Ironically, being someone who is also a resource for local birthday party options, I was feeling a bit unmotivated about planning another big birthday party this year. I thought it might be better to keep things very small and simple. Then, my daughter, full of so much innocence and wonder, asked if she could have a science-themed birthday party with her closest friends & family members. I quickly put practicality and simplicity aside and got to planning that party! I mean, how cool was it that she wanted a science-theme?! How could I not embrace and celebrate this theme choice? I quickly got to peeling through my own BIG Birthday Party List to come up with some options. While I am not a party-planner, per-se, I am obsessed with coming up with out of the box birthday party ideas, and I absolutely love showcasing the amazing local businesses that service Greater Portland.
The Venue
Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine
The backdrop for this party was at the beautiful, Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine, located on Thompsons Point in Portland. We booked their Friday Fun Celebration slot, from 5 to 7 PM. With the Friday Fun Celebration, we had the Museum to ourselves, with access to the 1st & 2nd floor.
The party was set up in the lobby, where we hosted our entertainment, and had cake and pizza for the 1st hour, while the kids poked in and out of the climber and the little dress-up theatre. They were pretty satisfied with all of this but then in the 2nd hour we announced that the kids could play and access the exhibits on the 2nd floor! There was something truly special about being at CMTM at night with the littles!
Here’s a fun little backstory about what made CMTM a great fit for us… we actually had my daughter’s 2nd birthday party at the old location of the Children’s Museum the weekend before COVID restrictions hit. It was our last family outing prior to COVID. We had a really fun time and hoped to have another party with the Museum in the future, and fast forward 4 years and here we are! The Children’s Museum and Theatre of Maine has remained one of my, now 6-year old’s, most requested places to visit locally.
The Entertainment
High Touch High Tech of Maine
I clearly knew my daughter was going to get a huge kick out of hosting her birthday party at the Children’s Museum, but she had asked for a science-themed party and I really wanted to deliver on that. I decided to reach out to High Touch High Tech of Maine, being somewhat familiar with their programming. I asked the director, Genia, if she could host a 30 minute or less, interactive science presentation and she more than delivered on this. To make things feel extra special, I ordered some lab coats, glasses and lanyards for the kids to help them feel like official scientists. For Genia to keep the interest and attention of these kids at the end of a long school day/week, that is certainly saying something. Read more about High Touch High Tech of Maine in the Business Spotlight section.
The Favors
SugarME
Meredith, owner of SugarME, is an extremely talented cookie baker and decorator located in Yarmouth. Customizing cookies for our party with Meredith was super easy. I just sent her some pics of our decor and theme and she took it from there, designing the cutest, science-themed, cookie set. These cookies really tied everything together and they were one of the aspects I was most excited about. She even provided a special cookie for the Museum in our order!
Heavenly Dough Creations
Angel, owner of Heavenly Dough Creations, out of Lewiston, created some science-themed playdough favors to match our theme. I just gave her some pics of other decor we were incorporating as inspiration, and she ran with the order entirely. As a mom and a former Preschool/Pre-K teacher, Angel is both passionate about this new creative offering and qualified. I really loved how she included custom labels for the jars (she’s also a graphic designer). While we decided to go with the jars, she also had a popular “push-up pop” container option that makes a fun favor display. With our order she included an ingredient list and I thought that transparency was a really smart choice for safety purposes.
Photo by: Webb Photo
The Cake
MEPowered Pastries
This cake was a special selection. Laura, owner of MEPowered Pastries, had made an amazing 1st birthday cake for my other daughter they year prior with fresh strawberry frosting, and my 6 year old had mentioned throughout the year she wanted a cake by Laura with her fresh strawberry frosting, too. Of course you can hand any task over to Laura and her team and they will always knock it out of the park!
We purchased some custom cake toppers on Etsy and rock candy from Len Libby Candies and the cake made the most perfect centerpiece for our party!
Photo by: Webb Photo
The Photography
Webb Photo
When you put your heart and soul into a party, I have learned (the hard way) that you should always try to designate someone else to capture the photos. While it is not always possible to hire a photographer for this purpose, we were so glad for the opportunity to work with Jessica, owner of Webb Photo in Portland to cover our party. Jess and I connected over social media several months ago and we seem to stay connected over “mom-life”. She is amazingly real as a mom, warm as a person, and easy to work with as a photographer. What I loved was that she didn’t really require any direction from me (notice this theme?) and simply covered the best aspects of our party for us, just as we would have hoped! The thing is, while it may seem a bit over-the-top to hire a photographer for a kids’ birthday party, you can’t get these moments back. Moms will forever be scrambling at these parties and missing some adorable moments unless they delegate.
Other Local Party Aspects
For party food, we went with Ottos Pizza. We have used Ottos several times for parties because they have easy online ordering (even in advance of the party) and delivery. It is also my daughter’s favorite pizza and they have a gluten free pizza option as well which is great for our party guests.
In addition to our centerpiece cake, I decided to order multiple flavors of cupcakes from Cakes Extraordinaire in Yarmouth. Not only are the cupcakes delicious, but I like to find a way to support this business every time I can. This is because for a previous birthday party of ours, when another baker canceled last minute due to a snowstorm, the owner, Steve, offered to deliver us a cake with just a days notice. It was an unbelievable act of kindness and customer service that stuck with me.
We also picked up a couple of gluten free cupcakes at Bam Bam Bakery in Falmouth for our gluten-free guests as a way to celebrate their new opening. Everything in there store is gluten free!
Other Themed Items
Our decor was pretty simple with our focus on all the beautiful space & all the science fun The Children’s Museum provides the table coverings of your choice, which we did utilize, but I also bought some science-themed table coverings, a science backdrop and a fun set of party supplies from Amazon. For the favors, we picked up some science-themed bags, and pop rocks to go along with the other special local favors. We also grabbed enough rock candy sticks locally from Len Libby Candies in Scarborough to add to the favors.
