Child Invited To Birthday Party Parents Expected To Pay

Wait. So, people who drop and run, is the expectation then that the birthday child's parents will single-handedly supervise 20 6 year olds? My DC aren't yet at the drop and run stage, but if that's how it works, this year will be DS's last birthday party! I'm not a primary school teacher; like fuck do I know how to manage more than a couple of feral kids 😂 (But I would pay for parents to stay at a party, if only to avoid that scenario happening!)

Depends how much it is.

So the soft play near us charges £1 per adult I'd be ok with that. There's also an outdoor climbing park that's £12pp regardless of whether you watch or join in, I'd be less keen to attend that.

No one at my kids school would drop and go at that age.They are 5! The drop off parties don’t tend to start until they turn 8 or so here!

I wouldn't leave a 5 year old in a soft play party that was open to the public unless it was a family I knew very well who I knew would supervise properly. I have nervous children anyway so have tended to stay, the party hosts usually sit and chat and are not watching the kids at all. One trampoline party we went to the mum left for about 40 minutes and didn't tell anyone and left no one in charge.

Venue's pricing model is the CF here really.
What is the adult price? I would hope it's a token few pounds? In which case I would probably suck it up and assume that the party parents have figured they could afford to invite an extra couple of kids if they don't have to pay for the parent entrance fees.
No I wouldn't be over the moon about spending weekend afternoon in a soft play and having to pay for the privilege but if my kid would enjoy the party then I would do it.

Thanks for the invite, but we’re washing our hair that weekend 🤭

There’s nothing worse than being invited to a party and being expected to pay to attend. My friend does this every year, wants to throw her son a party (normally soft play) but doesn’t actually book the party room, so it’s basically just a play date that she wants everyone to pay to attend it. Still expects presents as well. Needless to say he didn’t have many people at his “party” this year.

I personally wouldn’t have booked this particular place if it charges parents to attend and I wasn’t willing to cover the cost. If you want to bring two parents along and the place only covers the cost of one, then having to pay for the second parent is fair enough, but to charge every parent to attend to ensure their children are safe isn’t acceptable in my opinion. I would have found another venue that wasn’t such a rip off.

Parents drop and go .. strange they need to pay...never had that yet. Yanbu

Mine have lived through each and every one

Is he lacking in confidence, doesn’t like parties, not into having friends yet?

A birthday party with friends is still not the same as abandoning a child in a shopping centre alone

Don't worry about it!

I was talking about the ppl that expect parents to pay!! They are entitled- sorry, I quoted the wrong post

Maybe but cost of living around here isn't paying for a parent to attend a childrens' party.

Of course you bring a gift - but paying for staying at a soft play center as a parent you have spend more than a lot of families 2025 can afford.

It is. If I left my 5 year old at a soft play he wouldn't talk to me for the rest of the day (and I wouldn't blame him)

Entitled parents of our generation!!

The answer here would be 'No, thank you'.

The hosts should pay

That.

I will have a big amount of people to celebrate my child special day. Oh but I won’t pay for it so I will have them stay and pay for themselves 😂😂😂

Hopefully some turn up. 💁

Theoretically yes. But if you want your child back at the end of the party in one piece, there are certain parties that you really are taking a risk to leave them alone at.

It’s mot about being protective of your child. It’s about making sure the little blighter behaves and doesn’t spoil the party.

Then surely they should pay, if the option is there to drop off but that they're choosing to stay?

Oh behave it is not. 🤣🤣🤣 is ‘hyperbole’ your middle name?

I'm going to assume it is somewhere like the big soft play in Manchester that charges adults £5 entry on top of what you pay for the child. Parties only give a couple of adult spaces free so you would have to pay extra for any adults wanting to stay and as parties there are around £25 a child I would guess they don't want to fork out for the adults.

Personally I would just pay it as I wouldn't want to leave my 5 year old somewhere like that. It seems a bit tight but the party itself might be costing a substantial amount for them and the parents just can't afford paying an additional £5, especially if there's 20 of them.

Once mine started school no parents ever stayed for parties.

its up to the hosts to pay for enough supervising adults to stay. Grandparents, aunties etc.

That's fair enough and I'd feel the same and would therefore pay for myself to go in. Adult entry to soft play is pretty cheap normally, so not a big deal