Pump It Up

Okay — so forget Chuck-​E-​Cheese … when I have a kid, I’m having their birthday party at a Pump It Up! I had no idea that a) this existed and b) it was a chain! I talked to my mom (who’s in the suburbs of chicago) on my way to the birthday party this morning and told her I was going to a place called Pump it Up and she knew exactly what I was talking about!
Anyways, my friend had her son’s 2^nd birthday party here. The kids had about 2 hours of playtime on their obstacle courses, slides, bounce house, etc. Then, they took everyone to the party room where they had pizza, cake, and presents.
It seemed like there were fun things in the play area for kids of all ages! The 2+ year olds had fun running around the obstacle courses and slides (The ones closer to 2 had their parents running around with them and these giant inflatables easily support adults as well). There were younger babies, as well, and they had plenty to play with, too! There were giant styrofoam blocks and little cars they could ride around in — like the ones with the yellow top (I don’t have kids so forgive me for not knowing the names). There was a giant inflatable 4 sided seesaw looking thing as well. On the ground in one area, there was a white floor with various lights and pictures streaming down from above — it was great for the kids since they just kept running around trying to follow the different objects moving on the floor (football, birds, etc). They even had some coin operated car racing game and wind machine.
When we walked into the party room, everything was set up and the employees had already moved all of the presents over. We were surprised to see pictures of the kids playing on the slides and obstacle courses just minutes before on a slideshow on a tv screen — that was a nice touch. They have a large throne for the birthday kid to sit on while everyone sings happy birthday and then later while they open presents. The pizza they provided was pizza hut, so of course that was good. My friend made cupcakes and brought them, so I’m not sure if they have the option of providing the cake. Another nice touch was when the kid was opening presents — one girl was helping hand him presents to open and throwing away trash while another had a clipboard and form she was filling out to keep track of what presents he was getting and who they were from. SUPER nice!
I find it crazy that I had such a good time at a 2 year olds birthday, but I did and think the employees do a great job handling parties! Very impressed party go-​er here!