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The Ultimate LA Family Guide
Copyright © 2006-2012 The Teachtopia Network
Olivia’s Dollhouse
Olivia’s Doll House Tearoom. Here is the 411 on Olivia’s Dollhouse Tearoom:
This is a chain of tea and doll houses in California and Nevada. We attended a birthday party at the Thousand Oaks location, but there are other locations in Tustin, Sacramento, Ventura, Upland, Las Vegas, West LA on Robertson and Santa Clarita. A San Diego location will be opening soon. The Thousand Oaks location is located at 1321 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd. and it is in a strip mall near the Civic Center.
After doing 89 reviews, I have to say that this is probably our first review that is more on the negative side about a place. We hope however that our experience was just a bad day or an off location, and do hope that Olivia’s Doll house will take our suggestions and improve.
We came for a two hour party for two 5 year old girls in my daughter’s class. The two hour parties start at $325 and include 7 guests. Each additional guest is $25. These prices vary by location. When we arrived the first activity was to dress up in one the dozens of costumes hanging in the front room. There were well over 100 outfits and of course some of the girls wanted to try on three or four before making their choice as to what they would wear for the rest of the party. Another thing to note here...the tearoom is small and intimate and closed for private parties so if you feel comfortable with the other parents in attendance, then your daughter will likely be just fine being dropped off at a party here. There wasn’t any seating for the adults and all of the activities are geared toward the kids.
OK, back to the dress up time. The girls found costumes and dresses and then needed to change. This location does not have a changing room and it was awkward because the girls wanted privacy. Younger girls may not really care but most of my daughter’s friends did. I went with my daughter in the hallway next to the bathroom and quickly got her dressed. At this point the girls went and picked out shoes (again, tons of choices here in many sizes) and then went through pretty, decorated chests of drawers to find jewelry.
After they were all done getting ready, they were told to line up in the vanity/makeup area and the employees did their girls’ hair and makeup one by one. Once each girl finished she was told to wait in the front room where the tea party was to take place. That room is the biggest room and has a large heart shaped table. The chairs, dishes, serving pieces and decorations were extravagant and fun to look at and admire. When all of the girls were finally done, they were then brought back into the first room to get prepped for the fashion show. The parents waited next to a pink Christmas tree and each girl got announced with a name of her choice, walked in and curtsied. After they were all done they sat down and ate lunch.
The food consisted of pizza, hot dogs and peanut butter and jelly, cheese and turkey sandwiches with the crusts cut off. The food in my opinion should have better reflected the girly, decorated atmosphere. After the meal, the table was cleared off and then 2 small cakes decorated with gummy bears came out. The cakes were whisked away after we sang and then each girl was given a plate with 10 different pieces of candy on it. The candy was what you would see on Halloween: mini Milky Way bars, a few MnMs, a sour belt and more of the same type. While I was thinking the girls would have probably liked a cupcake, they all seemed thrilled with their candy.
The dessert was the last activity and then the girls put the regular clothing back on (again, no privacy here) and picked out a party favor from a big treasure chest.
For the prices they charge, I really think there is not that much value at Olivia’s Dollhouse Tearoom. There were two teenage girls running the party. For this large of a party there should have been at least one more employee if not two more. I wish there would have been a craft, a couple of games and some more activities. However I may think, when we were leaving, my daughter said that she wanted to have a party there. She thought it was so neat to have a girls only tea party and the place definitely gave her that!
Olivia’s Doll House Tearoom. Here is the 411 on Olivia’s Dollhouse Tearoom:
This is a chain of tea and doll houses in California and Nevada. We attended a birthday party at the Thousand Oaks location, but there are other locations in Tustin, Sacramento, Ventura, Upland, Las Vegas, West LA on Robertson and Santa Clarita. A San Diego location will be opening soon. The Thousand Oaks location is located at 1321 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd. and it is in a strip mall near the Civic Center.
After doing 89 reviews, I have to say that this is probably our first review that is more on the negative side about a place. We hope however that our experience was just a bad day or an off location, and do hope that Olivia’s Doll house will take our suggestions and improve.
We came for a two hour party for two 5 year old girls in my daughter’s class. The two hour parties start at $325 and include 7 guests. Each additional guest is $25. These prices vary by location. When we arrived the first activity was to dress up in one the dozens of costumes hanging in the front room. There were well over 100 outfits and of course some of the girls wanted to try on three or four before making their choice as to what they would wear for the rest of the party. Another thing to note here...the tearoom is small and intimate and closed for private parties so if you feel comfortable with the other parents in attendance, then your daughter will likely be just fine being dropped off at a party here. There wasn’t any seating for the adults and all of the activities are geared toward the kids.
OK, back to the dress up time. The girls found costumes and dresses and then needed to change. This location does not have a changing room and it was awkward because the girls wanted privacy. Younger girls may not really care but most of my daughter’s friends did. I went with my daughter in the hallway next to the bathroom and quickly got her dressed. At this point the girls went and picked out shoes (again, tons of choices here in many sizes) and then went through pretty, decorated chests of drawers to find jewelry.
After they were all done getting ready, they were told to line up in the vanity/makeup area and the employees did their girls’ hair and makeup one by one. Once each girl finished she was told to wait in the front room where the tea party was to take place. That room is the biggest room and has a large heart shaped table. The chairs, dishes, serving pieces and decorations were extravagant and fun to look at and admire. When all of the girls were finally done, they were then brought back into the first room to get prepped for the fashion show. The parents waited next to a pink Christmas tree and each girl got announced with a name of her choice, walked in and curtsied. After they were all done they sat down and ate lunch.
The food consisted of pizza, hot dogs and peanut butter and jelly, cheese and turkey sandwiches with the crusts cut off. The food in my opinion should have better reflected the girly, decorated atmosphere. After the meal, the table was cleared off and then 2 small cakes decorated with gummy bears came out. The cakes were whisked away after we sang and then each girl was given a plate with 10 different pieces of candy on it. The candy was what you would see on Halloween: mini Milky Way bars, a few MnMs, a sour belt and more of the same type. While I was thinking the girls would have probably liked a cupcake, they all seemed thrilled with their candy.
The dessert was the last activity and then the girls put the regular clothing back on (again, no privacy here) and picked out a party favor from a big treasure chest.
For the prices they charge, I really think there is not that much value at Olivia’s Dollhouse Tearoom. There were two teenage girls running the party. For this large of a party there should have been at least one more employee if not two more. I wish there would have been a craft, a couple of games and some more activities. However I may think, when we were leaving, my daughter said that she wanted to have a party there. She thought it was so neat to have a girls only tea party and the place definitely gave her that!