NJ Mommy Blog

Giggles    103 Miln Street, Cranford, NJ   (908) 272-4380

Disclaimer: Giggles provided me and my family with complimentary admission. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

We just visited Giggles, a brand new indoor activity center for children under 6 years old located in Cranford, NJ. After the blizzard buried us with over 2 feet of snow, I was really hoping to find somewhere my 2.5 year old could burn off some energy and stay warm at the same time. Giggles was just the place. There’s a large, unique indoor playground, as well as additional toys such as a farm stand, ride-on cars, chalkboard wall, and more. It was a great place to spend the morning.

The owner of Giggles is Kinga, who welcomed us at the door and spent time chatting with us and many of her visitors that day. With the grand opening of Giggles her idea for a modern, clean, and safe indoor play area for kids came to life. She’s a friendly and welcoming local mom of two with lots of ideas still to come to fruition for Giggles.

Parking & Admission:

There is a very small free parking lot next to Giggles as well as on street metered parking, and a large metered parking lot across the street.

When you enter Giggles, there is a place for “stroller parking” as well as a coat rack and shoe cubbies. The facility is socks only inside the play space. Admission charged is $10 for first child, $6 for siblings, and adults are free. We were there for Open Play, which is Monday-Friday from 9:00am to 6:00pm and some weekends. Most Saturdays and Sundays are reserved for birthday parties.

We went on a Friday morning around 10:00am and it was busy. We spent about 2 hours playing, and I left with both of my little ones wanting to stay longer, but ready for a nap!

Food:

Giggles has a coffee bar, as well as milk, water, and juice boxes. Also offered are fresh pastries and small kid-friendly snacks such as fruit squeeze pouches and gold fish.

Activities: 

Giggles is a large rectangle divided into two areas. The front smaller area has the coffee bar, tables and chairs with art materials, and a large dry erase board for coloring on the wall. There is also a rice table with scoopers.

The second larger area just beyond the shoe bench and cubbies is the main activity area. You enter this area through a child safety gate. As a mom of a “flight risk” child as I like to call her, I am always a fan of gated play areas with only one exit and entrance. This really helps put me at ease.

Giggles is nice because of the size of the space and the open floor-plan. I felt that I could easily see my child and her friend playing from almost all vantage points, including the front area when I was (ok, I admit it) sipping my hot coffee!

The Giggles play area is an open play space with soft foam floors. There are several activity areas: a kitchen/farm stand, chalkboard wall, baby area, magnetic wall, and the large unique playground.

While G busily hustled back and forth across the play area, pushing shopping carts, driving the cars, and baking cupcakes in the kitchen, I spent time hanging out with my 4 month old son on the soft bean bag chairs scattered around the perimeter. He was content with a few plush toys from the baby area and just taking in all the excitement.

The multiple activity areas kept my daughter and her friend busy and content.

The playground was beautifully designed and also a huge hit for my daughter and her friend. It was safe and easy to climb, and to the satisfaction of my daredevil daughter the slides were fast!

Restrooms:

My daughter has been potty-trained for about 6 months now, but even though she’s pretty good at the whole potty thing, at a moment’s notice we can be hustling to the bathroom! So I’m always looking for places with easily accessible and CLEAN bathrooms. At the back of the play space there are two large family restrooms that include changing tables. The restrooms have a safety gate in front of them, separating them from the play area. They were clean, spacious, and had a step stool so children can reach the sink and toilet. There was also a Purell dispenser outside the bathrooms and I would recommend a few more dispensers around the play areas as well.

It’s hard to find indoor activity centers that are clean, safe, reasonably priced, and engaging that exclusively cater to young children. We really had a nice time at Giggles and will definitely go back.