To live in a city as large as Chicago, I’m always surprised when something is going on that I’m not aware of. Not because I think that I should be in the know – a socialite I’m not – but because I’m usually up with the street festivals that start as soon as the weather gets warm and muggy in these parts. Except it was more like wet and muggy, but the Chicago Children’s Theater made it work with their BOING! (Big Outdoor Indoor Neighborhood Gathering) Festival this weekend. I enjoyed myself immensely, and all I got to do was take photos of my kids doing activities. With a cost of $10 per person, and running from 12-4, it was frugal enough with more than enough time to tire the little folks out for an afternoon nap.
The BOING! Festival was a full day of fun and wildly unique experiences, both outside in Chicago Children’s Theater’s spacious on-site parking lot, and inside on both floors of the former Chicago police station, now a beautiful, mixed-use performing arts, education and community engagement facility that welcomes all Chicago families.
Kids will have a blast at BOING! morphing into heroes by creating adventure costumes, rolling oversized dice, and setting out on an epic quest inside and outside The Station complete with mysterious clues, delightful discoveries, and a surprise finale. The twizzlers decorated shields, crowns and wands for a full interactive quest to find the memories of a dear friend. If you could have seen the focus that Sir Twizzler had while making his crown and shield. He was definitely on a mission y’all.
Aerial circus arts, a black light dance party, airbrush tattoos and more all promise to add bounce to BOING! The girls and I were tattooed – I got a semi-colon because of the happenings of last week and in my own life, the ladybug got – a ladybug, and Lil’ Miss handled herself with a tiger. The line was LONG for the airbrushing, but the artwork was amazing! The ladybug also got her aerial art on, and tried her hand at trapeze and aerial silks, and crossed something off of her 9 year old bucket list.
Plus, we enjoyed live performances throughout today by Yuri “The Human Beatbox” Lane, The Happiness Club, Old Town School of Folk Music and more.
Of course, food and drink were available, from popcorn, cheesecake bites, and empanadas! We’re looking forward to going back again next year, and hopefully we’ll see YOU there! You can find more details on the Chicago Children’s Theater website –>HERE<– and make sure to put a reminder in your calendar for next year!