Couponing with Rachel

I was given a free party in exchange to share about my experience. All opinions are my own.

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Our family home is small. As in “it was built in the early 1900’s and only has two closets in the whole house”, small. This usually isn’t a problem for our family of five except when it comes to hosting parties. As my boys get older and their friendship circle grows, hosting even a small birthday party can be rough. Add in that two of our boys have birthday’s in the winter and the third in early spring, and that knocks out outdoor parties.

Last year, when my youngest entered Kindergarten he asked to invite his whole class to a basketball party. Since it wasn’t possible to host in our own home, I started to research. We discovered the Boys & Girls Club of Lorain County and their large facility in Elyria. Our party was such a success, we decided to host it again this year.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Lorain County Mission:

To enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.

​The Boys & Girls Clubs of Lorain County is a nonprofit organization providing safe, fun places for the kids who need us most.  Our Clubs are open at the times when kids are most vulnerable to getting into trouble — after school, on Saturdays and during the summer.  We champion academic success and healthy lifestyles well as character and citizenship.  In addition, we offer special initiatives, including a farm program and a workforce development program.

You can donate to this organization online!

If you are looking for a place to host a party in Lorain County, you’ll want to check out the Boys & Girls Club in Elyria. Located at 1821 Middle Ave it is centrally located and easy to find. Not only is the facility large and clean but it has the perfect amenities so that you’ll be able to host the best party!

At this facility, guests have access to the main lobby, kitchen and cafeteria area. If you are bringing in food the kitchen fridge and freezer can be used to store cold items. They also have a warmer to store hot items and crock pot’s may be used. The kitchen area is large and comfortably fit my husband and in-laws, who were making pancakes for our party-goers.

The eat-in cafeteria room is sizable with round tables, booths and seats that go along the long bar in the kitchen area. This gave us more than enough seats for our guests. I chose to bring along plastic party table covers for easy clean up and decoration but the room is colorful enough without them. Our adult guests really enjoyed that there was a large TV in this area that offered cable. This allowed them to watch a game while the kids enjoyed the party.

Down a short hallway from the lobby and cafeteria is the gym and game room. This large room offers a lot for your party. It includes pool tables, free video games, a ping pong table, basketball hoops, a foosball table and a stage. For a small additional fee ($50 for the whole party), you can request a bounce house to be set up. We’ve done this the past two years and it was a HIT!

You are allowed to use the gym equipment such as basketballs and pool table balls and sticks but they must be left in good repair. This made our party so easy to plan any games or bring extra supplies with me. If you want to want to liven up your party with music, the Boys and Girls Club of Lorain County has you covered. There is a radio in the gym to play music or it can be played in the lobby as well via chrome cast. I hooked up my phone and chose a kid friendly playlist from my Amazon account. The kids loved it!

A Boys & Girls club staff member is available during the rental time to help and assist with anything you may need during your party. The gentleman that was helping us during our party was very kind and answered any questions we had. He was even the one who reminded me that the TV could be turned on for the adults, so that they could watch a Sunday afternoon game. This was perfect, since as the host I was thinking of so many other things.

If you forget anything, there are several stores nearby including an Aldi, Family Dollar and Dollar General. In fact, I believe all are within a mile of the building. This made it very convenient when we needed more chips half way through our party.

There are a few rules that you’ll need to abide by but these are pretty simply. These include things such as not using tape to hang things (thumb tacks are provided) and no use of glitter or confetti as decorations. Cleaning responsibilities can be viewed on the rental agreement but all they ask is that you clean up after yourself.

The cost of the building is very reasonable at only $50 an hour. This includes a free half hour of set up and tear down for no additional cost. A non-refundable $25 deposit is required to hold your reservation. Keep in mind that your reservation isn’t set until the deposit has been placed.  Also, if the rental is paid by check, it must be at least a week in advance.

If you are planning a party in Lorain County, I’d highly suggest the Boys & Girls Club of Lorain County Elyria location. It was the perfect place for my son’s party and I’m betting it will be for yours too!

Boys & Girls Club Elyria Location:
1821 Middle Ave 44035
440-328-3226

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