Groovy Chicks & Pirate Ships

I take my hat off to the people at GCAPS. Anyone who can wrangle a group of excited children, and keep them entertained for 90 mintues is a winner in my books!
I had my first GCAPS experience a year ago, for one of their Monster Parties. My daughter was bitten by the themed party bug then and there. Therefore when her 6^th birthday rolled around this year, she wanted nothing more than to have a Mermaid & Pirate party here.
The professionalism is unflawed, from begining to end! My initial e-​mail enquiry was answered promptly, with all the information I needed to know. A tentative booking was made, which becomes locked in once the deposit is paid. The costs are completely comparable with running your own kids party (factoring in food, games, prizes, labour costs!) and there are several options available.
We went for a 90 minute party, which was probably best in terms of attention span for smaller ones. The kids are greeted by bright, cheery assistants, who wear clearly marked name tags. According to the website, these assistants are generally students studying early childhood or teaching, so you know that they have an interest in kids. Parents are seated in one of 2 waiting areas, with ready access to coffee, tea and biscuits. (And for an extra fee, you can order a platter of food too.) At one end of the waiting area is a TV, hooked up to the CCTV in the party room… so yes, you can be a voyeur at your own child’s birthday party.
All the kids are herded into one of the 3 party rooms which is decorated to theme — pirate/​mermaid room, jungle room (which facilitates monster and dinosaur parties) and the disco room (for those little disco divas). From there, they choose dress ups appropriate to the theme and the party host takes over.
There are well thought out games, music and activities. You can add more to the activities pack for an extra fee, as well as upgrade on prizes (such as every child wins a prize… which may be more useful for younger children). Then food arrives part way through. GCAPS manage to provide food which is both kid and parent approved; pizza toasties, oven chips, fairy bread and fruit kebabs. They can also cater to food allergies and intolerances as well if you let them know well in advance!
The cake is what gets me… an ENORMOUS several tiered ‘cake’ made out of MDF or some-​such and decorated in theme. Dottoed around the tiers are little holders in which they place the approrpriate amount of cupcakes for children present. It looks shiney, glittery and wholly impressive when you 6… (or even 36!)!!
At the end, the children are farewelled, and they each receive a party bag (again, upgradeable if you wish to pay the extra). And the bags are good value too, which only a few small lollies, and the rest of the contents being favours (such as erasers, hair bands, rubber bracelets, small toys). Fantastic!
GCAPS have cornered the kid’s party market in a very clever way. They know what kids like, and they deliver for a price which doesn’t send you into a tailspin of overtime at work for the next XX amount of months! Four fairy /​mermaid /​etc stars from this mum!

This is everything a kids party venue should be: sparkly, overwhelming, and slightly manic, like a hyperactive child in a toy room. We had my daughter’s sixth birthday here and she and all her groovy chic friends were ushered into a disco room so sparkly it could possibly cause seizures. They were then directed into another room filled with dress up clothes and invited to pick out a disco outfit of their choosing. Can you imagine the squealing of ten six year old girls in a dress up room? You can’t, you really can’t.
Once properly attired the girls then got to sing and dance themselves into a disco frenzy under the expert staff guidance, while I hung out taking photos and thanking God these sorts of places exist. They provide the cake, party bags, and a ridiculous amount of glitter. And the food is all vegetarian with no meat products or gelatine, they even use dairy free margarine. Cheap? Nah not really, you’re looking at around three hundred bucks for a party. But really you get your money’s worth, in glitter alone.