I received a complimentary birthday party package for my son Henry in exchange for my honest review of Monster Mini Golf’s birthday party offerings.
We had been to Monster Mini Golf in Gaithersburg as a family on several occasions - it’s a great place to escape the heat in the summer, and the perfect place to spend a rainy or cold day any time of year! Henry had also attended one birthday party for a friend at Monster Mini Golf, which I had attended, and so when he chose Monster Mini Golf as his preferred party place, I dug in and started investigating!
My criteria for approving a party place include: 1) the activity/fun factor; 2) the suitability of the party room accommodations; 3) convenience of the overall party package, and 4) cost. Monster Mini Golf exceeded our family’s expectations as a party destination in each of these areas! Henry’s party was the V.I.M. (Very Important Monster) package. Some of the features discussed in this review may not be available with all package types. Thankfully, Monster Mini Golf has comprehensive details on its various party packages on its website, and the staff are beyond helpful in the planning and execution stage.
The Activity/Fun Factor. Their website identifies Monster Mini Golf as the “Leader in black light entertainment”! I’ll give them that and much more! Every kid I know goes bonkers for all things neon, glow in the dark, black light sensitive or glow stick oriented. The wow factor of Monster Mini Golf hits you the minute you walk in the door - fully decked out in black light sensitive neon decor, the entire inside of the facility glows like magic to your eyes. Add to that the sights and sounds of an arcade in plain sight in the facility and the glowing monsters and skeletons and other decor throughout the facility - visually Monster Mini Golf delivers a wow factor! Add to that there is an onsite DJ booth in the corner with periodic tunes spinning and live announcements and shoutouts from the rotating staff members playing DJ. While the kids were awed by it all, my favorite parts of the V.I.M. party package at Monster Mini Golf were the special touches of the party staff that made Henry feel so special that day. Upon arrival for his party, a staff member took Henry aside and helped him to answer a series of questions all about him - favorite food, color, show, sport, actual date of birth, and so forth. Later, while the kids were in the party room eating, the party staff played a quiz game with the kids in attendance by letting them guess the right answers to those questions. Another awesome touch of the V.I.M. package was having all of our party guests gather around as a staff member painted Henry’s hand in glowing neon orange paint and helped him to paint his hand print onto a black sheet of paper which would be put up on the wall of of the facility among other birthday kids’ hands (not available on all packages).
The kids had a blast making their way through the mini golf course. The course itself is not overly challenging, but has enough twists and turns, obstacles and surprises to keep thngs interesting. For the birthday party, a party attendant travels through the course wit the kids, chatting with them, giving them each a fun little glow bracelet, and keeping them on track until they finish golfing. While navigating the course, guests are treated to periodic shows from the impressive animatronic ogre and talking tree features in the course. While some of the younger kids in our group (around age 2 and 3) were intimidated or even frightened by this delightful spooks, the majority of the kids at our party (mostly age 4 to 6) were awestruck by them and couldn’t wait for them to move or talk again! Another special touch during golf was a special “Monster Challenge Event” at one of the holes, where all the party guests join around and cheer on the birthday kid as the party hosts dress him up in fun glowing sunglasses, a hat and other funny accessories and then cheer him on as he tries to win 500 extra prize tickets by hitting a silly rubber squish ball into the hole! I’ve posted a photo of Henry all dressed up!
As if a round of black light mini golf wasn’t awesome enough, did I mention there is an arcade? My kids love arcade games every bit as much as they love things that glow. After we ate and had cake in the party room, our package included an arcade game card for each child with $5 to play games, with a higher amount on the birthday boy’s card. Geared towards the younger crowd, this arcade has carnival type games allowing kids to try to win tickets for prizes, car and motorcycle riding games, and other kid friendly offerings. Newer to the Gaithersburg Monster Golf is the Laser Maze game. I didn’t try this game first hand, but peering in through the side it looked very cool, with lasers shooting across the capsule at various angles and heights within a room that players need to traverse without touching the laser beams. After playing at the arcade, kids can visit the prize counter and redeem their accrued tickets. Another “pure joy” for Henry is carefully selecting the coolest prizes and redeeming his tickets. Start to end there were a ton of different activities for the kids, and the amazing Monster Mini Golf party staff kept all of our guests engaged and having a great time. I’d recommend Monster Mini Golf as an incredibly fun and entertaining party location best suited to kids age 5-10.
Party Room Accommodations. The party room accommodations at Monster Mini Golf are like none I have ever seen. Monster Mini Golf describes them as “posh Haunted Mansion Style Private Birthday Party rooms”. These are, hands down, the most decorated and theme intense party rooms I have encountered. Dramatic fireplaces, skeletons, spider web table clothes, spooky lights and sconces all with the same cool black light experience. Also, the rooms are really big, with ample seating for kids and adults to enjoy themselves! The rooms are also equipped with full size refrigerators that parties are welcome to use to keep drinks or other items cold.
I have to tell you more about the party staff at the facility as well! Staff met me at my car to get anything that I was bringing in to the party, including food, drinks, and party favors and then took care of EVERYTHING, leaving me time to catch up with friends and meet some of the parents of my son’s classmates that I didn’t know as well. When it was time to eat, I snapped right into “mom-mode” - running around to be sure that not only my kids but the other kids at the party - mostly between age 3 and 7, had all the food and drinks that they needed. The party staff quickly set me at ease and sent me back to my socializing, promising they had everything under control! And boy did they! With the most delightful and fun demeanor, the party staff saw to it that every child had exactly what they desired to eat and drink. One staff member even remarked to me that my 2 year old daughter Vivian sure did like cherry tomatoes, as she continued to help her get more and more! Whenever the kids were getting ready to do something fun like the hand painting or the Monster Challenge Event, a party staff member was sure to call it to our attention so that we would be ready to capture some fun photos, and when I decided on a whim that I wanted to try to get a big group picture of all of my son’s party guests together, in the party room, before they head out to the arcade, the staff marched the kids right into order and arranged them to all fit in the frame so I could get my photo! We have been to plenty of parties over the years, and I can honestly say that I have never experienced a party more impressive than this - the staff’s attention to detail and genuine interest in making sure kids have a great time was incredible. Several of the other parents there with their kids that day even remarked at how impressive it was that the Monster Mini Golf staff stepped in and truly handled everything during the whole party. Right down to the last moments, when they took the goodie bags that we had brought and placed them up at the prize counter so that before anyone left the party they would be sure to get a goodie bag, as they traded in their arcade tickets for prizes.
Convenience. I’ve already mentioned how the fabulous Monster Mini Golf staff took charge and ensured that all children and parents alike had a terrific time during our party. It really was the best. When the party was over, all of our leftovers were packaged up for us, gifts brought for my son were on a rolling cart being brought to our car, and Another great feature of their party packages is the ability to bring in your own food from outside. So many places only permit you to serve their own food, which is sometimes costly to boot. Here, though, we were able to bring anything we wanted, and so we brought veggies and dip, chips, pizza from wherever we wanted, salad, cake, of course, and milk and juice boxes for the kids. We had 25 kids and even more than that in adults. The ability to bring an assortment of foods that would satisfy everyone without bankrupting us was a lifesaver. Monster Mini Golf also offers very reasonably priced food packages as party add ons (details are on their website). Another unexpected delight from our V.I.M. party package was that our two hour party was actually held outside of business hours, from 10am to noon, and so we had the entire facility to ourselves for nearly the entire time. With the doors closed to outsiders, I was able to let even my two year old enjoy walking around and playing with her friends without having to worry too much about her whereabouts. The other unexpected bonus of this private party structure was that I knew everyone I saw was there for my son’s party, and so I was able to identify parents I didn’t know well and get to know them!
Cost. Many factors go into assessing the cost and value of a birthday party package. One important factor is knowing how many kids will you have, and especially with the young kids, how many parents will be in attendance. For the V.I.M. Package we were permitted 25 kids included in the cost of the package, and had the ability to add additional children for an extra fee per child. We were also told that the combined capacity of the two adjoining party rooms that we used was 60 people. As noted above, we were also permitted to bring our own food, which I noted above likely saved us a good bit of money. As of the date of our party, the V.I.M. package is listed as $525. While by no means inexpensive, this cost included not just the golf during the party, but also $5 per guest for the arcade, $15 in playing credits for the birthday boy, plus each child received a pass for a free round of golf upon their return, a $9.99 value per child. So, of the $525 charged for the V.I.M. party package, which includes a 2 hour long private party hosted by facility staff that treated us like gold, a considerable amount of the total charge is actually distributed to the birthday guest of honor and his or her guests in the form of arcade credits and future free golf passes. Monster Mini Golf delivers a lot of value in its party packages, and offers many packages at different price points with different features, making it easier to find one that best suits your child’s interests and your budget.
In preparing this review of Henry’s party, I noticed that on their website Monster Mini Golf refers to its party staff as “Memory Makers” - I couldn’t think of a better name for them! At the end of our two hour party, I asked for the questionnaire that Henry had filled out for the quiz game, and one Memory Maker was able to recite for me all of Henry’s answers without even looking back at the sheet first! Another Memory Maker had learned all of the names of the children attending the party. We could not have been happier with Monster Mini Golf of Gaithersburg and all they did to make sure we all had a terrific time, especially our birthday boy, Henry, who loved every minute of his birthday party!
