I've attended 3 kid-parties this past weekend, including the one that I threw for my 6 year old daughter - held at Bambino Chef. Just wanted to give a shout out to this awesome space on Newark Ave. - the kids are fully engaged in healthy cooking (this is a theme, taken seriously by Rene, the owner, as covered with food donations to schools, community involvement, etc) and the parents have seats & tables & food (either catered or brought in themselves) to relax and chill in. The weekend parties last 1.5 - 2 hours long (perfect) and the kids are fed while they are cooking and engaged in games and singing.
The other parties this weekend were at Fun Plex (Rt. 10) and Jsut 4 Kids (Hoboken). Each were between 2-4 hours, pretty chaotic and parents were starving and grumpy.
I hear lots of folks talking here about the importance of "supporting local businesses" so I thought that I'd give a shout out here. Cross reference on Yelp and Google - everyone raves about this place.