My son’s friend recently turned 11. And her Mom had a fantastic idea of doing camping-turned-glamping for her and her friends. And since it was a camping-turned-glamping party, families were invited as well. So here’s an update to my post about Birthday Celebrations for your Tweens in Seoul. I am re-publishing the post here and I will include more birthday party ideas and venues.
While it was easy to throw parties for my sons when they were younger, the venue is a big consideration when you live here in Seoul. Apartments aren’t that big to accommodate your invited guests. I used to have children’s parties when we were living at Trapalace in Mapo-gu. The apartment has convenient amenities including a playroom where we have collected birthday party memories.
Now that I have a tween and another one growing up fast trying to catch up to his older brother, I have to be on the lookout for birthday ideas and venues. Unlike kiddie parties where they need entertainment and theme parties with decors (theme and decors more on mom’s satisfaction, lol), the tweens can be left on their own. They have to be on their own to truly enjoy.
Movie Outing
Both my sons birthday falls on a November and the weather is getting chillier. For my first son’s 10th birthday, we decided to have a movie outing for him and his selected friends. “Dr. Strange” was showing and it was the movie of his choice. But we knew not everyone by that age was allowed to watch that kind of movie yet, so before inviting his chosen friends, I had to ask the parents first if they would allow their child.
We ended up with an all-boys outing and the CGV World Cup isn’t far from our place. I allowed them all to be on their own inside the movie theatre while I had coffee with the other moms while waiting. It was fun for the boys and it wasn’t hard at all for me!
They just needed to release their energy after the movie and the big field in front of the World Cup Stadium provided the wide expanse for their running and kicking.
So whichever gender and age your child is, check out his/her movie choice and check with friends’ parents if they allow such movie. The rest will follow smoothly.
Rock Climbing
One of my son’s friend had his own party, too. Outdoors is also out of the question because his birthday is also under the November weather. The mom chose an exciting activity for the boys… rock climbing!!!! The Koala Climbing Gym at the Nuritkum Square at Sangam-dong offers rock climbing lessons followed by free play.
I didn’t know that this rock climbing gym exists here in our neighborhood until this birthday invitation. Moms also waited for the boys chatting and having coffee.
After the rock climbing, the celebration continued at the Crystal Jade restaurant at the MBC Mall. And since the Digital Media City has wide, open spaces, the boys continued to play until they all admitted it was time to call it a day.
Watching a Soccer Game
The coolest birthday party our sons went to! One of their friends decided to have a live soccer match celebration. Some of us attended and helped distribute simple snacks to the kids. Both boys and girls loved it. With so many people around, I say kudos to the mom of the celebrant. But our mommy-friends are always helpful so we extended a lot of assistance in keeping the children together.
If you also want to have a live soccer match party at the World Cup Stadium, you may either get a VIP room (which is uber expensive!) or get seat reservations at the West Wing. Unlike the other sides of the stadium, this one has long tables for each row where you can put your food and drinks.
Update (added on June 2018)!
Soccer Museum
Like his brother, my 2nd son is a soccer enthusiast. When hubby and I discovered Fantaesium, we knew we found our birthday venue for our son’s 8th birthday. Faentasium is an interactive soccer museum (see link for more details) and beside it is the Bench N Locker Café. Since the museum and the café are both owned by the same company, it was easy to ask them to accommodate the kids’ snacks. I brought some snacks because the breads and cakes in the café are not enough. There is also a very small futsal where kids sweated out in between snacks.
Hotel Sleepover
Perhaps one of the most memorable birthday celebrations of my 1st son was when he turned 11. His birthday celebration coincided with the Songdo 7 Soccer Tournament in Songdo, Incheon. The tournament was on a weekend so we decided to give him an overnight stay with his chosen friends. He chose 5 boys and we got them 2 adjoining rooms while my husband and I and our younger son got a suite at Holiday Inn, Songdo. Their school team lost, lol. But the boys created memories so that gives them some wins, too!
Camping
The camping-turned-glamping birthday party happened just this June when one of my first son’s friends turned 11. Her mom reserved tents at the Nanji Camping Ground. We went on a Friday so there weren’t too many people. I can’t imagine when all the tents are filled and when there’s a lot of people. The tents are too close to each other. Nevertheless, we had a good time, albeit a sleepless one. The tweens had the grandest time. They didn’t sleep at all. Comes breakfast, their energy was way down the drain.
Needless to say, it was a night of collected memories they bring with them over the summer and one they will remember for a long, long time.
These are just a few venues and ideas. If you happen to know more, do let me know, too!
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