Our Visit to Denver Selfie Museum

Things are slowly opening up again here in Colorado which means that we've been able to get out and about a little - with masks and social distancing, of course.

Most attractions that have opened up again are mostly outside locations (National Parks, Denver Zoo, Denver Botanic Gardens...) but a few indoor locations have opened up with strict social distancing rules in place.

One such place that has opened and we visited recently was the Denver Selfie Museum.

Ok, I know... a selfie museum? It sounds a little, well, self indulgent and egotistical, but hear me out. Yes, the Denver Selfie Museum is a great place to take fun selfies (or pics of your kids in my case), but it's also a fun place to see some really cool immersive art. 

If you've been following Little Hiccups for a while you'll know that I'm a big fan of immersive art experiences, and the Denver Selfie Museum fits this description perfectly. It's smaller than Museum of Ice Cream, Color Factory, Camp Christmas, LMNL and other similar museums we've visited in the past, but that was part of the charm to me. We were able to see all of the displays in just over an hour making it a short, but sweet outing.

Now, you're probably wondering just how we managed to visit a museum while social distancing. Like most immersive art experiences, entry is only by timed ticket. With social distancing measures in place, only a small number of guests were allowed in at a time. It just so happened that visiting on a week day, we had the entire place to ourselves for much of our visit. When other guests did arrive we made sure to keep our distance and wore our masks when required. As an extra precaution, some of the hands on experiences were off limits. For example, the ball pit (which the kids were looking forward to) was understandably closed, and there were a few props that we were asked not to touch.

Ok, enough talking, let's look at some pictures...

This black and white wall just by the entrance was one of my favorite displays, and yet probably one of the most simple. It totally looks three dimensional, but it's all just an optical illusion. In fact, it's a flat wall. It really does look like it's curved with bits spiraling forward and back, doesn't it?

The kids are all sushi fans, so they were pretty excited when they saw giant sushi pieces and chopsticks up next. In fact, they asked for sushi cushions at home! The chopsticks were quite a bit heavier than they looked so Mathilde opted to "eat" the giant sushi with her hands. Plus she doesn't know how to use chopsticks properly anyway. Ha!

Opposite the giant sushi pieces we found beautiful feather wings on the wall. Lola and Mathilde thought that they were too short to take photos with the wings, but they were forgetting one very simple photo trick for pics like this. Instead of standing right up against the wall, have the subject walk forward and shoot the pic from lower down. This way you'll be able to line the wings up with their shoulders easy peasy. Ava was just tall enough to stand right at the wall for her shots (although she was wearing platform shoes and was on her toes).

The next room we ventured into was filled with bubble-like ball pit balls covering the floor, a rustic bath tub and a washing machine surrounded by vibrant walls. This was one of the rooms where the props were off limits. While we were allowed to sit in the bath tub and walk among the balls, we weren't allowed to move the balls into the bath tub for photos. It would've been fun to get shots while the kids were throwing them in the air or sitting in a "bubble" bath.

The next room along reminded me of displays we've seen in other galleries. This mirrored room features glowing balls that change color and the most amazing reflections no matter where you look. This one was a favorite of the kids and they spent quite some time in here, coming back repeatedly.

Up next we found a room with quite a few different photo set ups. My favorite was the bedroom on the wall. I love the bright colors (I kind of want a yellow bed now) and the checkered "floor". If you angle yourself just right, it really does look like you're sleeping. I flipped one of the photos below so you can see what it looks like on the "right" angle.

The pink wall alongside the bedroom set up features three blank frames that look like they were made just for us! Seriously, those frames were just at the perfect height for each of my girls. They were even Lola and Mathilde's favorite colors!

Also in this room we found a wall of flowers, a textured mirror wall that created odd looking reflections, a Denver mural and a wall of rainbow painted cassette tapes. I must say that I'm quite surprised that none of the kids asked what the cassettes were!

Stepping out into the hallway felt like we'd stepped into another dimension! A neon lit dimension whooshing by! Or something like that. It certainly felt odd and the art on the walls felt like it was moving away from us at high speed - but also toward us at the same time.

Next we made our way back to a room that we had skipped because the kids were so keen to get to the mirror room. Here we found a bright red wall with the words "Bad vibes don't go with my outfit" and a pair of boxing gloves. I'm not sure if we were supposed to put the boxing gloves on or not (Ava and Lola gave it a miss) but Mathilde went ahead and started boxing.

Then we found a wall that went perfectly with our Mochi Kids masks! We were still the only visitors at this point, so we didn't need to actually wear masks, but we couldn't miss a photo op like this! 

Opposite this we went bananas! Well, Mathilde did! This small alcove feature plastic bananas hanging from the ceiling above a green barrel. If only Lola had been wearing this banana dress. It would have been perfect!

When we visited Color Factory back in 2017, the room with the giant markers was a favorite with the kids. The same goes for Denver Selfie Museum. These crayons didn't actually color the walls like the markers at Color Factory, but they were still fun to pretend to color with. Or to ride on in Mathilde's case!

Alongside the giant crayons we found a wall of giant dounts. Mmm... donuts. They all look good enough to eat, right? I'll go for the pink sprinkle donut in the top corner, thanks.

This room was also home to a yellow and white striped wall of gumball machines. Lola and Mathilde were perfectly coordinated with this area in their yellow dresses! It was a nice contrast to Ava's blue dress too.

Back in the lobby there were just a few more exhibits for the kids to pose with before we said goodbye to the Denver Selfie Museum. 

Since our visit a few weeks ago the Denver Selfie Museum has actually changed location. Right now they are closed but they'll be reopening at their new (bigger!) location on July 1st. That means that what you see here isn't quite what you'll see if you visit their new location, but it gives you a little taste. It also means that we have a great excuse to go again!

Denver Selfie Museum (the new venue) is located at 1531 Stout Street, Denver.

Opening hours are Monday to Friday 12pm - 7pm, Saturday 12pm - 9pm, and Sunday 12pm - 7pm.

Tickets start at $25 for adults, $20 for children ages 5 - 12, and free for children 4 and under.

For more information and to book tickets visit https://denverselfiemuseum.com/