April | 2010 | Amazing Events at NHMLA

Archive for April, 2010

Happy Birthday Tommy!

April 17, 2010 at 4:21 pm · Filed under African Mammal Hall, Birthday Party, Children, Dinosaurs, Expo Park, Fin Whale Passage, Grand Foyer, Natural History Museum, Party, Southern California, T-Rex, Thank You, Times Mirror Room, Vendors

On Saturday, April 17 the Natural History Museum was the place to be to celebrate Tommy’s birthday! Tommy loves dinosaurs and even wore his favorite dinosaur t-shirt for the occasion.

As his friends arrived, they signed his custom-made birthday card and got to work on their craft and name tags. While they colored they had a chance to examine the museum’s artifacts that were borrowed from our member’s loan service (http://www.nhm.org/site/activities-programs/borrow-artifact ) which included a monkey skull, a saber tooth cat skull, a whale vertebrae, an alligator head and several fossils!

The kids were very excited to attend the Dinosaur Encounter! show in our second floor North American Mammal Hall.

They bravely took a front row seat to watch Sophie from our education department teach them all about the tyrannosaurus rex! The kids all had a great time, even when the t-rex got a little close with his giant teeth…

After the dinosaur show, the kids went on a scavenger hunt that had them working together to follow the clues!

This hunt had the kids follow clues that took them through the Grand Foyer, African Mammal Hall, American History Hall, Fin Whale Passage, North American Mammal Hall and finally to the Discovery Center, where they took some time to enjoy the fossil dig pit and insect zoo!

Tommy’s mom Lisa kept everyone fed with pizza from Pasta Romo and lots of snacks and drinks.

After lunch Tommy got to blow out the candles on his super cool wrestling/dinosaur cake. As the guests departed, everyone went home with a bag full of goodies!

Thank you to Jill, Tom, and all of Tommy’s friends and family that came out to help him celebrate his special day. Another thank you to Theresa Panero for sharing her amazing party photos. And a very special thank you to Tommy for choosing to share your birthday with us here at the Natural History Museum!

Make sure you comeback and visit us again!

For more information on holding your child’s birthday at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, please call 213-763-3221 or visit our website at http://www.nhm.org/site/about-our-museums/event-rentals-filming/event-types/kids-birthday-parties.

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Primeval Love!

April 17, 2010 at 3:16 pm · Filed under African Mammal Hall, Art Show, Grand Foyer, Natural History Museum, Party, Southern California, Thank You

On Friday April 9, artist Amanda Visell hosted a showing and sale of her amazing artwork at the Natural History Museum.

The event was open to the public and as guests arrived, many took the time to stroll through the first floor of the museum, especially in the Grand Foyer, where the paintings and sculptures were on display.

Guests sipped wine and munched on appetizers as they perused the artwork and enjoyed some lively music from a five-piece band that strolled the marble hall throughout the evening.

One of the highlights of the evening was a live model who was doing a re-creation of one of Amanda’s paintings in our African Mammal Hall.

A big huge thank you to Amanda, Michelle and all their friends who showed up to help with the event! If you would like to check out some of Amanda’s work, please got to www.amandavisell.com or http://www.myswitcheroo.com/.

If you would like more information on holding an art show or any kind of event here at the Natural History Museum, give us a call at 213-763-3221 or visit our page on the NHM website at http://www.nhm.org/site/about-our-museums/event-rentals-filming.

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Happy Birthday Valentina!

April 6, 2010 at 10:21 am · Filed under Birthday Party, Children, Dinosaurs, Expo Park, Natural History Museum, Party, Southern California, Thank You, Times Mirror Room

On April 3, 2010 the Natural History Museum was honored to have Valentina come celebrate her birthday with us!

Valentina loves dinosaurs, so we packed as much dino action into her day as we could!

Her family came with tons of dino decor, including figures both large and small marching through the grass and trees laid out on the tables.

As friends and family arrived, they signed the jumbo birthday card designed especially for Valentina by the museum’s design department before getting to work on their dino puzzle craft.

Once everyone arrived, they headed up to the 2nd floor North American Mammal Hall for the Dinosaur Encounters! show. After the show, the kids took some time to explore the mammal hall, which is currently home to a few of our dino fossils as well. Before heading back down to the party room, everyone made their way through the Dino Lab to watch paleontologists work on actual dinosaur bones!

Back in the room, a beautiful spread was laid out for lunch and it included a very elaborate volcano/dinosaur cake! A special thanks to Portos Bakery doing such an amazing job on both the lunch and cake!

As the party was winding down, Valentina’s mom handed out jellybean-filled dinosaur eggs with numbers inside. She then raffled off the dinosaur toys that they used to decorate the room. So not only did everyone go home with an Easter goodie bag but a dinosaur as well!

A great big thank you to Valentina’s family and friends who came out to help celebrate. It great to see so many small faces get so excited about the museum!

And a very special thank you to the birthday girl herself for allowing us to share your day with us and we know that we’ll see you here at the museum!

If you are interested in holding your child’s birthday here at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, please call the Special Events Information Line at 213-763-3221, email us at specialevents@nhm.org or visit our website at http://www.nhm.org/site/about-our-museums/event-rentals-filming/event-types/kids-birthday-parties.

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Congratulations Jen and Ryan!

April 1, 2010 at 10:33 am · Filed under African Mammal Hall, Expo Park, Grand Foyer, Natural History Museum, Non-Profit, Party, Photographers, Southern California, Vendors, Wedding

You may remember Jen and Ryan from an earlier post with their hysterical save-the-date card. Well I am happy to report that they are now married!

Jen and Ryan are no strangers around here and they incorporated their fun personalities and love of the museum into their special day. As part of the benefits for wedding couples here at the Natural History Museum, we allow the bride and groom to use all of our open galleries for wedding photography.

As you can see, these two took full advantage of it!

After a late afternoon ceremony in the Exposition Park Rose Garden, guests strolled through the blooms and headed into our Grand Foyer for a cocktail hour.

As they sipped drinks and munched on appetizers everyone took time to take Polaroids of themselves to leave with a personal message in the guest book.

And, as with most parties here, our dramatic Dueling Dinos served as a backdrop for some fun photos!

The reception was held in our African Mammal Hall where Jen, Ryan, their families and 150 of their closest friends danced the night away in front of chimpanzees, gorillas, rhinos, hippos and lions oh my!

Pieces from our member’s loan service served as centerpieces and their place cards were dinosaur eggs with baby chocolate dinosaurs inside.

After dinner had been served, the newlyweds slipped off to change into dancing attire and surprised their guests with a graceful routine.

A big thank you to Hai Blankinship, the coordinator for the day, for your tireless work! And another big thank you to Jen and Ryan’s family and friends who did a lot of schlepping before, during and after the event.

The majority of the above photos were courtesy of Marianne Wilson Photography who did an amazing job capturing the quirky personalities of the couple, as well as showcasing the museum. Her work can be viewed at www.mariannewilsonphotography.com

The hilarious Dueling Dinos photo is courtesy of Jen’s Bridesmaid Elaine Ordiz.

The beautiful flowers were provided by Chelsea Moon (www.chelsealeahflowers.com) DJ Tim Martinez (www.goodsounddj.com) provided the fantastic sounds throughout the evening and The Ranch Catering Company( www.theranchcatering.com )was responsible for the fantastic dinner!

So a big congratulations to Jen and Ryan from The Natural History Museum. It was a pleasure and honor to get to know you both and everyone here wishes you a lifetime of happiness. I know we will see you around the museum!