Jai and I spent Friday afternoon at LEGO® KidsFest Portland at the Oregon Convention Center. This event is a LEGO lover’s dream, with all kinds of exhibits and activities for the whole family! There were all kinds of hands-on activities, from a station where you could build and race LEGO cars to a LEGO art gallery where you can let your inner Michelangelo out. (If you want to let your inner Jackson Pollock out, just dump a box of LEGO bricks on the floor. ;))

There was also a giant LEGO replica of the US map, and attendees were invited to build cityscapes to fill in the map, which LEGO staffers then fit into place. It was fun to watch the map grow over the course of the evening, and see LEGO replicas of things like the “Hollywood” sign pop up!

Kids could compete in several competitions, from building the largest tower to creating LEGO Krabby Patties just like SpongeBob. Many of these contests gave out little LEGO toys as a prize to everyone who participated, which I thought was neat for the kids.

There were lots of little LEGO comics and posters dotted around to take home as free souvenirs, a raffle for LEGO prizes at 6:30 (Which drew a crush of people!), and a store to buy LEGO playsets at. There were also a few vendors providing samples for grown-ups, from free pens and frisbees from Connections Academy to tea samples and upcycled bracelets from Honest Tea.

Bissell were also on hand with some fun activities for kids and a demo of their Perfect Sweep Turbo, which can suck up LEGO bricks. Impressive!

There were tons of fun LEGO statues on hand for visitors to marvel at. Here’s Jai striking a pose with Gandalf and Bilbo:

We saw Batman and hung out with Superman:

The Star Wars gang made an appearance:

Even Johnny Depp showed up:

And of course, I had to get my photo with SpongeBob!

There was a surprising variety of things to do at this event – kids could choose between everything from watching a show about how LEGO statues are made to getting their picture taken at the LEGO Friends photobooth. For all of the unique activity stations they had at the event, some of the most popular seemed to simply be the gigantic piles of LEGO blocks! Two friends I ran into both said that their kids were having so much fun playing on the huge pile of bricks that they had been there for an hour or more and hadn’t even seen the rest of the displays.

Many local bloggers were in attendance, so it was great fun getting a chance to catch up and chat with my PDX pals!

In all, I think LEGO KidsFest is a great night of fun for families. All the kids seemed to be losing their minds with excitement, and I know I would have gone nuts for this when I was little! All the attractions were super cute, and there was more going on than I had really expected. You definitely won’t be at a loss for things to do while you are there! There were a TON of people there, so you might prepare for it they way you would for taking your kids to a super popular amusement park: Make sure everybody stays fed and watered, take a break to sit down if you need to, and be prepared for a big nap when you’re done! The event does not allow food and drink to be brought in, so you may want to prepare for this. There is a full food court on site, which Jai and I hit up since we had a packed day and hadn’t gotten a chance to eat. The selections were high in price, but not necessarily taste.

LEGO KidsFest is going on all weekend, and tickets are still available for Sunday, October 13th: Session 1 runs from 9 AM to 1:30 PM and has limited ticket availability, and session 2 runs from 3 PM to 7:30 PM and has normal ticket availability as of this writing. Tickets are $20 for adults and $18 for children and seniors with free admission for children 2 and under – click here to buy now!