Tag Archives: Spokane Valley Chuck E. Cheese

A Chuck E. Cheese Birthday Party

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As a Chuck E. Cheese superfan, it probably won’t surprise you where Sloan chose to have her birthday party. This past Saturday, our new 5-year-old hosted seven of her friends at the wildly popular entertainment center’s Spokane Valley location.

Sloan hosted seven of her friends at Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate her birthday on Saturday.

Yes, birthday parties are back as the pandemic continues to loosen its grip on our world. All one needed to do to see this reality expressed was peek inside Chuck E. Cheese for a half second on Saturday. But more on that in just a bit.

If you are a parent and are considering where to allow your child to host their birthday party, I thought I would give you some pros and cons for choosing Chuck E. Cheese.

Pros

Even though Sloan had her heart set on a Chuck E. Cheese party, Sid did look around at some of the trampoline parks and inflatable centers around Spokane. By a decent margin, Chuck E. Cheese offered the most affordable “per kid” price. You might be surprised to learn what some places are asking for birthday parties.

I feel the value of a Chuck E Cheese birthday party is strong compared to other alternatives. Sloan got some special time with Chuck E. and much more.

The value we received was another positive. The per kid price included an unlimited game card for TWO HOURS, pizza, unlimited soda in a Chuck E. Cheese souvenir cup, ice cream, and a party favor bag. We felt like Sloan’s friends were well taken care of.

That value also provides enhanced treatment for the birthday kid. It all starts with the name badge they receive and wrist watch they are given to activate the games, a VIP piece of “bling” that contrasts with the standard card that all the other children get. The birthday designee also receives free tickets, recognition from Chuck E. Cheese himself, and a chance inside the ticket booth where occupants are challenged to grab as many tickets swirling in the air as possible.

Sloan in the Chuck E. Cheese ticket booth with her cousin, Mikayla.

The flexibility is also nice. We could have purchased a cake from Chuck E. Cheese but we weren’t required to do so. Rather, we were allowed to bring our own cake to the facility and our party host gladly served it to the kids. That is another thing, Chuck E. Cheese assigns an employee to your party to facilitate the schedule, serve food/drinks, make the birthday kid feel special, and provide customer service.

We were able to bring our own cake to Chuck E. Cheese.

Cons

On the other side of things, it wasn’t like Sloan had a private party. There were five other birthday parties taking place during the same noon – 2 p.m. time slot as Sloan’s. All these parties took place on the same floor area, with six rows of seating (one row per party) lined up right next to each other.

With so many parties taking place simultaneously, that obviously translates into lots of kids running around. The gaming floor was pretty busy on Saturday resulting in wait times at some games and a long line at the ticket redemption prize counter.

Also, Chuck E. Cheese is Chuck E. Cheese. For those people who experience anxiety walking into a place with kids running wild all over the place or who think that Chuck E. Cheese pizza tastes like cardboard, your perception is unlikely to change even if you are experiencing the venue from a birthday party perspective.

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With all that said, judging by my count, the positives still outweigh the negatives. Because of that, I feel like I can recommend Chuck E. Cheese for your child’s birthday party. And oh yeah, Sloan can too! Don’t Blink.

Thanksgiving Weekend 2021

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Another amazing Thanksgiving weekend has just passed. I always enjoy this time of the year because it provides a well-needed break and is the true kickoff of the holiday season. So much optimism and joy! As is my custom, I like to look back at the weekend and point out a highlight from each day.

Thursday – Kind of a no-brainer, right? We celebrated Thanksgiving at my parents’ house. My sister and her family plus my brother and his wife joined us for excellent food, some drinks, and games. Oh, let’s not forget the desserts either. We had pumpkin pie, cheesecake, peanut butter pie, and chocolate chip cookie bars. If you did any recent reading of this blog, you know what I chose. My fondest memory of the evening was just our conversation around the table when we ate the Thanksgiving meal.

Our family taking some time to let our food settle after Thanksgiving dinner at my parents’ house.

Friday – We go back to my parents’ house for Friday’s highlight where we gathered to watch the 113th Apple Cup. At the start of the game we heated up the Thanksgiving leftovers and picked our lucky spots in the basement to cheer on the Cougs. Don’t know if much luck was needed on this evening as WSU pulverized the Huskies, 40-13, to secure state bragging rights. It was so awesome to see the football team play such a complete game and put an exclamation point on the regular season. Needless to say, it was a very happy drive home for the four of us.

Sidney and I prior to watching the 2021 Apple Cup.

Saturday – Chuck E. Cheese did something pretty cool. They teamed up with Ryan Kaji of Ryan’s World fame to host a fan fest live event that extended across all of its restaurants in the country. Sloan and I showed up at our Spokane Valley location for the 10:30 a.m. free event. We watched the Ryan special on the televisions and as the story played out the Chuck E. Cheese host did interactive games and crafts with us. Sloan loved it and we were very appreciative of the free tickets they gave us after the program ended.

Sloan following along with the Ryan’s World FanFest at the Spokane Valley Chuck E. Cheese location.

Sunday – We celebrated the first Sunday of Advent by attending mass at St. Mary and then heading over to the gym for Advent Adventures Faith Time. The parish really went all out as Sloan was able to complete an Advent-themed obstacle course, make a homemade Advent wreath, create a “gingerbread” nativity scene, and so much more. We can sometimes look ahead to Christmas without proper preparation but if we take plenty of time to reflect during Advent we can be ready for Christ’s birth.

We had so much fun at the St. Mary Parish (Spokane Valley) Advent event.

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Being thankful isn’t confined to Thanksgiving nor is it limited to Thanksgiving weekend. Let us continue to be thankful during the other 361 days of the year. I hope everyone had a terrific weekend. Don’t Blink.

Lucy and Virginia Thursday Rundown

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I think it is Thursday, right? Well that means it is time for the Rundown. Thanks for hopping aboard, let’s get right to the five topics…

Chuck E. Cheese Wrap Up – I know you are probably sick of me writing about Sloan’s adventures at Chuck E. Cheese but just one final note. Last weekend we went to the fun center for the final time this season. I purchased Sloan a summer pass that allowed her to go once a week for 30 minutes of unlimited play. We made Saturday mornings our special time to play together. We played a lot of games, earned a lot of tickets, and won a lot of prizes. We had tons of fun that went far beyond the $40 I spent for the pass.

After we exited Chuck E. Cheese for the last time for the summer on Saturday, I took this photo of Sloan. The pass we purchased provided a lot of entertainment.

Happy Birthday, Grandma – I always like to mark my grandma’s birthday in this blog when it comes around. If she were still alive, she would turn 104 tomorrow. My grandma was a quiet but strong Italian woman who was devoted to her faith and loved a good joke. To get a better sense of the tough lady she was, consider reading this post I wrote in 2017.

Before my grandma was an “amazing lady” she was just a girl. Here is a photo from her earlier years.

Gourmet Ramen – Every now and then, Sid and I decide to have Top Ramen for dinner. However, we have different approaches. I just add a couple cups of water and throw it in the microwave. Sid, on the other hand, cooks it on the stove and adds numerous ingredients from sauces to spices to sesame seeds. She truly goes gourmet. Last night she added teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, garlic, honey, and more. Our kitchen smelled like an Asian bistro and her ramen tasted like it was straight out of P.F. Changs.

A look at Sid’s ramen she made last night.

Let’s Talk to Lucy – Although it won’t make my top five Sirius channels, the new Let’s Talk to Lucy format on 104 is pretty interesting. Lucille Ball had a radio talk show in the 1960s where she interviewed a lot of people—some famous and some not so famous. After the show ended in 1965 no one heard the recordings again…until now. I personally like listening to the channel because although you can get a sense for how different people were back then, you gain a greater appreciation for how similar they are to us today. And Lucy herself is a hoot—enjoy listening to her express her own personal views and talk to her guests like they are old friends. The channel is worth 10 minutes of your time.

You might consider giving the “Let’s Talk to Lucy” Sirius channel a listen.

Overthink – This is so me! I have a true disdain for these online security measures that “test” to see “if you are a human” and the ones that force you to choose boxes with objects in them are the absolute worst. Many of the grainy, random photos are so ambiguous that it is more like a guessing game than a simple security measure. Can we please get rid of these things forever?

These online tests are terrible.

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That will wrap up things for tonight. I hope you get plenty of time this weekend to watch some college football…let’s hope for an exciting and uninterrupted season. Don’t Blink.

About Time! Visiting Chuck E. Cheese

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We went from living in a Dave and Buster’s town to living in a Chuck E. Cheese town…

Loss for Sid and I; win for Sloan and Beau. Right? Well, I don’t equate my level of happiness with access to arcade games and skee-ball so please don’t feel too bad for me.

It is mildly amusing though that Myrtle Beach had the monopoly on the ultimate adult arcade experience and Spokane seemingly has the upper hand with children as it boasts multiple Chuck E. Cheese fun centers.

A look at the exterior of the North Spokane Chuck E. Cheese location. This was the first Chuck E. Cheese that Sloan ever went to.

Just before the libraries re-opened, Chucky decided it was time to invite all the kids and their parents back. It was another one of those small victory moments when you could sense the tide turning with respect to the Coronavirus.

Sloan had waited a long time to ride alongide this mouse.

By the time Chuck E. Cheese re-opened, Sloan was chomping at the bit to go. We had driven by the two Spokane locations so many times and she had watched countless Chuck E. Cheese-related YouTube videos that she couldn’t wait to get inside and meet the Mouse himself.

Needless to say, Sloan was ready to run loose at Chuck E. Cheese.

As a little boy growing up in Spokane there was nothing more rewarding than when my parents would take me to Chuck E. Cheese. There used to be a location in the Shadle Park Shopping Center and in my day that was ground zero for where “a kid could be a kid.” There was no cooler place to have a birthday party or spend a day of spring break than at Chuck E. Cheese.

So, yes, I was a little nostalgic when I took Sloan to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time. But once we walked through the doors that nostalgia turned to mild panic as I tried to navigate the changes that have taken place over the years (or decades).

Sloan learned a lot about Chuck E. Cheese by watching some of her favorite YouTubers visit it.

You no longer get a stamp to ensure that you leave with the people you came with. Instead, you just take a selfie. To play games, it is no longer as simple as feeding the token machine dollar bills. Rather, you select between different packages at the front counter. Once you choose your package, don’t expect to receive any of the coveted Chuck E. Cheese tokens you could no longer get at the token machine—like with most arcades, everything is now placed on a play card.

The Chuck E. Cheese staff makes sure parents leave with their kids by requiring them to take selfies upon entering. When you leave, you show them the selfie so they can verify that everyone leaves with who they came with.

But after the shock wore off and I could quickly evaluate the changes made since 1999, it was obvious that they were made to improve the experience. I don’t think it is even more obvious than with the packages. You can still select a package that let’s you pay per game OR you can choose one based on time. The latter is what I have done with Sloan both times we have gone.

The ball is in your court when it comes to choosing a package.

I pay $13 for a 30-minute pass. During that half hour, Sloan can play all the games as many times as she wants. It doesn’t matter if it is a ride, a redemption game, or the latest arcade game, she has access to it all courtesy of the $13 paid upfront. You can pay for longer time periods but the half hour option has worked out perfectly for us both visits. Not only does it satisfy Sloan’s energy level as we zip around the facility playing as many games as possible but it also satisfies my wallet.

We spent a portion of our 30 minutes playing air hockey.

Other changes I have noticed since “back in the day” include kiosks that will take your picture, ice cream vending machines set up on the play floor, and Blue Moon beer on tap. Dang, Chuck E. Cheese really has evolved, huh?

Sloan and I got these made at separate kiosks during yesterday’s trip to Chuck E. Cheese.

In a day and age where entertainment options are still limited for toddlers in these waning days of the pandemic, Chuck E. Cheese has proven to be a great place to expel some energy. Don’t Blink.