When Christian and Brandie Ettinger opened the Pacific Northwest's first certified B Corp brewery back in 2007, they were parents to a toddler and a newborn. In addition to a focus on sustainability, they wanted Hopworks Brewery to be a safe and welcoming place for families.

“When we first started Hopworks, we were young parents and enjoyed going out with our kids. There were limited options for places to go where you would feel comfortable if your child had a melt down, and you wouldn’t have to leave immediately,” Brandie recalls. “We wanted to create that casual, safe space for parents, caregivers and kids to get away from the virtual world and enjoy their time together. The kids are having fun and the parents and caregivers can relax and connect with others over a delicious pint of beer!”

Nearly 20 years later and Hopworks is, in my opinion, the most kid-friendly brewery in Portland. The Mothership, located in Southeast Portland, is equipped with two play areas: one with a play house, kitchen, pretend food, and butterfly wings for dress up; the other with a train table and busy board mounted on the wall. You can also find an array of toy dinosaurs, vehicles, magnatiles, games and books stocked in both areas.

“Kids inherently seek out fun and creative opportunities to engage in their environments. They need to move. The play areas provide a creative world to tap into their imagination and learn to play with others,” Brandie explains. “AND, of course, while the kids are entertained, it gives the parents and caregivers some breathing room to be adults and have meaningful conversations.”

Hopworks also offers a great, and affordable, kids menu that doubles as a coloring and activity sheet. Children are able to customize their meal, choosing an entree, side and drink from classics like pizza, chicken tenders, pasta, french fries, apple slices and more. It also comes with a chocolate chip cookie that’s available upon request. A A kids meal costs $9 most days of the week and is only $5 on Wednesdays.

For grownups, the menu includes pub favorites like pizza, burgers, salads, and their famous pretzel bites and beer cheese. But the star of the show is the beer. Hopworks offers a roundup of beer year-round and special brews depending on the season. Brandie’s personal favorite is Evelyn Sunshine Imperial IPA, a seasonal beer with a sweet story behind it.

“This beer is released every July 1st in honor of our daughter Evelyn’s birthday and to celebrate Oregon beer month!” she explains. “She is turning 18 this year so we have been brewing this amazing beer for almost 20 years now!”

While families are a focus, the Ettingers strive to make Hopworks a fun and welcoming place for everyone. They often host live music and events, from sports watch parties to crafting. You can find a full, up-to-date list of events on their website. Brandie and Christian also have some exciting plans for the future.

“We will now be empty nesters in the fall and look forward to what adventures might come our way!” Brandie shares. “Hopworks brewery will be launching some new innovative products, the pub is releasing an exciting new menu, and our new music venue will continue to support local artists and entertain our guests with music, poetry, and comedy.”

Hopworks Brewery is offering a special discount to subscribers. Mention The Kid-Friendly PDX Newsletter and receive 10% off your order through the month of July!

In 2017, while working in pediatric primary care, Dr. Amanda Watters had an epiphany: while electrolyte popsicles were extremely beneficial for children who were at risk of hospitalization do to dehydration, there were no natural options. She realized if she wanted her patients to have access to cleaner freezer pops, she might need to make them herself.

Amanda sat on this idea for two years, thinking someone else would bring them to market, but no one ever did. After an eye-opening conversation with another doctor, she reached out to her friend and former colleague Dr. Jackie Kirihara.

“I wanted a business partner who I knew I could work well with under stress, who had a passion for bringing natural medicine to kiddos, who I trusted would face challenges with integrity, creativity, and drive,” Amanda explains. “Jackie checked all those boxes and more!”

Jackie was in a whirlwind period of her life, beginning her own practice and expecting her first baby, but she knew this was an opportunity she couldn’t pass up. “My background prior to this point included experiences in sales, building small businesses, and was also influenced by my father’s career in business and marketing,” she says. “I was not going to shy away from this opportunity.”

Then the pandemic hit.

It wasn’t until 2021 that Amanda and Jackie started seriously working on the project—formulating and learning the ins and outs of the production process. Turns out, it’s difficult to find a manufacturer that’s able to brew herbal tea and fill popsicles. The duo met with more than 30 manufacturers around the country, and even considered purchasing equipment themselves. “It would be much easier if we were willing to compromise on our quality, or add a bunch of preservatives,” Amanda quips, “but we’re not.”

In 2025, Amanda and Jackie were ready to share EllyPop with the world. Right now, they offer two flavors: Wild Cherry and Sweet Peach. “[These] are the two herbal blends that are most closely related to pediatric dehydration, so we saw the most urgent need for families to utilize these,” Amanda explains. “Wild Cherry for sore throats and colds, and Sweet Peach for upset tummies.”

Each EllyPop flavor is a combination of an herbal tea blend and juice. Natural, clean ingredients. “Nobody has blended the medicinal benefit of herbal tea with necessary electrolytes like we have,” Amanda points out, noting that EllyPop is the only popsicle brand on the market created by naturopathic doctors.

They have another formula in the works, too: Berry Bliss, which is a mix of calming herbs and a blueberry and pomegranate juice blend. The new flavor is set to launch some time this year.

The name is a play on the word “electrolytes” and the elephant logo has personal significance to Amanda—it’s her mom’s favorite animal. It’s also a good representation of their mission. “As women founders, in an industry where this is still the vast minority, we feel that an elephant well-represents the qualities we want to bring forward into the world,” Amanda states, “to nurture families and communities, to be courageous in speaking up and following our values, and to boldly follow our dreams.”

Portland families can find EllyPop freezer pops at Market of Choice and New Seasons, just keep in mind they’re sold at room temperature to freeze at home so aren’t in the frozen section. They’re also available online via Amazon and EllyPop’s website, and you can follow EllyPop on social media to keep up to date with events to buy in-person.

EllyPop is sharing an exclusive promo code to newsletter subscribers! You can get 10% off any purchases through their website with the code KIDFRIENDLY.

MaryJo Monro was working in floral and event design when she realized organization was her calling. She naturally became the one who organized the flowers in the cooler and all the supplies in the studio, and the people who worked with her were amazed at her ability to transform the flower shop.

“My co-workers and boss really appreciated how the organization I implemented made the workspace feel more peaceful and efficient,” she recalls. At the time, she didn’t even know if organizing was a real occupation, so she did what anyone in the early-aughts would do: Googled it. Her search brought her to the National Association for Professional Organizers (NAPO) website.

After realizing it was, in fact, a real occupation, Monro started organizing on the side. She was in a stroller exercise class and enlisted fellow moms as her first clients. “The moms in the class let me try out organizing techniques in their homes, and I would run all my ideas about the business by them while we exercised,” Monro explains. “I now realize they were my unofficial focus group! And I so appreciate their feedback and willingness to be my organizing guinea pigs.”

In 2008, she made the leap and started her own home organizer business, reSPACEd. In the 18 years that have passed, Monro’s business has grown to include a small staff and numerous accolades. She’s also now the president of NAPO’s Oregon chapter.

As her client list grew, Monro specialized her services even more to cater to the ADHD population.

“After a couple of years operating reSPACEd, I noticed that the majority of people who reached out to me were women who told me they had ADHD and had always struggled with organization,” Monro says. “This inspired me to seek out education on ADHD and organization techniques for folks with ADHD. I joined a professional association solely devoted to chronic disorganization called ICD (the Institute for Challenging Disorganization), where I took classes from people with mental health backgrounds on working with this population. I read and watched everything I could get my hands on about ADHD. And I started paying really close attention to which systems worked for my clients with ADHD, and which systems didn’t.”

She also still focuses on families and children, like she did in the early years. “From working with those moms in the stroller exercise class who all had very young children, I found I really enjoyed working with this population!” she exclaims. “I started speaking at lots of local mom groups about organizing children’s spaces, and writing for local and national publications on the topic too.”

As an Oregon native, Monro is also honed in on Portlanders’ needs and what’s important to them. “Even in economic ups and downs, Portlanders consistently spend on home services, mental‑health‑aligned support, family support and sustainability and home improvement,” she points out. “Organizing sits at the intersection of all four. In other words, Portlanders don’t see organizing as a luxury; they see it as a path to calmer living, better parenting, and more functional homes.”

“Plus Portland’s housing stock is mostly older homes, which means our clients struggle with quirky layouts, tiny closets, minimal storage space and small homes,” Monro adds. “This means a thoughtful organization plan is essential!”

Monro’s knowledge about Portland, specialized focus and time working in the field are aspects that set reSPACEd apart from other home organizing businesses. “Most organizers have only been in business since the pandemic, but reSPACEd has been serving clients for 18 years throughout the Portland area,” she notes. “In that time, our organizing tips and techniques have been featured in local and national publications such as Real Simple magazine, Apartment Therapy, Martha Stewart, The Oregonian and others.”

Monro also serves as the organizing expert for KGW’s morning show Hello, Rose City! She could’ve become a reality star, too, but turned down features on Wife Swap, Hoarders, and even a reality show focused on her business and clients. When I asked why, her response was so sincere and empathetic.

“I turned down those reality shows because they are all exploitative of organizing clients, and I find them to be mostly unethical,” she tells me. “For example, Hoarders does one day clean-outs of homes of people with hoarding behaviors, which tends to just traumatize the person and doesn't deal with the complex psychological roots behind the hoarding behaviors. Research has shown that big clean-outs like that result in the person returning to their hoarding behaviors with an even higher degree of compulsivity.”

“With Wife Swap, I felt fairly certain that I would be paired with a family living in a hoarded home,” she continues, “and in doing so, they would shoot the episode in a way that shamed the family in the hoarded home.”

“In the pilot of the TV show that was never made, they wanted me to tell lots of extreme stories about client organizing projects,” Monro reveals. She turned that one down because she didn’t want to violate client trust, even if she never referred to anyone by name.

Monro’s organizational approach is just as thoughtful. She doesn’t just reorganize her client’s space, she works alongside them to ensure the tools are there so they can maintain the level of organization they achieved together.

“I schedule an Initial Organizing Assessment on-site at a prospective client’s home before scheduling any organizing sessions. This is so the client can meet me and get all their questions answered, and so I can see the scope of the project in person so I can make sure it’s in our wheelhouse,” Monro says before noting the types of projects reSPACEd doesn’t handle.

“We don’t have the training or experience to work in hoarded homes. Licensed mental health therapists are needed for that kind of work,” she notes. “We don’t do luxury organizing, where a team of organizers comes in and transforms a room in a single day using a large amount of new organizing containers. There are a handful of organizers who do that work in Portland — NEAT Method, Embrace Your Space Organizing & Design — and they are so good at that kind of work!”

Once she determines that a project is a good fit, Monro sends an estimate and contract. If the client accepts, she schedules organizing services with a reSPACEd organizer. “The organizer works alongside the client in three-to-four-hour blocks of time to coach them through the decluttering process. Then the organizer devises custom organizing solutions to store what the client wants to keep,” she explains. “Sessions are usually scheduled weekly or bi-weekly until the client’s organizing goals are accomplished.”

Monro hopes her clients feel relief and personal accomplishment when their project is completed — they did help create their newly organized space, after all!

If you’re wondering if reSPACEd, or any organizational services, are right for you, Monro encourages to ask these questions:

Have you tried and failed several times to get organized on your own? Do you struggle repeatedly to start projects or finish them? Do you feel a paralyzing sense of anxiety or overwhelm about the idea of organizing your space? Do you have a disability (physical or brain-based) that makes it difficult for you to organize your home? Have family or friends who tried to help you left you feeling frustrated?

If you answer yes to one or more of them, she suggests reaching out to a professional organizer for help.

✨ Monro is giving The Kid-Friendly PDX subscribers two exclusive promos: Free on-site Initial Organizing Assessment for those with a Portland address, plus 10 percent off of one 3 or 4-hour organizing session with reSPACEd upon completion of an Initial Assessment. All you have to do to redeem the offers is mention the newsletter! ✨

Is there anything sweeter than seeing your child’s little hand or footprint frozen in time as a keepsake? I’ll answer that for you: NO!

There’s something so special about creating these time capsules to look back on and cherish as your baby grows, and Stay Little is the perfect studio to get them done.

The studio is in owner Hailey Boice’s backyard, and as soon as you walk through the gate it feels like home. Boice is a mom of two, and it shows. She is so patient, kind, warm and welcoming to children. My family has commissioned ornaments, dishes, and sibling prints throughout the years, and every time we see Boice she marvels at how big the kids are getting. She also lets them help and explore the studio, guiding them along the way.

Stay Little opened its doors in January 2019, but the idea started blossoming a decade earlier.

“I worked for an independent children’s furniture, toy and book store and we used to host a ceramic handprints artist quarterly in the store for pop-up events,” Boice recalls. “I absolutely loved her and her products and she and I used to talk about me taking over her business when she retired. We discussed it a few times and for the next 10 years, or more, I dreamed about making it a reality.”

Watch a Kid-Friendly PDX reel about Stay Little HERE

“I didn’t envision the home studio until we talked about purchasing her business in 2018,” she admits. “It all just fell into place at that point. I had always wanted to be home with my babies and I had always wanted to run my own business. A home art studio was too much to dream for and then, it wasn’t!”

Now, Boice is helping other business owners achieve their dreams by training them to be Stay Little Certified Signature Handprints artists. She’s currently working with Rainy River Ceramics in Sister, Oregon and plans to work with an artist in Seattle later this year.

Stay Little specializes in child prints, but she also offers paw and family prints.

“I have been loving the family overlapping prints!” she exclaims. “These are a recent addition in the last few years and they are an incredibly special time-capsule for families.”

Prints can also serve as treasured keepsakes when families are faced with unfathomable hardships.

“I have made some very unforgettable prints for children who were terminally ill and an amputee before their surgery,” Boice says. “I am humbled when asked to create something so significant.”

Creating something so special takes time, and Boice recommends booking an appointment at least 8-10 weeks in advance of major holidays.

“For Christmas gifts coming in as early as September or October is great!” she says.

Stay Little is offering an exclusive promo for Kid-Friendly PDX Newsletter subscribers. Get $10 off June 2026 appointments with the code KIDFRIENDLYPDX!

When I saw that a new coffee shop with a kids area was opening in Portland this January, I was ecstatic, and then I visited A Plus Coffee Company and realized their play area is so much more than a space filled with toys. It’s an education zone.

Owner Josie Sullivan is a certified middle school math teacher who always had a dream to open a coffee shop. When that dream started to become a reality, she realized she could blend her passions together by opening an education-themed coffee shop. Then she found a space in North Portland that was laid out perfectly for her vision.

Watch a Kid-Friendly PDX reel about A Plus Coffee Company HERE

“Having a niece and nephew, I have seen how hard it can be to find a place where your kid feels welcome,” Sullivan explains. “My intention is to create a place outside of home where each family feels welcome and kids get excited to go too!”

When you first walk into A Plus Coffee Company, it looks like a cozy and welcoming coffee shop like many others in the city, but if you keep walking past the bar and tables, you’ll realize there’s a whole other room. And it’s massive. This is the education zone.

The room is equipped with chalkboards, whiteboards, and several kid-sized tables. There’s plenty of toys for younger children, as well as puzzles, books, and a whole shelf of art supplies. This would be amazing enough as-is, but Sullivan took it one step further by also hosting free weekly and monthly events. Every Wednesday and Sunday, families with young children can enjoy storytime, while tweens and teenagers benefit from a math study group on the last Thursday of every month.

“It is important for us to host these events because we wanted to not just sell great coffee, but also create a space that fosters conversation, community, and connection,” Sullivan says. “I think it’s important to have a space outside of work and school that you can enjoy and spend time with community.”

A Plus Coffee Company is also featured in my Portland restaurants w/ free play areas guide, which you can read HERE

As for the menu, A Plus Coffee Company serves up delicious coffee and tea drinks and baked goods sourced from Jen’s Pastries. They also offer kids drinks (hot chocolate, steamers and lemonade) that come in the most adorable mini cups, and kid-approved snacks like Pirate’s Booty and applesauce pouches.

Sullivan is offering subscribers an exclusive discount for the month of March. All you have to do is mention The Kid-Friendly PDX newsletter, and you’ll receive half off your first drink!

Here’s everything you need to know before visiting A Plus Coffee Company 👇

📍 3233B N Lombard St., Portland, Oregon 97217
📆 Mon, Wed-Fri: 7am-2pm; Sat-Sun: 8am-2pm
🅿️ Free lot and street parking

Visit A Plus Coffee Company’s website for more information

Play & Ponder technically opened in the summer of 2025, but its story begins long before the doors opened. Owners Sriram and Poornima have three children who are five-plus years apart and found it challenging to find a play space that catered to such a large age range. This need is what sparked the idea to open their own play cafe.

“Play & Ponder was born from our own family experience,” Poornima explains. “Because our kids are spaced out in age, we often struggled to find places where everyone felt included. We wanted to create a space that could truly accommodate siblings with age gaps — where younger kids could explore freely and older kids could still feel engaged, helpful, and welcome. Watching our children play together, despite their differences, inspired us to design a space that grows with families.”

With the help of their children, Sriram and Poornima set out to build their ideal play space in 2024. After facing some hurdles with the buildout, they were ready to share their vision with the community in July 2025.

The indoor playground is designed for ages 0-10 and boasts features from sensory and imaginative play to a rock climbing wall and foam pit. There’s a play vet, cafe, cabin, and tree house complete with a lookout. Sriram and Poornima even constructed a dark sensory nook for kids who need a break from the action.

There’s truly something for everyone at Play & Ponder, including caregivers. While kiddos get out their wiggles, grown ups can recharge with a coffee — or even beer or wine — in the cafe while keeping an eye on their children. The cafe also offers pastries, drinks and snacks for all ages.

“In a world that often feels loud, fast, and screen-heavy, Play & Ponder offers a gentle pause,” Poornima says. “It’s a space where children of different ages can play together, caregivers can connect, and time feels just a little slower.”

Play & Ponder hopes to expand classes and camps this year. They also hope to introduce “STEM in ways that feel simple, playful, and joyful,” Poornima reveals. “'[We want to build] on kids’ natural curiosity about how things move, mix, stack, and change.”

When I asked Poornima what was the most memorable thing a child has ever said about Play & Ponder, her response said so much about the way she views her business. “A child once told us, ‘This place feels like my happy house.’ Knowing our own children helped build and test the space makes that moment even more meaningful.”

Watch a Kid-Friendly PDX reel about Play & Ponder HERE

Now, she and Sriram are hoping you and your family can become part of the magic they’ve created. They’re generously offering three exclusively to Kid-Friendly PDX Newsletter subscribers:

KFPDX9: $9 off weekday open play admission (good for one child)

KFPDX50: $50 off a spring or summer camp (half day)

KFPDX100: $100 off a spring or summer camp (full day)

Here’s everything you need to know before visiting Play & Ponder 👇

📍 18395 NW West Union Rd #4a, Portland, OR 97229 (located in West Union Village)
📆 Daily 9am-5pm
🎟️ $18.99/child (two adults are welcome with the price of admission)
⭐️ Weekday open play does not need be reserved; however, weekend play is divided into 2-hour sessions. Check Play & Ponder’s website for more info.
🧒 Designed for ages 0-10
🧦 Children must wear grippy socks in the play area. They are available for purchase if you don’t have any or forget yours at home.
🅿️ Free lot parking

Visit Play & Ponder’s website for more information