Wippersnappers Plans Day of Discounted Entry, Prize Giveaways to Celebrate 10 Years
- Brit Allen
- 4 hours ago
- 3 min read
When Hans Wipper and Tiffany Vanek opened Wippersnappers Kids Play Place in 2015, their own little whippersnapper was only seven years old, and loved helping her parents design the play structures that she — and hundreds of other kids — would get to traverse.
Now their daughter Anika is 17 and helping out with the family business behind the counter, and the family business will celebrate its 10th anniversary on Nov. 26.
“It’s come full circle from her playing here to working here,” Wipper said.
The idea for the now beloved Sandy business came from Vanek’s time as a nanny. She’d spent years taking kids to other play places and saw a need for something similar for the Sandy area.
After bringing the idea to Wipper, he says she told him: “If we don’t do this and someone else does, I’ll never let you forget it.”
And now a decade later, Wippersnappers has become a fun destination for kids and a solace for parents in need of a place for their kids to burn off some energy while they enjoy lunch or a drink from the cafe.
Despite knowing the need for such a place in Sandy, Vanek said she was surprised by the initial reception from the community and the times they were busiest.
“(We didn’t expect) the waves of people,” she explained. “That's kind of why we went into doing sessions. You never truly have a day off, but you meet a lot of great faces and people in the community.”
“Time flies when you’re having fun,” noted longtime employee Corissa Shaw, who started with the business 10 years ago.
That said, even at the play place, it hasn’t always been just fun and games.
The COVID-19 pandemic was a rough time for the business, as it was for so many, especially because the nature of the play place wasn’t very amenable to social distancing.
But Wipper and Vanek pivoted during that time: offering food from their cafe to-go and eventually offering a space for students to safely study and complete their distance learning classes together.
With a daycare license, the couple was able to allow 14 kids to come to Wippersnappers for online schooling in a distanced group setting. And now they still offer day camps in their off season.
“Kids were able to get social interaction at a time when they weren’t really getting that elsewhere,” Wipper explained.
And the kids remain at the heart of why Wipper and Vanek still do what they do 10 years in.
“Seeing the kids play, having fun, has been the best part,” Wipper said. “Sometimes people coming in ask: ‘Oh, how do you stand the noise?’ But that’s the point. The kids are just having fun. It’s been fun watching kids grow up here. Sometimes we even get to give kids their first job.”
On Nov. 26, to celebrate the anniversary, Wippersnappers will offer a special $10 entry as well as provide games and opportunities to win prizes with multiple giveaways throughout the session. The hours on Nov. 26 will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“We take a lot of pride in what we built and want to keep it a great place to be,” Wipper added. “We want it to be a good place where parents are comfortable and don't mind being here.”
Wippersnappers Kids Play Place
16542 SE 362nd Dr.
Sandy, Oregon 97055
(503) 668-7221
Hours:
10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday and Tuesday
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday
10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday