Private Functions

Let CMOM Host Your Next Event!

The Children’s Museum of Manhattan provides an energetic background for your special events and is the perfect venue for a corporate event, business meeting, private party or media event.

Daytime
CMOM offers great visibility for product launches, press events, photo shoots, corporate meetings and important announcements.

After Hours
CMOM is perfect for cocktail parties, family holiday parties and corporate receptions. We can customize and provide tailored programming for art, educational and interactive workshops led by our experienced educators, book Broadway performers for a theater performance, arrange audio/visual/lighting, coordinate themed events and promote your event through CMOM’s media relations.

CMOM’s unique and lively interactive exhibition areas are spread over five floors and are bursting with an array of cozy nooks and grand spaces. The Museum is designed to delight and intrigue children and adults of all ages.

For further details, please consult our complete list of available spaces, which includes information such as specifications, occupancy information, rental fees and more. To book your event, please contact Maria Borges at 212 721-1223 ext. 227 or mborges@cmom.org.

CMOM Rental Information

First Floor and Main Lobby 
The Lobby, equipped with a handicapped accessible ramp, is where your guests will be delighted at the ease and convenience with which they are welcomed and their coats, bags and strollers are checked. The Lobby, with its grand foyer and 20' ceiling height, is the perfect welcoming site in which to mingle and greet your guests, complete with passed hors d’oeuvres, drinks and live music.

The Main Exhibition Hall, currently housing Gods, Myths and Mortals: Discover Ancient Greece, is designed for children ages 5 and older and can accomodate approximately 300–350 people. The Hall is located directly off of the Lobby, making it the main destination point once your guests have arrived. While in the exhibit, children can climb a giant Trojan Horse and defeat monsters as they undertake an epic journey! They can also meet the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus, experience the myths, legends and values of the ancient Greeks and examine artifacts that are more than 2,000 years old! (3,500 sq. ft.)

The Sussman Environmental Center is a unique outdoor urban courtyard. The tri-level structure designed by Ivan Chermayeff, is home to City Splash, an outdoor exhibit with great thematic interactive activities for children about water. The outdoor Environmental Center makes a great addition to any party looking for a little room to breathe. Available, weather permitting, April through October. Accommodates up to 70 people.

Lower Level Gallery
The Lower Level Gallery and Performance Space is a flexible gallery and performance space that can accommodate up to 150 people for a performance, media event, product launch or corporate presentation. (1,800 sq. ft.)

Second Floor
Located on our second floor mezzanine directly overlooking the Main Exhibition Hall, this exhibition space accommodates up to 150 people and is accessible from our wrap-around catwalk overlooking the main lobby entrance. In this colorful and playful exhibition based upon the popular Nickelodeon television shows, Dora the Explorer and Go, Diego, Go! the adventurous Latina heroine and her cousin guide children and adults through a series of hands-on adventures. Children can play “hide and seek” in the rainforest, help Diego care for rainforest animals, build Rainbow Bridge, Drive Tico’s car and join the fiesta at Dora’s House. At the end of your adventure, sing the “We Did It!” song with Dora and Boots. At the same time, adults learn how their children learn. (1,800 sq. ft.)

Third Floor
PlayWorks™ is an immersive, child-sized early childhood environment that accommodates up to 250 people. Feed alphabet letters to a talking baby dragon, drive a New York City fire truck, paint on a six-foot art wall, make your way through a crawling challenge course, and connect an air tube puzzle. PlayWorks™ helps build the skills, attitudes and behaviors children will need for kindergarten and throughout life. (3,500 sq. ft.)

The PlayWorks™ Classroom is a room designed for play and exploration. Tables for educator-led activities, reading nooks and a fantastic slide are all part of the fun. Accommodates 25 people. (400 sq. ft.)

The Discovery Classroom is a fully functional computer lab and classroom with WiFi. Accommodates up to 25 people. (400 sq. ft.) An adjoining reviewers room connected by a 2-way mirror is fully equipped for conducting focus groups and market research.

Fourth Floor
The Russell Berrie Creativity Lab is where imagination and celebration join together for hands-on art workshops and book-making activities. A brightly colored, well-lit environment surrounds participants as they dive into participatory “make and take” art classes. Accommodates up to25 people. (500 sq. ft.)

The Helena Rubinstein Literacy Room, currently housing the exhibition Little West Side, for children 4 and under, is a bright, inviting space adjacent to The Russell Berrie Creativity Lab. Accommodates up to 25 people. (500 sq. ft.)

Rental Fees

Rental prices range from $5,000 – $50,000 and are based upon requirements. Rentals are for a minimum 3-hour event with an hour for set-up and an hour for breakdown, for total of 5 hours. Additional hours are $375 per hour. A 10% discount is available for CMOM Corporate Members and non-profit organizations.

What’s Included

The rental fee includes an event manager, maintenance staff, security guards, basic audio/visual package, furniture, set-up and clean-up fees. Also included: 

• 6-8 standard 6 ft tables (No linens provided).
• 125 blue folding chairs.
• Standard lecture microphones with podium.
• Surround sound system.
• CD player.
• 50" plasma screen TV with a DVD player available for an additional $750.00.

Note: If additional audio/visual needs are required, we work with two exceptional companies to which we can refer you.

What’s Possible

If children are on your guest list, our event planners can (for an additional programming fee) tailor your event with custom options from New York’s best artists, including musicians, storytellers, face-painters, arts and crafts activities, complete hands-on programming and much more!