Blazing Star Parties
Birthday parties for kids who would rather MAKE something than sit still for a magic show.
Throwing a great kids' birthday party is weirdly hard.
You want it to feel special. You want your kid to have an actual blast. You want their friends to remember it.
But you also don't necessarily want to:
spend three weeks on Pinterest
invent twelve activities to keep everyone occupied
buy $200 worth of craft supplies
host a small army in your living room
or discover, three days later, that there is still frosting on your ceiling
Enter: Blazing Star Birthday Parties.
We turn our creative little school into a 2-hour playground for making, experimenting, getting messy, following your curiosity, and celebrating with their friends.
You bring the birthday kid and their favorite people.
We bring the materials, the ideas, the educator, and the magic.
What makes a Blazing Star party different?
Kids don't have to wait for the party to begin.
As guests arrive, they're invited to dive right into an open-ended creative experience.
There are materials to explore, things to make, experiments to try, and possibilities everywhere.
No awkward 20-minute period of:
“Okay! Everyone sit on the carpet while we wait for Olivia's cousin to get here!”
The party is already happening.
Then we make something awesome together.
Once everyone has arrived, a Blazing Star educator gathers the group for a special birthday project.
We'll introduce an idea, demonstrate some possibilities, and then let the kids take it wherever their imaginations want to go.
Because we are very much not in the business of making 12 identical crafts.
A little structure + a lot of possibility = our sweet spot.
And yes, there will be a birthday banner.
Every birthday kid gets a custom Blazing Star birthday banner made especially for their celebration.
Because obviously.
Choose Your Birthday Adventure
🧪 POTIONS + SLIME PARTY
For kids who want to mix up a little magic—and see what happens.
Experiment with color, chemistry, fizzing reactions, mysterious mixtures, and gloriously gooey slime. We’ll start with potion-making and open-ended science exploration, then culminate in the main event: creating a custom slime concoction to take home.
Your party includes:
Open-ended potion and science exploration as guests arrive
Mixing and experimenting with colors, ingredients, and chemical reactions
A Blazing Star–led custom slime-making project
Colors, textures, scents, and add-ins to make each slime creation their own
Slime to take home
A custom birthday banner for the guest of honor
Recommended for: curious scientists, potion-makers, and slime enthusiasts ages 5+
🌈 GLOW ART PARTY
Turn out the lights. Make something glow.
Turn down the lights and turn up the weird.
Kids experiment with fluorescent paints, glowing materials, unusual tools, bold colors, and all kinds of unexpected ways to make marks and images. They can paint, print, draw, collage, layer, splatter, and generally see what happens when art meets the black lights.
We'll start with open-ended creative exploration, then come together for a special glow-in-the-dark art project led by a Blazing Star educator. And when the lights go down? The whole room transforms.
Your party includes:
Open-ended glow-art exploration as guests arrive
A Blazing Star–led glow painting project
Fluorescent and glow-in-the-dark materials
Black-light fun
A lights-out reveal
Artwork to take home
A custom birthday banner for the guest of honor
Recommended for: kids ages 5+ who like art with a little more razzle-dazzle
🏺 AIR-DRY CLAY PARTY
Make something weird.
Kids get their hands dirty with air-dry clay and a glorious collection of tools, textures, stamps, objects, and materials.
They might make a creature.
Or a tiny cake.
Or a sculpture.
Or an object that defies all known categories.
We support all of these outcomes.
Your party includes:
Open-ended clay exploration as guests arrive
A Blazing Star–led clay project
Clay, tools, textures, and creative materials
Plenty of room for individual ideas and experimentation
Creations to take home
A custom birthday banner for the guest of honor
Recommended for: ages 5+
🫧 SENSORY BIRTHDAY
For our littlest explorers, birthday party = touch everything.
Kids dive into a playful collection of sensory invitations designed for scooping, pouring, squishing, mixing, building, creating, and making a glorious little mess. Think sensory materials, playdough, natural treasures, water play, simple process art, bubbles, and plenty of things to investigate with curious hands.
We'll let kids explore at their own pace, then gather for a short, playful sensory or art invitation led by a Blazing Star educator. There are no identical crafts to finish and no expectation that every child participate in exactly the same way.
It's a birthday party designed around how little kids actually play: touch it, try it, dump it out, mix it together, and see what happens.
Perfect for: Curious little explorers ages 2–4. If your little one has a special interest such as dinosaurs, trucks, mermaids, etc. please let us know as we can almost certainly incorporate their favorite things.
Every Blazing Star Birthday Includes
90 minutes of making + 30 minutes of cake/food time
Up to 12 children
A Blazing Star educator to lead the experience
An open-ended creative activity for guests to dive into as they arrive
A special instructor-led project
All creative materials
A custom birthday banner for the birthday kid
Setup and cleanup including plates, utensils, napkin.
You provide the birthday kid, the guests, and any food or cake you'd like to serve.
We'll take care of the rest.
Birthday Party Details
Where?
At Blazing Star School in Chicago.
Our space is a real working creative school, which means it already has the things we love: interesting materials, big ideas, room to make a mess, and lots of possibilities.
When?
Saturday and Sunday parties only.
Party times are scheduled based on availability.
How much?
$375 for up to 12 children.
Additional children may be added for $20 each, up to our maximum group size of 18.
Can you come to us instead?
Yes!
We also offer mobile Blazing Star Birthday Parties for families who would rather celebrate at home or another location.
Mobile parties start at $450 for up to 12 children, plus an additional travel fee if traveling further than 45 minutes from our location in Irving Park.
We bring the creative experience to you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to provide decorations?
Nope!
You are welcome to bring whatever decorations you'd like, but you absolutely don't need to turn the place into a Pinterest board.
We'll provide the creative experience and a special birthday banner for the birthday kid.
Can we bring cake and food?
Absolutely.
Parents are responsible for food, cake, drinks, and anything else you'd like to serve. We’ll provide dry goods like plates, napkins, utensils.
We'll make the art. You bring the cake.
A beautiful division of labor.
Do parents stay?
Parents are welcome to stay, and we recommend that the birthday child's grown-up remain on site.
For guests age 5+: Caregivers are welcome to stay or drop off, whatever you the host wants to offer. We recommend at least 1 adult remain on site for every 5 children participating.
For our younger children age 2-4, we recommend at least one caregiver remain on site.
What happens if some kids arrive late?
Nothing terrible!
That's exactly why we start with an open-ended creative experience.
Kids can jump in when they arrive, and we'll transition into the group project once everyone has had a chance to settle in.
Can younger siblings attend?
Younger siblings are welcome to attend with their caregiver, but our activities are designed for the age range of the birthday party.
Please let us know about siblings when you book so we can make sure the experience is appropriate.
Can we choose our own project?
Within each party theme, yes!
Our educators will have a plan and lots of possibilities, but we intentionally leave room for kids to make choices and follow their own ideas.
That's kind of our whole thing.
If you have a particularly specific idea for your child's birthday, tell us about it! We love inventing things.
Can we have a party that's not one of the four themes?
Probably!
Our four party experiences cover our favorite kinds of creative chaos, but we can sometimes create a custom experience depending on the group, age, and date.
Ask us. We like weird requests.
Will my child come home covered in paint/slime/clay?
There is a non-zero chance.
We provide aprons/protective measures appropriate to the activity, but these are creative parties, not immaculate parties.
We recommend clothing that can handle a little adventure.
What if my kid doesn't want to do the main project?
That's okay.
We create invitations, not assignments.
Kids can explore the materials, make something different, collaborate with friends, or take the project in an entirely unexpected direction.
How far in advance should I book?
As early as you can, especially for weekend parties.
Our school has limited weekend availability, and we only host a small number of parties each weekend.
Ready to Make Something Weird?
Tell us about your birthday kid, their age, your preferred date, and which adventure sounds most like them.
We'll take it from there.
[BOOK A BLAZING STAR BIRTHDAY →]
Because birthdays are better when kids don't just have a party.
They get to make one.
