If you live in a place such as we do in Western New York (we're in Rochester!) With beautifully warm summers and cold snowy winters, you will know that your choices for your child's birthday party are mostly determined by the weather.
As an August baby, we constantly had small family parties out at my residence. But, with sons born in November and March, we're constantly left to reserve an indoor place for their celebrations, if we decided to have them that season. While those with kids with summer birthdays may seem blessed to have so many choices at their disposal, it can also often feel overwhelming.
While in Climbing Vines Cafe and Play we may be biased because we sponsor indoor parties, I wished to share with you the 5 most common reasons we hear out of past party customers to reserve indoor summer birthdays with us. To them, the stress-free temperament of the indoor summer celebration is really a no-brainer, plus they are not looking back! Following their initial indoor summer celebration , they keep hosting with us year after year.


1) NO WEATHER WORRIES


The most common cause for a customer to book a summer indoor celebration with us is they do not need to stem the weather prediction for upgrades in the weeks leading up to the party. And if you've ever needed to cancel or postpone your child's birthday because of weather, then you realize how heartbreaking that could be.
We receive dozens of calls every summer a couple of days before somebody's outdoor celebration is supposed to take place to find out if we have an open slot for them within our indoor celebration venue because of weather woes. We can usually pull off this if the spot remains open, but hosts will unfortunately have to scramble and allow all their guests know of the change in venue and likely change in time, and change all their catering orders to accommodate their new party program.
While of course rain is most probably the biggest obstacle you might face, extreme warmth, unseasonably cool weather, and wind can also pose problems to your food, decorations, along with your guests' possessions. You'll probably find yourself investing in a tent or some other weather barrier just to ease your mind a bit, which are costly and take a great deal of precious time to prepare and take down. I won't even tell the story of this time my Dad put up a tent for a celebration in a windstorm and wound up with a insurance claim for 4 damaged cars when it blew away (weights and anchors and all!) ...

2) CHANGING IT UP

Besides the obvious weather worries you can avoid with a indoor celebration, there may also just be something so straightforward and lovely about a indoor summer celebration. Guests won't need to worry about bringing sunscreen and towels and sunglasses and swimsuits and changes of clothes and bug spray... you get the picture.
Sometimes it's wonderful to take a brief break from the outdoors, sip coffee in an air-conditioned cafe, and have an actual conversation with other adults while the children play, rather than chasing children around trying to get their fur on them or keeping them away from the in-ground pool. I'm not sure about you, but I can never really relax at an outdoor summer birthday celebration with a two and a 4 year-old. While they sure do have a good time running around, we typically leave in a daze or with a tantrum, unsure if we had the time to talk or check in with everyone.
While I absolutely love a fantastic barbecue or summer grilling extravaganza, I also find it refreshing when we could take a rest from the same-old backyard bash and spend a couple of hours at a relaxing, cool, and most importantly-- included! -- atmosphere.
It's also freeing as a guest to have the remainder of the day to do as we wish as a family and not need to be concerned about getting the kids into a bath immediately after the celebration or stopping home to cool off and change clothing.
I guarantee that in the event you reserve an indoor party for your child, guests (particularly family) might appear a bit confused at first (why not take advantage of the summer weather while we can, right?) But after hosting countless indoor parties I can tell you for certain that on the day-of, you and your visitors will realize how nice it is to kick back within an air-conditioned private party for arcade game (https://www.twitarcade.com) a couple hours.

Speaking of how relaxing an indoor, air-conditioned party could be, can we discuss food for a second? Not only are food choices limited with an outside party due to heat, but it can be hard to keep food covered and retain the bugs, bees, and other debris away.
At the moment, my sweet 4 year old boy is terrified of bees, and the fastest way to send him into a tailspin is for him to sit down to eat a cupcake or his meal and have bees swarming around. Therefore, for our loved ones, the meals factor alone could be sufficient to warrant an indoor party.
Eating in peace without having to find colour or a seat or a location away from bugs is one of those things that you don't realize can be so glorious before you attend your fourth or fourth outside summer gathering and THEN get a break from them. One of the most common things we hear is how nice it's to just sit and eat and watch the kiddos play without having any venue-related cares or worries. This will be especially important if you are going to be needing elderly family members attend who will battle with being portable in the sand or marijuana and finding seating at outdoor parties.


4) DECOR OPTIONS GALORE


While party aesthetic might not be a determining factor for every household, it sure is much easier to create a themed extravaganza that lights a child's face up as soon as the party's inside. The decorations required tend to be less since the place is smaller and contained contained, and you won't need to worry about balloons and streamers blowing all about or procuring table covers .
Since we do host mobile events outdoors in Climbing Vines Cafe and Play, I can also speak from experience once I say the time that it takes to install (and take down!) Decorations for an outdoor party compared to an indoor celebration usually ends up being at least double. Finding good places to hang banner, needing two people to hold and protect everything, and locating weights or other restraints for everything may be a genuine hassle on party day.
And you'll have enough to be concerned about this afternoon, right?
Also, if your pinterest planks are full of cute centerpieces, a candy bar, or anything that may be impacted by wind (or bring bees!) You will probably have to restrategize to get an outdoor soiree.
And of course decor typically can only be utilized once if used outdoors, but repurposed again and if used for an indoor event. Our guests who sponsor indoor events, notably those who spent significant money into decor or labored hard to create their own, are very happy to find they could usually create a huge chunk of the money back by reselling their materials on something such as Facebook Marketplace.

Speaking of money, probably the biggest misconception I hear from customers is they want to host a party at their house to save the leasing fee of an indoor area. I generally laugh at this because it makes perfect sense, that is, if you have never hosted an outside party.
With all of the"extras" such as tents, seat rentals, extra decorations, weather reinforcements, cleanup supplies, games and activities for the kids (that you won't have to supply at a play place!) It is very likely you are going to wind up spending MUCH more hosting a party at your house or an outside place than you'd indoors.
I'm not sure how other indoor spaces handle their supplies, but we just charge guests to get additional drinks and provides and such on the afternoon of the party should they wind up needing them, and we also enable parties to bring in their OWN food, dessert, and decor if they choose!
Money aside, spending countless hours cleaning before, during, and following the party may also take a toll. Wouldn't it be nice to walk into a sparkling clean space and leave with your guests once the party's over, not needing to be concerned about the clean-up, trash removal, tent teardown, etc?
You can just head home and relax with your family (yes, maybe outside!) At a nice clean home that wasn't just trampled by party guests and all their sand, grass, and sunscreen.
Along with the time spent cleaning prior to and after the party, wouldn't it ALSO be nice to not have to play"host" throughout the event? Even for customers that bring in their own food and decoration, our dedicated party assistants set up everything, refill and fix food and drinks as necessary, clear plates, cut and serve the cake, and package up all the leftovers in the end of the party!
In the end, it's your child's special day and you wish to spend those precious hours making memories and visiting along with your guests-- not running around chasing your decorations or refilling the fruit bowl countless times.
So save everybody (and especially your own family!) We'd be honored to offer you an easy, breezy experience which will leave your entire guest list feeling joyful, grateful, and full of love after having a relaxing (yet fun-filled!) day together.