Kinder Rave: Berlin has a techno party for everyone – including your toddler

Kinder Rave founder Matt Buccelli with baby in tow. *Photo: Kinder Rave*

It all started as a New Year’s resolution: in 2022, Matt Buccelli decided to learn how to DJ. Like many aspiring selectors, he quickly became addicted to playing electronic music, but as the father of a small child and expecting a second, he knew he wasn’t going to spend all hours of the night at the clubs.

“I wasn’t up for doing the nightlife networking that you often need to do at the beginning of your playing career. So I said, ‘Okay, well, what can I do to have a place to play music in a more family-friendly environment?’” Buccelli, a marketing specialist from the US, felt sure that the city would be able to handle what he was imagining.

When you experience something at the same level as your kid for the first time, you discover it together.

“Berlin has this amazing daytime techno culture, everyone in the city loves open-airs and I’ve been to a couple of park raves during corona with our first kid,” he says. “She was a baby at that time. And I thought this is actually a pretty family friendly concept in general, and that led to doing a version of this that was not just [a place] where families are allowed, but specifically intended for families.” The idea for Kinder Rave was born.

In the second half of 2022, Buccelli threw his first three parties at Treptower Park. “There are some toys and stuff to keep [the kids] busy, but the core of it is that it’s a place for parents to dance and enjoy electronic music together,” he says. Since then, he’s thrown BYOB(rat) jams on a near-monthly basis, with more and more people involved.

While parents hang out, chat or sip a drink, the kids can get colourful with glitter and face paint or find the craft corner – though most end up jumping around on the dance floor, having a blast alongside their parents.

“The part that I always laugh at in the whole story is that Matt was actually throwing illegal raves for families with small kids and got busted by the police at the first anniversary party,” says Diego Ain, another father of two with whom Buccelli joined forces to co-produce Kinder Rave with about a year into its existence. Buccelli had been throwing his events without a permit, which you need to blast big speakers in the park. “[The] Ordungsamt showed up and told us to put away the sound system!”

“That’s one of the reasons why we decided to move forward [at official venues] – it’s not sustainable to do it in an illegal environment because you don’t have control. The other element is that the community started to grow, so that led us to professionalise more, to make it more formal,” Ain says. The pair began collaborating with places that are known for electronic music, like RSO, for daytime events. “The parents would go there before as young, single, no-responsibility people. And now through Kinder Rave, they have access to this ambience again. But now the ambience is completely prepared for them with their families.”

Nappy Hour

Since then, Kinder Rave has grown into a real community. Their Telegram channel has almost 2,000 members, and their events are packed with families of all kinds: expats and Germans, babies, toddlers and kids of all ages. All the parents share a love of electronic music that they wish to pass on to their children. Fellow DJ-parents offer to spin at events; others help with organisation.

One parent, Pivi Weiss, went to the very first event with her then-three-year-old son. An experienced face and body painter, she asked Buccelli whether she could bring her art supplies along next time. She’s been entertaining the crowds ever since.

“My partner and I both come from the party scene and I have been doing face painting at Berlin clubs since 2017, but when our son was born we couldn’t do it anymore,” she says. “Here I can join with the whole family, enjoy the music, but it ends early enough to have a next day.” (The raves usually start in the early afternoon and end around dusk.)

The Ordungsamt showed up and told us to put away the sound system!

Another regular attendee and fellow DJ, Valentin Muthers (stage name: Valentino 45), has also been part of the core community since the early days. He plays records at the Kinder Raves under his other moniker: YBMF DJ, or Your Baby Mama’s Favourite. “We always go with our three- and four-year-old kids and they also love it,” says the father of two.

The Kinder Raves have generated other toddlertainment opportunities for him: Muthers, a secondhand record dealer and a promoter by day, also spins at children’s birthday parties. “I got a couple of new bookings through the raves. Through repetitive attendance we met a lot of people and new friendships have risen.”

He also produces another kid-friendly rave series known as Funky Kinder, which has a promotional partnership with Kinder Rave. “I am more of a funk-boogie guy, but obviously I was interested in finding common interests. We just want to entertain parents with kids. Or kids with parents!” he says.

Growing Up

For Buccelli and Ain, the focus is now on empowerment and growth. “One of the things that we’ve seen is that, the more Kinder Raves we have, the more parents are interested in the broader concepts,” says Buccelli. The duo started a newsletter where they tackle issues that come up as creatives who have become parents, helping others adjust their lifestyles to their new families. “This is why we want to grow towards this direction of education and deep dive into the electronic music culture and inform and teach kids and parents together.

Because when you experience something at the same level as your kid for the first time, you discover it together. And because we want this to be more and more present in our lives,” says Ain. “We live in a capitalistic world, we’re figuring out ways of making this sustainable so we can spend more time with our families and with the community developing these activities.”

Ain, a Brazilian-born electronic musician, built a career with his unique approach to sound. As Ain The Machine, he creates his tracks using only the sounds of his body, voice and objects, collaborating with brands like BMW to develop custom-made content for their products. Kinder Rave is also branching out from sound appreciation to creation. In July, they held their first workshop, ‘Human Techno Orchestra’, using a concept adapted from Ain’s artistic work: they invited families to create music together using their bodies, voices and random objects.

Buccelli and Ain have plans to evolve the project even further. For now, they are focused on their third annual Halloween party. But they also remain committed to the founding principle of the Kinder Rave. “You go through your own identity evolution, especially as a young parent, asking, ‘Who am I now? Am I still my old self? What is my new parent self?’ And figuring out who you’re going to be,” Buccelli says. “This idea of parents and kids enjoying dance-floor techno culture together, experiencing this together, is meaningful.”