Meet Mitchell
If you’ve been to Hugs & Mugs in the last few years, chances are you’ve met Mitchell. Mitchell has been coming to GiGi’s Playhouse since the very beginning, aka almost 20 years! Like all of our interns, Mitchell made his way through the career programs, starting off in GiGi Prep,...
They Threw Rocks At My Daughter And Called Her “Retard”
Nicole Stachiw and her mother, Diana. A Mother's StoryWhen I was pregnant with Nicole, I did not know that I was going to have a child born with Down syndrome. After she was born, the doctor came into my room and said, “You have a Mongoloid.” I said, “What? A...
Welcome Jackie!
We are so excited to welcome Jackie to the Hoffman Estates playhouse as a summer intern focusing on Social Media. If you see Jackie around the playhouse and in programs give her a warm welcome! "Hello! I am a student studying Digital Marketing at DePaul University in Chicago and am...
Carolyn making great strides in Speech!
"Carolyn has made great strides in speech. I have been seeing her for a few months. We’re working on expanding sentence length – to do this, it really works to engage Carolyn in tasks that challenge her cognitively, as her receptive language is very strong. Carolyn loves a good challenge!...
Liz Breaking Down Barriers
If you’ve been to GiGi’s Playhouse, specifically Hugs & Mugs, chances are you’ve met our intern, Liz. While we all know her great smile and infectious laugh, but how much do we really know her? We spoke to Liz and her mom, Beth, to talk about Liz’s experience at GiGi’s,...
Meet Our Intern Jessica
Jessica joins us for her internship from Aurora University. She has been helping in the Career Programs such as Hugs & Mugs, GiGi Prep, and most recently GiGiU. Jessica has been with GiGi’s since August 2022 and will be with us until May 2023. While volunteering in Hugs & Mugs,...
Hayden living her best life!
Hayden started her journey at age 2 as the youngest child ever to be part of the GiGi's Literacy program in Hoffman Estates. She then moved to the Deerfield Playhouse when it opened in 2019 and is still a member there. Now at age 16, she is working as a...
Career Programs
At the Hoffman Estates Playhouse, we offer progressive career programs to adults 18 and older. The goals of our career programs are to increase self-confidence, increase career skill knowledge, increase personal wellness, and increase the quality of life of our participants. To start off the career programs journey, participants enroll...
The Magnificent Mile Light Festival
GiGi's Playhouse had the privilege to be a part of the Magnificent Mile Light Festival this year. We got to walk alongside so many foundations and groups. In the cold air, we were able to spread our holiday cheer like wildfire. We passed around hot chocolate with stickers to inform...
57 Locations and Counting
This past weekend GiGi's Playhouse grew a little bigger with opening their 57th location in Orange County, California! And we have more locations opening up by the next year! A few of our upcoming locations are Simi Valley, California, Las Vegas, Nevada, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Portland, Oregon, and Charleston, South Carolina....
Trick or Treat Week
With Halloween around the corner we wanted to celebrate the spooky holiday with a Trick or Treat Week! From Fantastic Friends to LMNOP! We had so many people in our playhouse dressed in costume to celebrate and play games! At Fantastic Friends we had toilet paper mummy roll, spooky music, and...
