Did you know that South Health Campus (the new hospital) has a YMCA with a climbing wall in it? They host climbing wall parties there! Here’s a write up from Nicole who had a party for her son at the climbing wall in the South Health Campus YMCA, and she’s sharing her review!
Before my daughter was born at South Health Campus, our son asked us if he could go climbing at the climbing wall in the hospital while I was having the baby. I was 100% sure that would not work out but promised him another time we would take him.
He has recently become obsessed with American Ninja Warrior and loved the idea of a climbing party for his 8th birthday. (In case you don’t watch the show most of the best ninjas are rock climbers.)
Cost
- $120 for one hour on the climbing wall
- $40 for one hour in the multi-purpose room for cake and presents
What you Get
Kids need to be at least 3 years old to climb. The hour at the climbing wall included one instructor and two volunteers who helped belay the kids. The minimum number of climbers is 3 and the maximum is 10. We had a small party as some kids couldn’t make it, but 4 was actually a great number. There was enough space for all of them to climb for the entire hour.
They enjoyed trying out different routes and seeing if they could make it to the top. 4 of the boys were 8 and one was 5, and they all really enjoyed it. The activity was surprisingly quiet for a group of boys that age as they were all concentrating really hard. There is space in the room for the adults to sit and watch the kids as they climb.
Outside of the room there is a health and wellness library that features a small kids’ area full of board books. This was perfect to keep our 18-month-old entertained while big brother and his friends were climbing. My husband, my mom and I took turns hanging out with her there.
After they kids were tired out from climbing, we headed to the multi-purpose room for snacks and cake. I take the minimalist route for birthday parties and while you can add what ever decorations you want to the room, we just had a minion table cloth, plates and some napkins to match the minion cake we had.
We had no idea how large the multi-purpose room was ahead of time. It was a full workout area where they run spin classes, step classes, etc at other times and had one long wall of mirrors. The boys thought this was the perfect space to run around in.
There was a stack of workout steps and some other items and my husband made a little mini obstacle course for them. We timed them as they ran over the obstacles, did push ups and jumping jacks. It looked like something I would dread – a boot camp class or something – but they had so much fun trying to go faster each time through the course.
Communication
I would recommend a party South Campus YMCA. The only downside was that it took me a couple of emails to get the information I needed but I think the main contact was on holidays. [Editor’s note: the email address for Robert is incorrect on the YMCA website. The correct address is robert.garnett@calgary.ymca.ca.] Once I reached him he was very helpful and accommodating.
What We Thought
My son loved the party and can’t wait to try climbing again. We are considering putting him in lessons there in January. Another mom who was at the party commented that she would book a party there as well.
Thank you so much for sharing your review of parties at the YMCA in Calgary, Nicole! For more info, see the Y website.
I’ve also got a review of wall-climbing parties at Vivo (formerly Cardel Place) here!