When I go to Emerald City Comic Con, I go to hang out with friends and cosplay, but I also go to work. There are always great interviews to be had and panels to attend, which means I fly solo: the kids stay back in Pittsburgh with the hubs so they don’t have to wonder where I am and why I’m not hanging with them the whole four days. That said, #bestnephews are local and sometimes, my sister and brother-in-law can work their schedules to bring the boys up for part of a day, which works because they have two adults to supervise Captain America counting and gaming while I hit schedule items, and we can all hang out in between.

Plus, I get to con with kids, which is always a fantastic experience.

Emerald City is a great con for kids for a whole host of reasons and if you live or are going to be in the area with your littles (or surly but secretly enthusiastically geeky not-so-littles) while it’s on, you should definitely consider attending.

Let’s get the chatter out of the way first: a lot of people were concerned about the new security procedures this year. I found the security at ECCC to be polite and accommodating. Full disclosure: I was able to use the exhibitor entrance because I had speaker and press badges. However, talking to folks who had purchased badges, and having kept an eye on social media, I will say that while the wait was 45 minutes-ish to get through the detectors and peace bonding first thing in the morning, the process was relatively quick thereafter.

No one tried to stop me from bringing in my own food or my refillable water bottle. The guards were very respectful of my prop weapons. They asked before touching them and were very careful when handling them. Conclusion: if you’re going early with kids, maybe arrive early so your wait outside is shorter. Bring entertainment because the convention center staff will not open the show floor until 10 am. Yes, you will be able to bring food in. No, despite what you may have seen on the internet, security is not going to tear the juice box out of your toddler’s hand or confiscate your 8-year-old’s plastic saber. Kid’s don’t need their own badges until they turn 6.

Feel better? Good.

Is everything at ECCC completely family friendly? No. Nor should you expect it to be. Geekdom isn’t always family friendly. Before you take your kids into a panel, read the description. Most moderators are pretty good about making announcements before beginning as well; take them seriously. A lot of what’s in Artist’s Alley is all ages. Some of it isn’t.

If you’re running a multiple adult show, maybe one of you can scout first and take note of booths you’d rather the kids not take in. If not, well, please remember that art is subjective and whoever created that piece worked very hard on it. Walking the aisles with kids is a choice you’ve made, knowing you may encounter things you might rather little eyes not see. Walk on by. Same with cosplay. For the most part, though, people are very respectful of little eyes and ears.

Teens are not only welcome at fandom meetups but encouraged to attend and actively participate. You’ll see a lot of kids and teenagers in cosplay and, my absolute favorite, families cosplaying as groups – very clearly having worked on their creations together.

Family-oriented shows such as She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and The Dragon Prince were heavily represented this year in both formal and informal programming, and there was a huge Bakugan gaming area on the main floor with the 13+ gaming shifted elsewhere. Elder #bestnephew was well pleased.

More cognizant than ever of family needs, however, ECCC moved their Family HQ from the adjacent TCC building to the main convention center in 2019 and expanded it to a whole floor. Included was the Brick Nation exhibition, the 501st’s Star Wars Experience (fun for all and a fundraiser for Seattle Children’s Hospital), an escape room, family-friendly panels and workshops (Jedi training, story times, drawing workshops, etc), and the kid’s cosplay parade.

Family HQ, as always, has its own quiet room, and there are several others designated throughout the show.

The Writer’s Block portion of the show puts a huge emphasis on middle grade and young adult literature, which means tweens and teens will get to meet and hear from some of their favorite authors not only in panel settings but also at signings and in artists alley. There’s a heavy graphic novel presence as well, which teacher friends have told me their middle school students are always really excited about. It’s a good way to tempt that age group to participate in a family activity.

I’ve found that, at this show in particular, authors and artists are super gracious about taking pictures and selfies with fans, especially young fans, which is always a thrill. Same with cosplayers. Just make sure you observe the niceties (i.e., don’t ask people who are eating or clearly on a break, rushing somewhere, or in the middle of a conversation/shoot).

ECCC is a show I would actually really love to bring my own kids to someday, and I can’t say enough good things about it. There’s some noise floating around about how much more commercial it’s become since ReedPop took over, and that may be true but I’ve never had anything but a lovely time with lovely people and I’d choose it over pretty much any other con any day.