Have Your Birthday at Mote!

Mote Aquarium is the place for sea animals — and party animals too! We're now hosting children's birthdays at our Chickee Hut, a traditional outdoor Seminole shelter on Sarasota Bay that accommodates up to 40 guests. Groups can party for two hours and then enjoy a self-guided tour of Mote Aquarium, home to more than 100 species of marine life.

Party plans are up to you — make it totally your own or add Mote's special activities, games and food. Choose our Basic Birthday Package or upgrade with choices from our Party Options Menu lunch offerings that include birthday cake and other treats, along with our Entertainment and Education Menus that offer activities like treasure and scavenger hunts, crafts and unique ocean-themed games for younger and older kids.

Our Basic Birthday Package is $120 ($95 for Mote Members), plus $12 per adult (ages 13 and older), $10 per youth (ages 4-12) and $5 per child (ages 3 and younger).

Parties are available for children ages 3 and older. (One adult chaperone for every five children ages 3 to 9 is required; for children ages 10 and older, two adults for the first 10 children, plus one adult for each additional 10 children is required.)

Parties are available on Saturdays and Sundays. For more information on specific activities and pricing, call 941-388-4441, ext. 536, or e-mail groupsales@mote.org.

Basic Birthday Package
Two-hour use of the Chickee
Juice drinks and/or soda
Paper goods from recyclable materials
Downloadable online party invitation. Click to download. Get directions.
Mote temporary tattoo for each child
Aquarium admission for all party guests and chaperones
A Mote party host certified in CPR and first-aid
One free photo of your group in front of the new Megalodon shark jaw — a 10-foot wide replica of a jaw from the largest shark species known to science.

Party Options Menu*
Birthday cakes
Goody bags (beginning at $5/child)
Ice cream ($2.95/person)
Children's Lunch Menu: Choice of hamburger, cheeseburger, hot dog or chicken fingers with chips and a drink for $5.95. (Adult menu options available from our Deep Sea Diner. View menu.)
Upgraded paper goods: colorful, ocean-themed plates, cups & napkins ($2/person)
Entertainment "menu" for younger children
Entertainment "menu" for older kids
Educational programs led by a Mote-trained host

*Please call for additional pricing and details

Entertainment Menu for Young Children
• Build-a-Fish or Build-a-Jellyfish: No charge.
Kids construct and color a fish made from paper plates, construction paper, or a jellyfish using paper plates, construction paper and ribbons.
• Be The Shark: $4 total
A form of tag. Birthday child receives a shark mask to take home.
• Fossil Creek: $5/child
An activity inside Mote Aquarium where children receive a bucket of sand and can then sift for sharks teeth and other fossils using a sieve in a mini waterway.
• Treasure Hunt: $5/child
Children hunt treasures buried in the sand, finding pirate coins. Take-home bags for their loot included.|
• Color My Fishbowl: $10 total
Fish scenes to color, crayons supplied.
• What Am I? No charge.
Children wear a picture of a marine animal on their back and ask questions to try to guess who they are.
• Hoops and Balls: Free or $15 total
Freeplay with beach balls and hula hoops. No charge
Beach ball and hula hoop games led by a Mote party host with small prizes for the winners. $15.
• Sand Castle. No charge.
Using cardboard rolls, scissors, markers and glue, children will create a sand castle they can take home.

Entertainment Menu for Older Children
• Aquarium scavenger hunt. Find answers to questions about marine life while touring Mote Aquarium and Marine Mammal Research and Rehabilitation Center. No charge.
• Hoops and Balls: Free or $15 total
Freeplay with beach balls and hula hoops. No charge
Beach ball and hula hoop games led by a Mote party host with small prizes for the winners. $15.|
• Sea Life Trivia: $20 total
Trivia games about sea life played in teams. Prizes for members of winning team.
• Clue Seeker. No charge.
Following hints, teams of children seek out the locations of hidden clues to solve a mystery that is the name of a marine organism.