Parties

Decorate a Cupcake party hosts come to your home or party location and keep children entertained for 90 minutes decorating a yummy work of art and a gift box.

Amelia's Cakes is a boutique bakery business started by one mom with a sweet tooth and her friends. They make a selection of popular treats for all seasons and occasions, including white butter cake, chocolate layer cake, carrot cake, German chocolate cake, red velvet cake, birthday cupcakes, and more. Orders can be made by phone or online, and must be placed three days in advance.

Morgan's Sweet Club is a dessert catering service for children, making birthday cakes, cookies, desserts for tea parties, christening and baptisms, first communion, holidays, summer fun events, and more. It also offers a one-of-a-kind, creative "Decorate a cupcake" entertainment activity for parties. A party hosts goes to your home or any hired venue and keeps the children entertained for 90 minutes with all the products needed to help them decorate a yummy work of art.

Animal Ambassadors is an environmental educational outreach organization based in Loudon County, VA. It offers an educational program, perfect for birthday parties, that includes live animal meet-and-greets and information about the animals being presented.

Animals include reptiles and amphibians (snakes and toads), mammals (kinkajou, fennec fox, chinchilla, or coatimundi), invertebrates (giant African millipedes, scorpions, tarantula, or Madagascar hissing roaches), or birds (parrots, macaws, or cockatoos).

Mr. Knick Knack, one of the area's best-loved children's musicians, was born and raised in Northern Virginia. With just his guitar and his voice he plays upbeat - and uplifting - music centered around the power of the human heart.

Mr. Knick Knack has regular gigs at malls, theaters, children's stores, and other venues in Virginia and Maryland - see our calendar for details - and is also available for birthday parties, special occasions, and school and daycare center performances.

Richard Martin Photography specializes in family portrait photography at your home or on location in a local park.

Perfectly Posh Photography offers on-location portrait photography specializing in maternity, infant, child, senior, and family sessions. Other services include modeling portfolios and creative services (announcements, story boards, and scrapbooks).

The Curiosity Zone is a hands-on science center for kids ages two through 11. Classes and summer camps build on kids' natural curiosity, using familiar, fun, hands-on activities to inspire them to think creatively about the world around them. Most classes take place in a kid-sized lab - full of fun, inspiring things, but nothing dangerous.

Parents and siblings can easily pass class time in the parent's lounge, offering chairs, newspapers, and magazines, and the Secret Science Agents' Clubhouse, a connected play area featuring beanbag chairs, books, and self-directed science activities.

Birthday parties can be held in the party room, and include demonstrations and hands-on activities - kids even make their own drinks, invitations, balloons, and more.

PlayWiseKids encourages children to explore the world around them while sparking their creative imagination. With 24,000 square feet to play in, children can pretend to be rescue heroes driving a real fire engine or ambulance. They can dress up like fire fighters next to the real fire engine; shop in the child-sized grocery store; shoot hoops and play foosball in the game room; create masterpieces in the Arts & Crafts room; dress-up and dance; explore tunnels and slides in the Toddler Areas; play in the sand in the Chesapeake Bay Beach; assemble a skeleton in the Medical Room; put together a four foot dinosaur in the Nature Exhibit; learn about outer space in the Solar System Room; and learn through computer games.

Parties: PlayWiseKids features two party packages - with and without a meal. Both include a two-hour party (including one hour 15 minutes of guided play in main facility), a t-shirt for the birthday child to decorate with friends, invitations, party paper goods and cutlery, party room set-up and clean-up, and no limit on adults.

Visitors are welcome to "drop-in" for play seven days a week and six and 12-month memberships are available. PlayWiseKids also has a retail store specializing in educational toys and workbooks with brands like Melissa & Doug and Small World Toys.

The winner of our 2008 Parents' Picks quest to find the Best Artsy Class for Little Kids in DC, Baby Ballerina is a dance studio for children ages one- through six-years old. At this school for little princesses, children enter a magical world designed to encourage their creativity, rhythm, and confidence. The studio offers ballet, tumbling, tap, and jazz instruction filled with fairies and fairytales to infuse the love of dance in every child involved regardless of their age.

To showcase student's accomplishments and foster self-esteem, recitals are held throughout the year - including Baby Nutcracker at Christmas. There is a Summer Princess Camp Program for ages two to six with dance, crafts, and performance at the end of the week. Several special Princess-themed birthday party packages are also available.

Animal Ambassadors is an environmental educational outreach organization based in Loudon County, VA. It offers an educational program, perfect for birthday parties, that includes live animal meet-and-greets and information about the animals being presented.

Animals include reptiles and amphibians (snakes and toads), mammals (kinkajou, fennec fox, chinchilla, or coatimundi), invertebrates (giant African millipedes, scorpions, tarantula, or Madagascar hissing roaches), or birds (parrots, macaws, or cockatoos).

The Curiosity Zone is a hands-on science center for kids ages two through 11. Classes and summer camps build on kids' natural curiosity, using familiar, fun, hands-on activities to inspire them to think creatively about the world around them. Most classes take place in a kid-sized lab - full of fun, inspiring things, but nothing dangerous.

Parents and siblings can easily pass class time in the parent's lounge, offering chairs, newspapers, and magazines, and the Secret Science Agents' Clubhouse, a connected play area featuring beanbag chairs, books, and self-directed science activities.

Birthday parties can be held in the party room, and include demonstrations and hands-on activities - kids even make their own drinks, invitations, balloons, and more.

The Smithsonian's National Zoological Park, in Rock Creek Park is home to more than 2,000 animals - mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and invertebrates. The National Zoo's primary aim is not only to entertain, educate, and inspire visitors, but to study and conserve wildlife and habitats around the world, a mission it accomplishes through world-renowned scientific programs.

The Zoo's most famous residents, of course, are the giant pandas - young Tai Shan is a big draw - but the Zoo also houses great apes, great cats...just about any animal a kid or adult might want to see!

Think Tank is a ground-breaking exhibit tackling the complex field of animal cognition, where visitors can learn about cognition studies conducted by the Zoo scientists to test ability of orangutans and other apes to use and understand word symbols. Think Tank is connected to Great Ape House by the Orangutan Transportation System, or O-line, which orangutans can use to commute between the buildings.

Summer Safari Day Camp is an accredited and award-winning summer camp offered by Friends of the National Zoo (FONZ) to children in grades K-5. Children in grades K-1 participate in camp activities from 9am-12n. Children in grades 2-5 stay till 3pm. Kids register for camp sessions by the week, with sessions running from June 19 through August 11. Five day sessions (no camp on July 4), cost $180-$245 for FONZ members. After camp care (3pm-6pm) is available for an additional $70-$85 per week.

Household Memberships ($55) include all of the benefits of an individual membership (invitations to members-only events, free parking, special previews), plus membership for the kids in the Conservation Kids' Club. That means free snacks for kids every time they visit the Zoo, the opportunity to hold children's birthday parties at the Zoo (non-members aren't eligible), complete with party favors, a guided tour of the Zoo, and a special gift for the birthday child. Parties are scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis and require an initial payment of $275 for up to 10 children. Dates cannot be held without this initial payment. Additional children may be added later (up to 16 to 20) at $20 per child.

Snore & Roar overnights are also a member-only privilege.

Household membership holders are also entitled to join in members-only activities and have opportunities to participate in wildlife workshops and classes (for ages two and up), discounts on week-long Summer Safari Day Camp sessions, and discounts on week-long overnight Nature Camp sessions at CRC in Front Royal, Virginia, for campers entering grades 4 through 10. FONZ members also receive discounts on stroller use at the Zoo, discounts on tickets to special events and purchases at Zoo gift shops and concession stands, a subscription to bi-monthly publications ZooGoer and Wildlife Adventures, and a Conservation Kids' Club button (which means free snacks).