[twitter]TELUS Spark Birthday Party
Available Saturdays. Call 403.817.6804.
Costs: $10.95 pp admission, $75/hr room rental, $12.35 pp catering

TELUS Spark is Calgary’s wonderful science centre. It has a Creative Kids Museum filled with all sorts of hands on activities, it has exhibits about the earth and energy, and then a big section on the human body, music, animation, and art.

Outside is the exciting Brainasium with wild teeter totters, chimes, and a cargo net to climb up to a huge slide.

It’s the perfect place to hold a birthday party for inquisitive and active kids. Think 6-10 yr olds. A birthday party at TELUS Spark is also pretty easy – if you keep the numbers down.

A birthday party at TELUS Spark is admission for the party, and a party room afterwards. You escort your group around the center on your own for an hour, or two, or three, and then head up to a very cool party room for pizza and cake.

You do not get an escort for your time around TELUS Spark. They do hand you a scavenger hunt to help guide you through the exhibits, but we tossed it pretty early as the kids amused themselves going from station to station.

And that’s where your head gets to be on a swivel. Our party was just 7 kids between 2 adults, and even then we found ourselves looking at each other, puzzled, wondering where one went.

The freestyle, entertain-yourself atmosphere of a birthday party at TELUS Spark works great to keep the kids interested as they wander until they find something interesting – but it can make wrangling them a challenge. So be prepared.

First we went to the Creative Kids Museum where the boys climbed around, worked some levers, and burned off some mid morning energy.

Then we toured the exhibits, first studying the environment, the sky, floods, constellations and more. We whipped through the energy exhibits pretty quickly and then went into the gallery for the Dinosaurs In Motion exhibit.

This was pretty cool as the boys got to move all sorts of different beasts. The timing was perfect too, as Jurassic World arrives in theatres soon and dinos are on the brain.

While you do not get a guide for your time in TELUS Spark, you should look for team members in each section with a blue shirt to explain and guide you through the very hands on activities.

We then went upstairs to the Open Studio where the kids had fun doing stop-motion animation, ripping apart circuit boards, and making music.

We ordered cheese pizzas for lunch, you get one (very large) slice per person in your group along with a drink (chocolate milk for us). A fruit bowl, veggie tray, and chips were also provided. Bringing outside food and drink (other than your cake) is not permitted.

You get access to your party room 15 minutes before your lunch is served which can be awkward depending on how you time your party. In our case that meant my wife leaving me for a bit with the 7 boys while she went to decorate and get everything ready. If you’re good at wrangling kids (or keep your party numbers down), this shouldn’t be a problem.

After our 45 minutes in the party room (kids always eat faster than you think) we headed outside to the Brainasium for a few climbs up the big slide before moms and dads arrived for pickup.

Our birthday party was 10a – 1p. We did the exhibits from 10-noon, had lunch, and then pickup was at 1. If we wanted, we could have stayed and explored longer at TELUS Spark.

The boys all had an awesome time running around and playing with the various experiments. Because TELUS Spark is so hands-on, entertaining the kids happens as you wander around the center, there’s nothing for you to do other than count and make sure you always have all your ducklings.

Which is why you keep the numbers of kids down, or the number of adults up 🙂

WHAT IT COSTS AND WHAT YOU GET

Birthday Parties at TELUS Spark are available only on Saturdays and include the following:

Admission: each child is $10.95 + GST (maximum 21 children per party). For every 3 children 1 adult admission is free of charge. Each adult over the 3:1 ratio is $19.95 + GST. A minimum of two adults are required to attend each party.

Private Studio Rental (for a maximum of 2 hours): $75 per hour

Special self-guided Birthday Party Scavenger Hunt (suitable for children ages 6-12)

Unlimited access to over 150 Exhibits across five Galleries, including an expanded and enhanced Creative Kids Museum.

Unlimited access to live Demonstrations and Drop-In Programs taking place throughout the day.

OPTIONAL Birthday Party Menu: $12.35/Child
You can choose breakfast items, hot dogs, or pizza

Option 3: Pizza Lunch
• Pizza Slice – Three Cheese or Pepperoni (1/6 of a 16″ pizza per guest)
• Bag of Chips
• Fresh Fruit Salad
• Veggies and Dip
• Pop, Fruit Juice or Milk

Disclosure: TELUS Spark is a brand partner of cyberbuzz media