Kringle’s Inventionasium // Christmas in Cleveland

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A couple of months ago, at Ari’s fourth birthday party, my aunt brought up a local Christmas event she likes to take her kiddos to  — Kringle’s Inventionasium! And she invited us to join them. I wasn’t quite sure what this whole thing was about, but we were promised a fun, and memorable, time!

Located at Tower City Center in Downtown Cleveland, Kringle’s Inventionasium is a crack house of fun. I kid (kind of!)! Even though none of us were feeling particularly well, we made the trek from Akron to Cleveland to meet up with loads of my family!

My mom’s side of the family is very, very, close. So there were 16 of us in all that met up! And that means we took up an entire appointment time slot. That’s right — your advanced-purchase tickets are for a very specific time slot! So you’re not just walking through this crazy maze with a bunch of random people! — Plus, that means one-on-one (group) time with The Big Man himself!

So, anyways, Kringle’s Inventionasium. The idea is that Mr. Kringle needs help building toys from little boys and girls with big imaginations. So there is a big ‘set up’ introduction about why you’re there, before entering through an actual wardrobe to start inventing!

[ Ari was wearing ‘magic’ glasses so he could sing things that the ‘big people’ couldn’t! Too cute! ] Each room included a different invention station: “Build something that flies” in the balloon room; build as many puppets as possible; use science to make snow that won’t melt; and write ‘secret notes’ for Santa with magic ink.

Guys – I’m not sure if you can tell from the pictures, but there were so many bright colors everywhere! And even though we spent less than an hour in the inventionasium, it was still the perfect amount of time.

Our very last stop was to visit Mr. Kringle himself! It was honestly the perfect ending. I let Remy down and she crawled right up to Santa as the older kids were standing around the big guy.

Since Ari and Remy Bea were the youngest in the group, it seemed like the magic was brightest for them. Well, for Ari especially.

He had such magic in his eyes the whole time. He didn’t even get overly excited — I think he was in too much awe for even that!

By the time we got home and got the kiddos asleep, it was well past 10:30pm. But I have to say, it was absolutely worth it. And I don’t say that frequently about staying out past bedtime — we are sticklers for routine!

Honestly, if there’s one event that’s going to be on our Holiday event list every year, it will be this! It was such a great way to kick off the holiday season.

If you’re local, what’s your favorite CLE Holiday Tradition?