Asbury Park Press:
As a young girl growing up in Poland, Monika Kuhn never had a birthday party.
“For me, a birthday meant you got some fruit and that was your gift,” said Kuhn, who immigrated to the United States 24 years ago. “My mother would bake a cake from scratch. But there was no party . . . there was nothing else to it.”
She came here to visit her uncle decades ago, then stayed after the Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident in the Soviet Union. Her family warned of the extensive radiation threat and told her to stay in America.
Since then, Kuhn got married, became a mother and opened the Girlz Room at 338 S. Main St. in Barnegat.
Kuhn got the idea for the business after trying to come up with fun parties for her daughters Samantha, now 19, and Nicole, now 22.
“I wanted to give them the kind of parties that I never had as a child, but I could never find the right place . . . a place that was fun for just girls,” she said.
Today, Kuhn and her daughters help other young girls celebrate their birthdays – or other special occasions – with flair.
Girlz Room is a frilly, pink and apparently popular party place for young girls (and even some of the brave boys who get invited by the birthday girl).
“If there are boys invited, we try to create something that isn’t just for girls,” Kuhn said. “We’ll have games and face painting. Some of the boys end up leaving with their hair spiked too!”
Logo from The Girlz Room