Greenville, SC has partnered with local hotels and businesses for families to create their own ‘Yes Day’ and make fun memories together! Thanks to VisitGreenville for hosting us for Yes Day GVL.
As a parent, I want to say ‘yes’ to my kids as much as possible without spoiling them too much (and going broke). But most days, it’s no after no after no because of work, finances, time constraints, and just so many distractions.
When my kids and I watched the movie Yes Day starring Jennifer Garner, they immediately wanted a day like that. Of course they did. The parents in the movie rightly said no to lots of requests but they were also too busy with everyday life to really spend that quality time with their kids that they all deserved. At the behest of their kids, they decided to have a Yes Day where they said ‘yes’ to everything their kids asked (within reason). But I loved the movie, too, because it showed that taking that quality time with your kids is worth every minute, not just on fun and fanciful days.
So when I heard Greenville, SC put together their own Yes Day, I was in. What better way to make sure you’re connecting with your kids than planning out a whole day (or more) of dedicated fun with them right in our own hometown.
Watch! Here’s Our Yes Day GVL
My daughters and I had a full Yes Day in Greenville doing everything from playing arcade games to indoor mini-golf to making our own pizzas and enjoying an amazing pancake bar to topping it all off with artisan ice cream.
I’ll tell you all about how to create your own Yes Day and have a fantastic day full of fun in Greenville, SC while unleashing imagination, creativity, and making incredible memories together.
How ‘Yes Day’ Works: Hotels
Greenville has a Yes Day website where they list out hotels and local attractions that are participating in Yes Day. There are several local hotels that have special packages for overnight accommodations – and many have indoor pools! For these special deals, the Yes Day website has codes you use or people to contact at each hotel to secure your accommodations.
Here are the local hotels and what they are offering:
- Courtyard Greenville Haywood Mall is offering free s’mores and hot chocolate by the fire pit and 15% off the best available rate.
- Hyatt Place Greenville Downtown is offering 20% off your rate, a free breakfast buffet, snacks from the market, and a $10 valet service. They have an indoor pool for guests.
- Hyatt Regency has a package where kids enjoy their own Hyatt Yes Day grab bag that can be filled up with their favorite candy and snacks from the hotel pantry. You’ll also get the Roost breakfast buffet for two adults and two kids, which includes made-to-order waffles and omelets. This package is specially priced at $195.
- Embassy Suites Greenville Golf Resort [SOLD OUT] is offering a two-room suite, indoor pool, and a special in-room kid-friendly snack pack upon arrival. You’ll have a build-your-own pizza night for dinner and a pancake party breakfast the next morning. You’ll also get a YES Badge to wear during mocktail (for kids) and cocktail Happy Hour. This package starts at $149/night and includes late checkout, complimentary Wi-Fi and 10% off for 2+ night stays.
- Homewood Suites by Hilton Greenville Downtown is your choice if your family loves movies. They are offering unlimited movie browsing with an Amazon Fire Stick, Poppington’s Gourmet Popcorn, a free hot breakfast with waffle station, and a variety of candy and soda in-room. Reservations for this hotel and Yes Day deal must be booked at least 72 hours in advance.
How ‘Yes Day’ Works: Local Greenville Yes Day Attractions
Now that you’ve got the hotel taken care of, let’s move onto even more fun!
Greenville has put together a handy Yes Day print out where kids (and parents) can check off what they would like to do. There is everything from zip lining to a Swamp Rabbits hockey game to ice cream to art and golf experiences.
One great thing about Yes Day GVL is that you don’t need to reserve a hotel stay to take advantage of the Yes Day promotions. Pretty awesome!
Local attractions participating in some way – whether it be a free kids meal or a discount on admission or products – are listed here:
- Group Therapy Pub & Playground
- Flying Rabbit Adventures
- Clare’s Creamery
- Parlor Doughnuts
- SC Children’s Theatre
- Greenville Zoo
- Main Event
- 3’s Golf
- Escape Artist Greenville
- The Children’s Museum of the Upstate
- Up on the Roof
- Signal Music Museum
- Sparetime
- TR Makers Co.
- Kroc Center
- O.P. Taylors
Yes Day really gives you a wide range of options to try out new places even right here in our hometown that you may not have explored yet. Greenville is such an amazing place with so many different things for families to do that it may take awhile to get through them all. Yes Day gives you an opportunity to check some of those spots off your list!
Our Own Yes Day in Greenville, SC
Our Yes Day was a full 24 hours of fun in Greenville that consisted of an awesome hotel, playing at places that my daughters had never been to, and spending that quality time together where I could say ‘yes’ to pretty much anything. Fantastic day, right?
Main Event
We started off at Main Event in Greenville where we played lots of fun arcade games. This is an enormous indoor fun park with bowling alleys, arcade games, food and drink options, and birthday party rooms.
We were here for almost two hours and walked away with some adorable little toys after trying to win as many tickets as possible. They have a great prize room with a ton of fun prizes to choose from.
The Main Event promotion is getting $20 in free play with the purchase of a $20 game card. We had a $50 game card and it lasted for about an hour and a half with my two daughters and I. We really had a lot of fun together.
Embassy Suites Greenville Golf Resort
Update as of early February 2025: This YES DAY package at the Embassy Suites Golf Resort is sold out but we encourage you to try to a different hotel!
Next up we checked into our hotel, the Embassy Suites Greenville Golf Resort on Verdae Boulevard. I’ve stayed in many Embassy Suites hotels in the past and really love them for their spacious rooms and awesome breakfasts. This hotel was even better than I expected.
Check-in was smooth and fast and when you book the Yes Day package, you get a big snack pack waiting for you in your room. My kids totally freaked out when they saw it because it had almost all of their favorite treats: popcorn, cookies, peanut butter cups, and hot chocolate. It was a really sweet treat and a fun surprise for them. My youngest daughter saw the snacks and literally jumped up and down and said, “best day ever!” She’s easy to please.
Also part of your Yes Day package at the Embassy Suites Golf Resort is a happy hour with cocktails for adults and mocktails for kids. They have snacks like cheese and crackers and hummus and fruit during happy hour, which you can enjoy either at the bar area or outdoors next to the fire pit.
For dinner, it’s Build-Your-Own-Pizza adventure. My daughters absolutely loved doing this as they could choose whatever they wanted on their pizzas. The menu also has more mocktails for kids that are very pretty and especially tasty. The staff are very kind and helpful as well.
We headed to the indoor pool for some relaxation before hanging out in our room for movie night. It was such a great day!
Breakfast at the Embassy Suites offers an array of hot and cold breakfast items plus a made-to-order omelet and pancake station. It was the perfect way to start our second half of Yes Day.
O.P. Taylors
After breakfast, we made our way downtown to the iconic toy store, O.P. Taylors. This store has everything you can imagine and more. I really love how they’ve curated such a unique array of toys, games, books, and puzzles to choose from. They have hilarious stickers that I highly recommend you check out.
One of our favorite toys are the Plus Plus puzzles, which are made right here in Greenville. With the Yes Day promotion, you get 10% off toys except for LEGOs, at O.P. Taylor’s.
Group Therapy Pub & Playground
I’ve been to Group Therapy before but my kids have not and I was excited to show them what a cool place this is. It’s located in downtown Greenville at Camperdown Plaza and has indoor mini-golf, axe throwing, and duckpin bowling among other games. They have a full bar and restaurant as well and welcome kids before 8 pm.
We played indoor mini-golf, where every hole has its own unique theme. There’s the Titanic, E.T., Jaws, Toy Story, Jurassic Park, and Ghostbusters, among others. I think this is so creative and my kids really enjoyed playing and trying to figure out the theme for each hole.
After a fun game of mini-golf, it was lunchtime. We had pretzel bites, the house salad, nachos, and their tomato pesto flatbread. Everything was delicious. We couldn’t even finish it all so we got to take home some Yes Day leftovers!
The Yes Day promo at Group Therapy is 20% off games and 10% off food.
Clare’s Creamery
We ended our Yes Day with a sweet treat from Clare’s Creamery. Oh my gosh, this place has some of the best ice cream I’ve had in my entire life. They had special holiday flavors when we were there and I was torn between Egg Nog and Gingerbread Man. My daughter got Peppermint Hot Chocolate and it was incredible.
We went to the shop on E. North Street and it’s so bright and cheerful – just the perfect way to end our fun Yes Day together!
The Yes Day promotion for Clares Creamery is an exclusive YES Sundae with one taster duo scoop, 3 toppings, whipped cream and a bordeaux cherry on top! Guests can mix & match their favorite flavor and toppings combinations.
Creating Your Own Yes Day
The Yes Day adventures are available in Greenville for all of January and February 2025 and include MLK Jr. Day and President’s Day Weekend so there are some great opportunities to take advantage of Yes Day.
This would be an awesome idea for an experience gift for Christmas, a birthday experience gift, or just a much-needed day of family fun after a busy holiday season.
Use the Yes Day website to book your accommodations and check off the things you want to do together. It’s where you can see the promotions offered by each attraction as well. Several require reservations while others are just walk-ins so be sure to check it out so you can adequately plan it out.
Here’s to a day of saying yes, let’s do it!
