby T and I don't care what anyone thinks, subconsciously there is so much pressure to wean and potty train right now. There is so much going on in our lives, many changes, busy schedules, I'm not about to make it more complicated. 

I'm glad I'm still nursing him. It's our quiet time. Yes, I secretly wouldn't mind if he self-weaned, but I still love hearing him ask for it. I love how he pretends to be a little baby and talks in "baby babble" so that I nurse him. It's adorable!

I love how I can justify receiving a hotmilk nursing bra for review since I'm still officially a nursing mom! This (above) is my second hotmilk bra and I love it just as much as the first. I've been wearing one for more than two years and it still looks better than some cheap 'nursing bra wannabes' that didn't even last year. This time I chose the Eclipse Black Nursing Bra and I love how it looks and fits. I love the six rows of hooks, because we all know having babies, running after toddlers, and having more babies makes you grow and shrink more times than we can count. 

I'm telling you, this brand is worth every penny, it's very high quality, doesn't fall apart after being washed and it doesn't become dingy looking. Never mind that I have my toddlers yogurt stains on my yoga pants and my dirty hair is up in a pony tail, at least I have a good looking bra on right?! Who's with me? 

If you want a little something for yourself this coming Mother's Day, I just made your decision a little easier. They have Free Worldwide Shipping on orders over $65 and right now there is a great sale going on for free panties with every bra purchase! 

Shop at hotmilklingerie.com 

Follow hotmilk:

Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Desert Essence Baby Care Review

Have you heard of the new Desert Essence Baby Care line? I am a longtime fan of this brand for adult skincare and was pleased to find out they created a baby skin care and nursery care line! They always have the best natural ingredients and products that just last and last. Since I didn't have the need and my 'babies' are older, my friend and cousin Dina reviewed these for her 7 month old daughter, enjoy:

"I am really enjoying the Desert Essence products that I recently received. All of the products have only several ingredients that are non-toxic, include no harsh chemicals and are gentle on baby. Three of the products that I tried are organic: Gentle Foaming Hair & Body Cleanser, the Baby Lotion, and the Body & Massage Oil. 

The foaming cleanser is very mild and would probably be safe even on the most sensitive skin. I like that it comes in a foam dispenser but I’m not a huge fan of the smell. It’s fragrance free, but you can distinctly smell something, probably the olive castile soap. I do love that there are only a few ingredients! That’s so uncommon in your typical baby soap.

The baby lotion, on the other hand, has a lovely fresh ‘orangey’ smell from the orange peel oil. After using it for about a week on my baby’s dry skin, I really do think it moisturizes better than most lotions, which actually tend to dry my baby’s skin out. I’ve been using it on myself too because I just love the smell so much!

My favorite by far is the massage oil which is a combination of safflower, sunflower, and jojoba oil (and a bit of orange peel oil for the scent). This winter, my baby has had incredibly dry, almost scaly legs, and using this once a day has helped restore her soft baby skin! It’s a great combination of oils that hydrates and protects the baby’s skin.

I have also been using the Natural All Surface Cleaner which is a cleaner designed to be safe for baby toys. Again, there are only a few ingredients which makes me feel very good about using it on anything and everything my baby will come in contact with. I usually don’t clean my baby’s toys and she doesn’t get sick very often, but if you’re a germaphobe, this stuff is awesome. Once I started cleaning a couple of toys, I couldn’t stop because of the refreshing tea tree and lavender scent. Now my entire house smells like tea tree and lavender...yum! One thing I really didn't like, though, was the spray nozzle on the bottle. It's small and uncomfortable to hold and took me forever to figure out that I needed to slide a tiny plastic notch to lock and unlock it.

I definitely think these products are worth it, especially for the price (ranging from $5-13). Most organic baby products are super pricey but this stuff is not! And they come in relatively large containers, so they should last for a while."

Check out www.desertessence.com/baby-products

Available on their website, at Whole Foods and other stores, and on Amazon

Connect with Desert Essence on Facebook and Twitter
Follow on Pinterest or subscribe on YouTube 

Contains affiliate links to where we usually shop, your purchase supports Eco-Babyz at no extra cost to you and helps offset some of the cost associated with pouring our time and energy into this site. Thank you!

Baby E's Birthday Party at Imajine That {PHOTOS!}

As you know, Baby E turned 5 in January and we were so excited that Imajine That hosted her birthday party! It was everything we needed and more. As I've mentioned we never really make a big deal out of birthdays and just celebrate at home, this was her first 'real' birthday party! Our home is too small to host more than eight people or so, so this was the perfect solution. What I really loved is that there was very little planning for me to do! I just had to invite people, arrange who will make the cake, decide what we'll wear, and grab the camera. 

Easy, no hassle kids birthday party. Exactly what I needed.     

Location: Imajine That is a 5 minute drive from our house - I know, we're fortunate! It is located in Lawrence, north of Boston. It's just a half hour drive from Boston and the North Shore, and just ten minutes from the New Hampshire border. It a great location for kids birthday parties in Massachusetts! It's inside a huge converted mill building. 

Some of our guests

The Play Space: If you've never been to Imajine That, I have to tell you the play space is pretty amazing. The sheer amount of space is awesome! It's 15,000 square feet, tall ceilings, huge windows, lots of breathing room. 

My favorite thing about this facility is the encouragement of creative play by how it is designed. Nothing electronic here, no kids 'slot machines', just many areas where kids can use their imagination and do some grocery shopping, acting/theater, climbing, bouncing, caring for one another at the clinic, building, reading, drawing, painting, sailing, and burning off their energy on the large climbing structure. The perfect place to unplug with kids, especially during the seemingly endless winter months or on rainy days throughout the year. 

Huge Facility

There is great separation of space and little areas throughout where you can watch your little one play or play with them. All the kids at the birthday party had a blast and they ranged in age from 18 months to 9 years old. I really loved that the space naturally encourages kids of all ages to play together, it was wonderful to see!

3 race slides

Mini Whole Foods Supermarket

Train Table

The Party Space: We loved our party room, it was nice and spacious for 15 kids and 16 adults! No matter what the size of your party is, they have a room for you - there are several available. There was enough seating for everyone and table for the kids and food, it was all decorated - I didn't even have to think about it. You could bring some extra decorations of your own if you wanted to though. We picked Baby E's two favorite colors - pink and blue, she loved how it looked! 

Since we knew we would be eating delicious (but not very nutritious) pizza for the party, we really wanted a homemade and healthy-ish dessert. So I asked my talented sister-in-law to make the cake and it was perfect! Best of all, it was yummy and had all 'real food', pronounceable ingredients, nothing artificial. The decorations are very much representative of Baby E, she LOVES berries and flowers, two of her obsessions!

Birthday cake by my sister-in-law!

Baby T with his cousin

Inside the private party room

Baby E and her cake

Birthday Party Experience: Most kids birthday party places give you two hours beginning to end. You know that's not nearly enough time. At Imajine That you get an hour of play time, an hour in your party room, and another hour of play time. That's 3 hours! You definitely don't feel as rushed and kids get plenty of time to just play. It's also excellent for guests who arrive late, that way they aren't actually late to the party. We had a family that could only make it at 6, not 5 pm, they missed that hour of play time - but still made it to the party and the hour of play time after!

We loved having a party assistant take care of all the details from making sure we have everything we need, to cutting the cake for us. It really made for an enjoyable experience and I could focus more on enjoying the party and taking photos to preserve the memories. Our pizza arrived just a little late (there were 10 after all!), but it was nice that at the end since we were the last party of the day we were not rushed out of our party room and could finish our desserts.

About to blow out the candle

Our little family

The Value: Think about how much you spend on your kids birthday party. The food, decorations, the sheer amount of time coordinating everything. How much do you spend? $200? $300? Maybe even more? Imagine if someone would do it all for you and just let you take care of the cake and enjoying the party! At first I was looking at the packages and thinking "Man, that's expensive!" But when you do the math it's actually the same, if not cheaper, than doing it yourself. Not to mention that your guests get passes to Imajine That in their favors that are valued at half the prize of your party package. They do give you a lot of bang for your buck. 

A guest with his dad in the bouncy house

Baby T all tired out

There are 3 party packages available to fit your needs, at $199 (7 guests), $299 (15 guests), and $399 (23 guests). The guest count does not include babies under 1 and adults! So it gives you plenty of wiggle room to either invite a few close friends or everyone your kid knows. Packages include pizza and drinks, ice cream for each child, balloon and favor for each child (admission pass with each favor valued at $10 each for your guests to come back and play!), solid color paper products, party assistant, 2 hours of play time and 1 hour in party room, and free printable invitations. 

There are also many add-ons available such as an edible sand art craft, cupcake decorating, or face painting. You can also add on more food from Sal's Restaurant, they have an excellent catering menu. We ordered an extra 6 pizzas on top of the 4 cheese that we had for kids, they were all absolutely delicious. There are also six theme options for parties for an additional fee: I'm With the Band Rock Star, How Old ART You Now, Pixie Dust Fairy, Walk the Plank Pirate, Karate Kid, and Once Upon a Time Princess. 

But of course Imajine That isn't just a party place, first and foremost it's a place for play where you can come any day and enjoy watching your children play with tons of room to run around, grab a snack at the cafe, chat with other moms. Admission for children is $10 each and $1 for adults, so it's definitely a better deal to get a monthly pass or a membership for the whole family so you can come as much as you like. They also have many educational events for kids through the year that are pretty awesome.

Don't forget to take advantage of the fast it is located right above an excellent, romantic restaurant with river views. Book a Parents Night Out on Friday or Saturday night and leave your kids at Imajine That for pizza with other kids while you dine with your significant other at Sal's Restaurant!

Overall Experience: What can I say? Imajine That is everything you would want in a kids birthday party place and so much more! I think the photos speak for themselves (you can see even more on our photography blog). It's a place that will take a while for kids to outgrow, hey, even I find it fun and want to play there with my kids, not just watch! The staff there was very helpful and accommodating, the whole experience was top notch. I highly recommend this place for your children's next birthday party! Even if you don't live very close, it's worth the drive. It's a unique experience you can't get at a chain party place. 

Baby T at the end of the party using up last reserves of energy

Connect with Imajine That on Facebook and Twitter

Imajine That Website

Imajine That Birthday Parties

Disclaimer: Baby E received a birthday party package for her celebration to be hosted at Imajine That in order to be featured and reviewed on Eco-Babyz.