A Beijing Birthday Party By Land, By 'Sea', or By Animal!

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Beijing parents are always asking “Where can I throw a birthday party for my kid?” Well, we’re here to tackle that big bouncy question as we explore different types of venues all over the city, and give you an in-depth look at your kids’ party options. Search #BigBeijingBirthdayPartyList for more kids' birthday party recommendations from us.

My son asked for a pool party for his 6th birthday party earlier this year, which would have been a lot easier if his birthday wasn't in early March when it's still way too cold outside. So we had to take the party indoors, which would have been a lot easier if the pandemic hadn't shut down most of the indoor water parks like the Water Cube at Beijing Olympic Park. All this to say that after quite an ordeal, we found an indoor playground that offers a considerable water play area, a massive indoor play area, and to top it all off, a fairly well-sized and well-kept zoo! This place is none other than By.Loft Playground or Bao Yan Le Yuan Kids Playground, located on the south side of town right by the fourth ring road.

I called ahead to enquire about hosting a kids' party there for ten adults and ten kids and was directed to their events manager via WeChat. After we connected, I was invited to tour the premises, which I did to my satisfaction. The water playground was clean, with ample changing rooms and showering facilities, and the water in the pools are continuously filtered up to the standards of local governance. The place did smell a lot of chlorine, which may help assure you of how sterile the environment is. My only concern was possible damage to the little ones' skin if the chlorine content was too strong, but after almost two hours in the water play area, all the kids came out just fine.

One other interesting observation was that this may be the first time some kids were exposed to the casual nudity that occurs in many a Chinese bathroom, so be prepared for some questions / lingering visuals after the party.

The management staff were great in helping to organize the kids and had suggested that they play in the water area before moving onto the indoor playground for two reasons. One, we could avoid the crowds that tend to come later in the day for the water play, and two, it was logistically simpler not to deal with tired kids and wet clothes at the end of an overwhelming day. We strongly suggest you follow a similar itinerary.

The massive indoor playground offers everything that kids up to about the age of 10 would want: bouncy inflatables, sand pits, ball pits, building blocks, obstacle maze with long slides – one of the longest and certainly the fastest I've personally slid down – and even a 5D cinema (which is really more like 3D, but still!) that plays five-minute clips of adventure rides like roller-coasters or underwater submarine experiences.

We paid for an all-inclusive package meaning Bao Yan Le Yuan took care of it all, from the food to the balloon decorations and even an eight-inch cake. It costs RMB 6,888+ including entrance tickets for a guest list of up to 20. The tickets gave us all access to the water area, indoor playground, and zoo, which we saved for last. It easily takes at least 30 minutes to walk through the winding exhibit, but kids will see all sorts of creatures from crabs to raccoons and even white wolves, while also getting to feed the fish, rabbits, and llamas.

A birthday party at Bao Yan Le Yuan By.Loft Playground has everything for the party-goers, whether they want to get splashed, bounce around, or pet a bunny. We highly recommend this experience for those with kids under 10, though we even had a couple of over-10s enjoy themselves at our party!

Look for 宝燕乐园 bǎo yàn lè yuán on Dianping to check out all the photos and videos, or add cxd19991120 on WeChat to get in touch with their event manager!

Images: Vivienne Tseng-Rush

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