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

So you want a business to lose money because some, a tiny proportion of parents haven't the capacity to distract their children?

I did a rough cal a few posts ago and a business could lose 3-4k a week on that format.

Needless to say they would lose business if not open to the public at predictable times.

YANBU.

If a hotel had a wedding on, I’d want to know when booking.
If a restaurant had a huge group in, and I wanted a quiet meal, I’d expect to be told in case I wanted to go elsewhere.
So I think the cafe should have told you on entry that there was a party on, so you could have done something different instead.

If they were confused and upset you could've, y'know, explained what was happening.

No idea why you’re getting a hard time OP!

At £30 no it’s not ok that it was hired for a private party and they didn’t tell you.

They absolutely should have closed to others, marked it on website/social media as such and am very surprised they let you in.

Really poor service from a small venue,

It’s all about parallel play at 18 months/ 3 years. They aren’t making friends. They may not understand that they aren’t invited to the party but I’d be astonished if they cared for more than 30 seconds when actually there is less competition for the zip wire and they have the ball pig to themselves.

incidentally mine would have found that way too long at that age esp if it’s a small centre.

Wait til they get to school and you get upset that your child isn't invited to a party. What you going to do then? You need to get a grip, honestly this is madness!

Couldn't you have bought them something to eat at the cafe? Assuming they serve food? That might have distracted them.

Of course your DC don’t understand- so you explain and they learn. Your job as parent is to teach them how the world works.

For that size I’d have expected private hire and a closure tbh. Once you’ve got 25/30 being for a party it does change the dynamic. At some of the massive soft play centres it doesn’t really matter but when it’s so small it does make a difference.

I think if 25 out of 30 places are booked for a party - the venue should tell you. You can then make an informed choice.

If I were in the same position as soon as I realised it was a party of that many people I would have complained - asked for my money back (or part thereof) .. and left.

if you 'stayed for the full time and got ' access ' to the play areas with hardly anyone in them - then you have less to complain about. Even if your lo's missed out on a party tea..

You said I guess none of you have dealt with a determined toddler

I know what you mean OP, the centre should have a separate party room!

Goodness!! I've incurred the wrath of mumsnet 😬 Apparently there are only two universally hated things - fiddling kids and expecting play sessions to be inclusive.

Anyone who's bothered, I answered most of your questions on a 2nd post.

Why didn’t you stop this from happening though?

To be fair if it was 20 of us and three ransoms I would be offering cake and joining in.

Talk about entitlement. Why should a stranger invite your kids to their own child’s birthday party? They’ve paid for it, probably only catered for a set number of kids and don’t know you or your kids. Maybe just take your kids home if it bothers you so much.

The op is literally saying she thinks she shouldn’t have been allowed to buy tickets seeing as 99% of the other spaces had been taken up by one party. Not that the party shouldn’t have been allowed and not that her kids should have had guest of honour status.

Just read this update
Yes if it’s booked out for a Party of 25 and only has capacity for 30 then the kind thing to do is not take bookings outside of the party.

We've often booked private parties at soft play and they are always outside of operating hours (so 5-7pm say). People would absolutely game it by booking a party and getting sole use without paying for that and the business would lose out.

You have two children so surely just direct them to play with eachother?

I personally wouldn't want a random stranger joining in my kids party and expecting to receive food, cake and take part in the games that you seem to think they should have been allowed to do. If it's a kids party the parents all know eachother, and it's likely the children do too. If they are taking photos etc it would be awkward explaining in the future who these random kids were 'oh we didn't know them, they just felt left out'.

If the capacity of the centre is 30 then I do feel they should have not let others book if they knew the party would be 25. However if they have a larger capacity and it was just unfortunate you were the only non party attendees then I can't blame them, they are running a business after all and they don't know who might turn up on the day.

I really dont see the problem
Surely after it emptied out your kid had the run of the place?

They hadn't made mates for life and the session was going to end at some point. What's the difference between that group going to a party room or just leaving?

You sound incredibly entitled - not everything is about you or your child/ren

Well, they should do when it's a business aimed at toddlers!

I'd also be pissed off too pay £££££ and then not have exclusive use of somewhere tiny.

They are trying to run a business. The feelings of a random toddler won’t feature.