We held my son's 4th birthday here yesterday and it was better than I ever could have hoped for. I knew that there was a poor review here, and it had almost scared me off, but it looked like the person had nothing to complain about other than some miscommunication. I wanted to improve the score for the place. When you first arrive to the building, you might be a little nervous about its location in an area of mostly industrial-type buildings. But keep going. Once inside, the children started in a room (cramped) with two bounce houses. However, we learned that they will soon be doing away with this part and replacing it with party games instead. The kids bounce (or play games) for about 45 minutes. Then a bell rings and you head into the "theater." The kids sit on the floor, and there are plenty of folding chairs for the grown-ups. The show itself was very, very funny and perfect for the age group we had there. Even the kids under 2 seemed to be enjoying it. My other son is 2 1/2 and was the star of the show. We thought he was going to pass out from the hilarity. He (and Louis the Magician) had us in tears. Louis did a great job of getting my normally very shy older son to volunteer and enjoy being part of the show as the birthday boy. After another 40 minutes or so, we moved downstairs to the party room for pizza (they call Papa John's for you - $10/large with whatever toppings you want). The girls that are the party helpers got the candles lit and the cake cut up and served, along with the juice boxes and ice cream. They did a great job of moving everything around and just getting everything done without needing a lot of instruction from us. I loved not having to worry about anything but a cake and drinks. It was so easy and the show was so much fun. All of the parents seemed to think it was a great party. I wouldn't be surprised if we get invited to one of their kids' parties there in the future. I do agree there could be better communication between Louis as the event approaches. He was very responsive by email, but I had to be proactive. A call a week ahead to confirm everything would be good. That said, I was giddy all weekend because of how great the party was. And the kids are still cracking themselves up over it! read more

As another person mentioned, the location is kind of strange and so is the venue. The magic show was great, the kiddos really enjoyed it, and the snack time afterwards was fine, but the pre-magic show time was strange. There is no longer a moonbounce which we had expected based on our original reservation. The door is unmarked so you're not really sure which door to go into, the parking spaced are long and very skinny. When you come in you go down to a basement/low ceiling room for the pre-magic show time. It has hard floors so not great for kids running around tripping, etc. The magic show was good and funny, best for kids 2-8 I'd say. It'd be better to have the magician to your own venue or home for a party. I think the idea is good but they need to work on the pre-magic show time and spruce up the venue. read more

We held my son's 4th birthday party here today. A great time was had by all 40+ guests (20+ kids and 20+ adults). We had the entire place to ourselves for the duration of the party. I was a little worried that there would not be enough space for us all, but it never felt crowded. When we arrived, 15 minutes early, as directed, there were two helpful party coordinators ready to help us settle in and welcome guests. We were welcomed into the large room that is used for cake and refreshments. It had two large refrigerators for our drinks and food. The coordinators took our pizza orders when we arrived. (They had a deal with a well-known pizza delivery chain for $10 large pizzas with unlimited toppings). For the first half hour, the party coordinators welcomed guests and kept the kids entertained with active party games. We used the large room that is used for cake. The tables and chairs had been moved out of the way, leaving ample space for the kids to play. My son, who had fallen asleep on the drive over and was awoken prematurely from his nap, wanted no part of the activities that his friends were enjoying. The party coordinators helpfully alerted Louis the Magician about the Birthday Boy's mood before we went upstairs. As soon as we arrived upstairs for the magic show, Louis approached my son and did a little magic trick. Like magic, my cranky, sleepy little guy turned back into his normal, happy self. He got to assist with lots of tricks and, normally a little shy, enjoyed interacting with Louis on stage. Louis the Magician captivated his audience for the entire 45 minutes with a great sense of comedic timing. Kids and their parents were well entertained, even the younger siblings of my son's 3 and 4 year old guests were entertained. He never lost their attention. After the magic show, we went down for pizza and cake. The room had been reconfigured to allow the kids to sit and eat at 3 tables. The coordinators served the children their pizza, and later cake, while the adults socialized and helped themselves to refreshments. Best of all, when the party was done, we didn't have to do any of the clean-up. As we packed up gifts and left-over food and drinks, Louis came downstairs and helped distract my son so we could pack up. It was a great party and felt truly effortless to me. My son is ready to go back for his 5th birthday party and was excitedly doing "magic tricks" at dinner today. read more

Our experience was so different from all of the other reviewers. Perhaps Louis is reading the comments and making improvements to his business. There are no more bounce houses/inflatables. The kids start in the downstairs room and play structured games with the party coordinators. While I was nervous about this at first, it was fine and the kids really enjoyed it. It was a bit loud, but we had 22 kids at our party, so anything they did was a bit noisy! The kids then moved to the magic show upstairs and the show was FABULOUS. Much better than other kids performers that I have seen. He was engaging and enthusiastic and it was great for the age range of our party guests (3-9). The parents were laughing along with the kids for most of the show. It was even better than I had expected. After the magic show, we went back downstairs to the original room and it had been set up for cake and snacks. The party coordinators did everything from serving the kids to clean up. The room was clean, well light, and nicely decorated. It was very spacious and accommodated us easily. We didn't have problems with birthday party overlap, chaos during the pre-show time,or communication issues. We received a phone call and an email several days prior to the event reminding us of when we could arrive and what we needed to bring. I really have zero complaints and I've been to many birthday parties at many different DC venues. I would definite recommend this venue to others. read more

I almost want to do two reviews for this place - one for the party experience, and one for the magician - because they really were drastically different. So let me start with the good. The magician! Five stars. We went for a five year old's birthday party. We did not see Louis the Magician, as most of the other reviewers seem to. Instead we saw Wayne Allan. He was excellent. Funny and engaging and professional and patient with the kids. A child's attention span is not always so great at this age, but he kept them happy the whole time. I highly, highly recommend him. Good for kids and parents both, in fact. As for the bad, the party experience leaves something to be desired. The building is basically a house in an industrial area, and clearly not designed for the purpose of hosting childrens' parties. Certainly not several of them at once, as was the case when we went. Our party was on a weekend afternoon, and the place was mobbed. You could hardly get in the door because people were all trying to get in and out at the same time. The front room, not much bigger than the foyer of a split-level home, was full of presents and there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to which child's pile was on which table. Once we were finally able to get in the door and sign our waivers, we slowly made our way through a narrow, crowded hallway into the most depressing party room ever. It had one bounce house (there was a second in the room, but it was not inflated) that was too small to fit more than a few kids - I mean, the room was basically the size of an average living room on an older house, so the bounce structure had to be small - and threatened to topple over several times. No decorations. There were maybe 4 folding chairs, and the rest of us adults just stood around. And it was FREEZING in there, like the place didn't have any heat at all. 10 minutes in, most of the kids had lost interest in the tepid bounce house but there wasn't anything else for them to do or anywhere else to go - all of the other rooms were taken up by other parties. Another review said they are getting rid of the bounce houses and replacing them with games, and I seriously hope that's true, because they're sad at best and a safety hazard at worst. If you don't have the facilities to do a decent bounce house, then go another route. Finally, we were allowed to go upstairs for the magician. It was a little more comfortable up there. Warmer, at least. The kids sat on the floor (carpeted) in front of the stage and the adults sat on folding chairs, and there were enough for all of us. As I said, the magician was talented and I have nothing negative to say about his performance, but it was sometimes difficult to hear him - the magic room is up a short flight of stairs from the crowded entry door and the bouncy room, and up another short flight of stairs from the basement where the kids have their cake, and there are no doors or other sound barrier to separate all of these areas. So imagine all of them full of 5 year olds at once. Then imagine trying to hear the magician over that noise. Again, it's like having three parties at once in a split level house. Then, one of the other parties had not cleared out by the time the magician was done, so we spent some time hanging around, waiting to be able to move downstairs. The magician gamely tried to distract the kids with new tricks as we waited, but by this point they were getting anxious. Eventually the party room was empty and we were able to climb down to it. It was essentially a basement, but a well-lit one. There was plenty of seating for the kids and the decorations were nice. No complaints about the room itself, and unlike the other areas of the party facility, it was big enough for the purpose. And to be fair, they were really efficient about setup once the previous party cleared out. If the whole party was JUST that party room and the magician, I'd have given the whole experience 3 or 4 stars. It's the crowding and the bounce house/entry area that drags the score down, and to be fair those parts are less important than the party room or the magic. But these folks really need to get a better facility and get more organized. It's probably a small business and I feel a little bad knocking them, but if you schedule so many parties on an afternoon that party 2 can't hear the magician because of the noises from party 1 and party 3....something isn't working. I'd suggest, if you really want to come here, do it at an unpopular time when you might not have to compete with so many other party guests. read more

kept deposit and then charged us for full amount of the show even after we cancelled much in advance. deal at your peril.