You would think that since I am currently unemployed, I would be able to plan ahead to get presents for The Hubby for his birthday and Father’s Day. Well, guess things don’t change much. The day before his birthday, I decided to bring O to Make Meaning’s creativity experience shop on the Upper West Side — for a made-from-the-heart birthday and Father’s Day present. I picked her up after-school (she was so excited!) and we made our trek up to the upper west-side.
For those of you who have not been to Make Meaning, it’s basically an arts and crafts place where you paint pottery, make headbands, create a belt-buckle, design a bar of soap and many more things right there. It’s a huge space that is clean, modern and welcoming. They have associates who walk you through all of the many projects you can do and who help you out in every step of the way. As soon as you figure out what you want to do, they seat you down at a table, then let you do all of the creative work!
O using cookie cutters and fun colored glycerine sheets to make her personalized soap bars at Make Meaning.
Four-bar soap tray at Make Meaning. Lots of Add-Ons by O.
Afterwards, O decided to tackle the glass cufflinks project ($45). This is definitely a project for an older child since the glass pieces are sharp and you definitely need a bit of fine motor skills putting the pieces together. You can pick from a variety of glass projects: rings, necklaces, belt buckles, or plates and platters. They provide you glass pieces in varying colors and shapes: glass “shards”, glass powder and glass rods. The possibilities are endless! You glue them together on to the piece, they fire it in the kiln (the glue disappears when the piece is fused in the kiln), and two days later you’ve got a chic and modern piece of jewelry (or plate)!
O and all of her tools (glass pieces, glass rods and glass powder) to make a pair of glass cufflinks.
Putting the pieces together for a beautiful design for daddy!
Make Meaning also has a small cafe, a gift shop and two birthday party rooms. Parents beware: there’s a candy-by-the-pound area – so be prepared to do whatever kind of negotiations you need to do because you and your child will definitely pass the candy in order to check-out.
Make Meaning’s back area with gift shop, cafe and party room.
Some details: for a non-member, the cost is $12 for a Creativity Day Pass plus the cost of your project (majority is around $25). There are two kinds of memberships: a family membership includes up to 5 family members and is $149 for the year; an individual membership is $36.
Make Meaning is such a fun and different place to go to, especially for those days that are too rainy / too hot / too cold. Although I talk about the projects being so kid-friendly, we saw a wide range of customers when we were there: from toddlers, to teenagers, to a table of women who were in the 60+ year old range! It’s definitely a place where anyone can feel creative. **Remember, if you are going to do something for Father’s Day, you need to to go at least 2-3 days before Father’s Day, in case you decide to do a project that requires firing in the kiln. Don’t wait until the last minute!