We went to South Coast Plaza today (Sunday 9/6) for Festival of Children event. Festival of Children is an annual event that is done for Festival of Children foundation which is a non-profit organization.
I wasn’t planning on taking Maddie to this event today but we just decided to visit at the last minute. We will just do face painting and a carousel ride ($1), I thought.
The first thing that came into my eyes was Color Me Mine event. They had tables with paints and ceramic figures (cat, dog, piggy bank, name plaque, trophy).
I figured since we were there early (the event started at noon and we got there just before noon), we can just get in line and paint one. WRONG! Apparently, you are supposed to “pre-register” for Color Me Mine event (which was full) and they only took handful of children on site whenever there was a no show.
I understand that by pre registering for these activities, that you can prevent confusion and delay. However, this is a children’s activity. Meaning, when kids see these paints and figurines on a covered table, they will want to paint. Not to mention, who would think/imagine that you need to pre-register online in advance for a kids’ activity at a mall?
I personally think that they should have made 50% pre-registered children and the other half walk-ins.
Any ways, we ended up waiting for 1PM session since the princess REALLY wanted to paint one. Then we ran into another problem. The coordinators did not clarify where to line up or what to do (I’m sure they were tired of explaining to every parents that pre-registration is required and that it is full). Everybody just hovered around and waited without forming a line. (Well, I thought I was in line, but it turned out to be useless) When there was an opening, well, I’ll leave it up to you to imagine what happened with cranky mommies/daddies with their kids hoping that they could paint a figurine.
Later, things got more organized and we got an opportunity to paint one. The activity it self was fun but the whole experience was bittersweet.
(I checked online when I came home and the registration is CLOSED for 9/19 &9/20 sessions)
Other stuff
The carousel ride was fun and pretty decent length for a $1. The face painting was also available and they were accepting tips. Up on the stage, we saw juggler and Festival Ballet performance. The ballet was short and it kept children’s attention with various characters (the mouse king, nutcracker, and rabbit from Alice in Wonderland) It was like a preview for the Nutcracker Ballet in December.
I wasn’t planning on taking Maddie to this event today but we just decided to visit at the last minute. We will just do face painting and a carousel ride ($1), I thought.
The first thing that came into my eyes was Color Me Mine event. They had tables with paints and ceramic figures (cat, dog, piggy bank, name plaque, trophy).
I figured since we were there early (the event started at noon and we got there just before noon), we can just get in line and paint one. WRONG! Apparently, you are supposed to “pre-register” for Color Me Mine event (which was full) and they only took handful of children on site whenever there was a no show.
I understand that by pre registering for these activities, that you can prevent confusion and delay. However, this is a children’s activity. Meaning, when kids see these paints and figurines on a covered table, they will want to paint. Not to mention, who would think/imagine that you need to pre-register online in advance for a kids’ activity at a mall?
I personally think that they should have made 50% pre-registered children and the other half walk-ins.
Any ways, we ended up waiting for 1PM session since the princess REALLY wanted to paint one. Then we ran into another problem. The coordinators did not clarify where to line up or what to do (I’m sure they were tired of explaining to every parents that pre-registration is required and that it is full). Everybody just hovered around and waited without forming a line. (Well, I thought I was in line, but it turned out to be useless) When there was an opening, well, I’ll leave it up to you to imagine what happened with cranky mommies/daddies with their kids hoping that they could paint a figurine.
Later, things got more organized and we got an opportunity to paint one. The activity it self was fun but the whole experience was bittersweet.
(I checked online when I came home and the registration is CLOSED for 9/19 &9/20 sessions)
Other stuff
The carousel ride was fun and pretty decent length for a $1. The face painting was also available and they were accepting tips. Up on the stage, we saw juggler and Festival Ballet performance. The ballet was short and it kept children’s attention with various characters (the mouse king, nutcracker, and rabbit from Alice in Wonderland) It was like a preview for the Nutcracker Ballet in December.
For Festival of Children event schedule, go to
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