Hi friends!
The cherry blossoms are out. Full pink sidewalks, petals stuck to your kid's rain boots, the whole deal. And the forecast for Sunday? Snow.
It's kind of the perfect metaphor for parenting, honestly. Beautiful. Completely unpredictable. Never dull.
The Weather: 🌨️ Friday and Saturday cold but dry (~5°C). Sunday brings a 75% chance of snow or rain. All three picks this week are indoors. We planned accordingly.
Friday: 🎬 Free double-feature movie night in Mount Pleasant
Saturday: 🥧 Pi Day at the Space Centre (yes, there's pie)
Sunday: 🥚 Free egg-painting craft at Michaels
Option 1: The Main Event
The Gist: It's March 14 — 3.14 — and the Space Centre is going full math-nerd in partnership with UBC's Department of Mathematics. Interactive math games, a free mini pie, and a chance to win passes to the Project Hail Mary premiere screening.
Why It Wins: The STEM activities are actual games, not worksheets — so it doesn't feel like homework. There's free pie, which honestly could've been the only reason and we'd still list it. It's indoors, all day, one location. And the movie premiere draw gives older kids a reason to not roll their eyes at a math event.
The Parent Specs:
📍 Where: H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, Vanier Park
⏰ When: Saturday, March 14, 10 AM – 4 PM
👶 Ages: Best for 4+. Younger kids will enjoy the Space Centre exhibits but the math games skew school-age. Stroller-friendly.
🚽 Potty: Easy. Indoor venue, clean washrooms.
💸 Cost: $96 for a family pack (2 adults + 3 kids). No separate Pi Day surcharge — this is regular admission with all the Pi Day activities included.
The Move: Arrive at 10 AM and do a 2-hour sweep. The math games and pie happen all day, but energy levels peak in the morning before the afternoon crowd rolls in. If your kids are older (8+), the UBC math demos will be the highlight.
Option 2: The "Low Drag" Play
The Gist: Friday night double feature in the Mount Pleasant Community Centre gymnasium. First up: The Bad Guys 2(PG, animated). Second: Jurassic World: Rebirth (PG, dinosaurs). Concession stand on site with all proceeds going to the Mount Pleasant Youth Council.
Why It Wins: It's free. Both movies, the whole evening. Your Friday night plan is sorted — no cooking, no negotiating screen time, because this IS the screen time. The concession stand means you can skip the "what's for dinner" conversation entirely. And if bedtime calls after movie one, you just leave. No guilt.
The Parent Specs:
📍 Where: Mount Pleasant Community Centre gymnasium (1 Kingsway at Main St)
⏰ When: Friday, March 13. Doors at 5:15 PM. Bad Guys 2 starts 5:30 PM. Jurassic World at 7:15 PM. Wraps by 9:15 PM.
👶 Ages: Best for 5+. Bad Guys 2 is animated and fun for the younger set. Jurassic World skews 7+ (dinosaur intensity, PG). Leave after movie one if your kid startles easily.
🚽 Potty: Easy. Community centre washrooms.
💸 Cost: Free admission. Concession stand prices TBD (cash/card — proceeds to youth council).
Option 3: The Wildcard
The Gist: Free, but reservation is needed, craft at Michaels on West Broadway. Kids decorate plastic eggs with tissue paper and paint. All supplies included. Show up, make something, leave without glitter on your couch.
Why It Wins: Sunday is looking cold and wet. A solid 90-minute outing.
The Parent Specs:
📍 Where: Michaels, West Broadway
⏰ When: Sunday, March 15, 1 PM – 3 PM
👶 Ages: 4+. Younger siblings can tag along but the painting is geared for kids who can hold a brush without eating it.
🚽 Potty: Okay. Store restroom — it exists, it works, it's not fancy.
💸 Cost: Free. Everything included.
‼️Also Worth Knowing
The Gist: The BC Home + Garden Show takes over the Vancouver Convention Centre this weekend (March 12–15) with 400+ booths of home reno, kitchen, garden, and design stuff. Cooking demos, celebrity speakers, garden displays, and a whole lot of "we should really redo the bathroom" energy. Not a kids' event — but surprisingly kid-compatible.
Why It Wins: Kids 12 and under get in free. Adults pay just $8 after 4 PM, which makes a late-afternoon Saturday or Sunday visit very doable. The Convention Centre is right on the Canada Line, so you can skip the parking spiral entirely. It's one of those outings where the adults are actually entertained and the kids just... walk around being fascinated by giant bathtubs and kitchen gadgets. Everybody wins.
The Parent Specs:
📍 Where: Vancouver Convention Centre, 1055 Canada Place
⏰ When: Friday 11 AM–8 PM, Saturday 10 AM–8 PM, Sunday 10 AM–6 PM
👶 Ages: All ages welcome. Stroller-friendly. Older kids will enjoy the cooking demos and interactive displays. Younger ones will enjoy pointing at things.
🚽 Potty: Easy. Convention Centre washrooms are clean and plentiful.
💸 Cost: Kids 12 & under free. Adults $16 at the door, $8 after 4 PM. Seniors $13.
Bonus: Nowruz at the Library 🌿
The Gist: A Nowruz celebration at the Central Library — storytelling from the Shahnameh (the Persian Book of Kings), with recitations in Persian and English, a lecture by UBC scholars, and discussion. The story follows a hero battling beasts, a dragon, and a mythical bird. Light refreshments included.
Why It Wins: This is a cultural gem. It's free, it's led by actual UBC scholars of Persian literature, and it's a chance for kids to hear a genuinely epic story — dragons, battles, heroism that goes beyond brute strength. If your family celebrates Nowruz, this is a meaningful way to mark it. If you don't, it's a window into one of the world's oldest literary traditions. Either way, there's free food and a dragon story. Hard to argue with that.
The Parent Specs:
📍 Where: Vancouver Public Library, Central Branch — Alice MacKay Room, lower level. Take the stairs before the main entrance, or use the elevator across from the main entrance near the bank machine.
⏰ When: Saturday, March 14, 2 PM – 4 PM
👶 Ages: Listed as all ages, but realistic for 7+ given the lecture-and-discussion format. Younger kids will need to sit still for a while. Best for families with school-age kids who enjoy stories and don't mind listening.
🚽 Potty: Easy. Central Library washrooms.
💸 Cost: Free. Registration required — only 21 spots, so register now if this is your thing.
Heads up: 21 spots is tiny. If you want in, register today. This one will fill.
Got a parent friend still staring at the weekend with zero plan?
Forward this to them — six indoor options, free pie, free movies, and a dragon story at the library. That's a lot of weekend for one email.
We’ve got this!
Saba Yazdani
The Cambie Memo
