To be annoyed play centre held a party at the same time as open session?

But what OP paid for, her children had full access too. Exclusive access at times by the sounds of it so you could even say more value for money.

OP didn’t pay for party games or cake or dancing. You also can never guarantee how many other children will be there, if they would even want to play with OP’s children etc.

Maybe someone should start a company that charges £30 for a life lesson in resilience. Could go on Dragons Den with that one.

Lots of places allow parties at time the play centre is open

I agree @Cattenberg . A life lesson is a poor substitute for a good time.

I’m a bit surprised by the number of posters who seem to think OP should be grateful for the life lesson for her children.

If you’ve ever spent a fair amount of money on a restaurant meal/ theatre tickets/ spa visit and didn’t have a good time due to a decision made by the venue, did you really think: “Oh, well, I’ve had a valuable life lesson which will make me more resilient, so it was well worth the money and disappointment. I wouldn’t dream of complaining, even to my friends.”

This or parents having parties having to pay for exclusive use of the soft play, either way the business loses money or parents are charged even more to have a party there.

Then you know for next time, ask if it’s full/parties etc…

YABU tho, the world exists outside your family.

Kids have to have tricky situations to learn resilience. When they’re at school there will be parties they’re not invited to, games other kids don’t want them to play and turns they aren’t offered. That’s normal!

In the situation at the play centre, you could have said “sorry children, that’s another child’s party they’re having, let’s leave them alone to enjoy their party lunch and they may come back to play soon” then go play with your children. It’s basic parenting OP. Can I ask why you’re super sensitive about this?

I work with families (in a different area of life) and if I can tell any parent, it’s to prepare your child to be resilient and to be able to accept the lows as well as the highs. So many young children have anxiety now and lots of it is the parenting.

To me it sounds perfect! All those 25 loud children out of the way so yours can have all the imaginative play to themselves!
You're being unreasonable, if they were upset they were probably responding to your reactions and if I was the party mum I would have no desire or interest to involve random kids in my child's party just because they were there at the same time. Wild 😂
You are holding firm though so obviously don't want to accept that you're being very petty with it all.

This is wild!!! You paid to take your kids to a play area and the played: yes there was a party but surely there was enough to entertain them and also they clearly didn’t know these other people so why wouldn’t feel left out. Only reason is you felt that they had less than the party kids. You cannot expect people to work parties etc around other people being put out. I’ve not been able to afford parties and seen one when we’ve gone somewhere but it is what it is and you cannot at all blame the place.

and while the rest of the kids had their party tea your kids got sole use of the play centre. Just for them! How cool and lucky was that?

it’s how you frame it. Look at it as a negative or a positive

Is this serious???

YABU, not sure what you expect or want people to do

If you had arrived to find there was only one other child plus yours would you still be bemoaning the venue?

*AbitSceptical *

you make a good point here I think.

If a restaurant with say 100 spaces on 20 tables was booked out for a wedding would everyone here saying the OP is unreasonable think it would be fine if there was 1 table with 8 people on in a corner not part of the wedding.
I would find it very weird and rude of the restaurant and it’s the same here.

I cant bring myself to vote YABU or YANBU, kids have parties, the venue is within it's rights to hold them even though it's only a small venue, your kids(s) probably felt a bit sad at being left out, and you feel bad for your kids. Which is reasonable on both counts.
This is a life lesson here for your kids, they need to learn to be happy for others, and sometimes it doesn't all go there own way or they'll have a very embittered view of the world, as the grow up continually disappointed at not being the focus of attention

@DowntonFlabbie yes that’s true re profit. But the point OP was making was that accepting the party booking plus extra individual bookings may have increased profit on that particular day/ session but may not be a wise strategy longer term if customers, such as her, may think twice about booking next time and/ not refer a friend.

A role play cafe is where young children can play in a space with various set-ups such as cafe, building site, road, supermarket. They have cars, plastic food, supermarket trolleys and check outs, fancy dress outfits, etc., and children can go in and out of various sets role playing each activity. There’s also a cafe just adjacent to all of that where you can buy a kids packed lunch and a crap cup of coffee.

Customer satisfaction is only important in that it drives profit.
Profit is all.

I still dont know what a role play cafe is.

There can be no business without profit.

Also, for the record, business is not all about profit. Profit is obviously important but so is customer satisfaction which leads to repeat booking and word of mouth recommendation. That’s not complicated.

@Hohohoididnotgo
For comparison, the role play cafe near me holds 60 people I believe and when you book a birthday party you have two options - whole venue hire or a group of up to 10 children. The reason for this is so that they don’t end up with the situation you’ve described, where you have a paying customer feeling as everyone else enjoys the party.

When you factor in that the 60 max capacity includes adults, children and babies, you can see that the number of children is likely to be close to 30 (one parent per child) and so capping the party to 10 children means that the party is not going to overrun the whole place, unless they’ve actually booked it as a private hire.

I don’t think it would have riled me up as much as it appears to have you but I do know understand the point you’re making, absolutely. I’m surprised more people aren’t seeing this from your point of view and it does feel like a bit of a pile on!

For clarity: it seems clear to me that OP's children aren't growing up deprived or neglected or living in poverty, and that they're lucky enough to have a mother who cares deeply about them (to the point where the mother is wound up about this situation unnecessarily IMO).
The use of the phrase 'so sad' about OP's children witnessing other children at party seemed OTT, as if they are poor little deprived urchins which they clearly are not.

Assumptions about what?!

Your swearing was uncalled for and your assumptions clear as day in the first few lines.

I didn't attack anyone, I was simply saying that using the phrase 'so sad' in this context is totally OTT. And you can be shocked all you like - my point still stands.