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Original poster

Paying to attend child's party?

550 replies

arachnidpearl · 01/02/2022 11:15

Would welcome views on this.

My DS has been invited to a child's party on Sunday. It's at an activity place with a climbing wall then food afterwards. Accepted invitation weeks ago, have bought card and gift etc.

We've been sent a message yesterday from birthday child's parent last night which says that all children under 8 must be supervised by an adult each, which is ok with me I don't mind staying (would rather not, but it's not the end of the world) but that in order to stay and supervise we have to buy a full price adults ticket, which costs £25!

Is this usual? It seems a bit of a cheek to me!

OP posts:
OnceuponaRainbow18 · 01/02/2022 11:36

That seems like a mad amount, I would also call the venue and confirm!

Marcipex · 01/02/2022 11:36

Crikey, I couldn’t have afforded that when mine were 8.
An overpriced coffee or watery Slushy, yes, if you have to stay, but not £25.

FlickyCrumble · 01/02/2022 11:37

Sorry my post should read if it’s not a swim party. It sounds like the mum has not booked an official party but taking kids along and feeding them afterwards?

Original poster
arachnidpearl · 01/02/2022 11:38

@Marcipex

Crikey, I couldn’t have afforded that when mine were 8. An overpriced coffee or watery Slushy, yes, if you have to stay, but not £25.
Kids food and drinks are part of the party apparently. I've no issue buying myself a coffee or whatever but I do object to paying £25 for mandatory supervision of my child that I will be providing at a party that we've been invited to!
OP posts:
Rewritethestars1 · 01/02/2022 11:38

My dc went to a climbing party recently. Host payed for everything. Parents just say around drinking coffee. In no way were we expected to supervise apart from the off wave from the side. They had trained instructors for that. I wouldn't be paying. Even if I thought my dc would get alot out if the climbing. I'd rather pay to take them by ourselves so we could have a fun day together, not so we can join in at a party as awful as that sounds. £25 is quite a lot of money for one person to watch let alone climb. Id rather spend that on something we would both enjoy.

Rewritethestars1 · 01/02/2022 11:39

Sat around and odd wave

Figgygal · 01/02/2022 11:40

Call the venue and question it
Thats ridiculous

RockinHorseShit · 01/02/2022 11:42

Seriously... I'd tell them to stick the invite where the sun don't shine. That's ridiculous, especially now with so many struggling financially. Really wrong to expect anyone to pay to go to any party, let alone a kids one. You pay for all as the host, or you don't invite what you can't afford

PasswordEarth · 01/02/2022 11:42

Agree. All the venue and question it, when you won’t be participating. They’re either batshit or party parents are trying to recoup costs.

Original poster
arachnidpearl · 01/02/2022 11:43

In terms of supervision I'm not sure what they're expecting anyway as they do have instructors for the physical stuff. Apparently according to one of the other mums it's more that we have to stay in case they need to get down/get upset etc. I can't climb anyway, I'm 7 months pregnant!

OP posts:
GoudaVonCrumb · 01/02/2022 11:44

I'd call the venue to check - at our local climbing wall if a kid is climbing on the main wall they to require 121 with an instructor (paid for by parent) or parent (paying for themselves) but it's more than just watching, it's holding ropes and ensuring their safety and often the parent climbs too.

If the kids are on the little under 10 wall then parents don't pay or participate BrewCake as it's little with big crash mats.

Anyone booking the 'party package' there's no need for parents to pay, stay or participate as it's on the little safe wall and they get 2 instructors watching them.

So I'm wondering if someone's misunderstood or booked the wrong thing?

SparkleSpangle · 01/02/2022 11:44

I would be concerned about safety if untrained adults are being used as supervision on a climbing wall. What can you possibly supervise when a child is up a wall.

As for £25 I think the host has misunderstood or is being conned by the venue. I would ring them myself and check.

IncompleteSenten · 01/02/2022 11:45

You need to phone the venue directly and ask them.

HelloPanda12 · 01/02/2022 11:45

Is the one adult supervisor per child under 8 a rule of the venue or is this something the birthday child’s parents have come up with? I sure as hell wouldn’t be paying £25 to attend someone else’s child’s birthday party, that’s a lot of money.

Lockdownbear · 01/02/2022 11:45

£25 to supervise seems wild. Is this something daft like you can drop and run but if you want to watch you have to pay as the centre doesn't have capacity for non-paying parents to hang out because of covid restrictions?

I'd double check with the venue.

ClaudiaWankleman · 01/02/2022 11:45

I can't climb anyway, I'm 7 months pregnant!

Even more salt into the wound - pay £25 to be useless in case of ay problems! Grin

PragmaticWench · 01/02/2022 11:51

So that's approximately an extra £200 for the venue, on top of the party price of entry for the children and food that the parents of the party child have paid?!

Makes it a very expensive party!

00100001 · 01/02/2022 11:53

@SparkleSpangle

I would be concerned about safety if untrained adults are being used as supervision on a climbing wall. What can you possibly supervise when a child is up a wall.

As for £25 I think the host has misunderstood or is being conned by the venue. I would ring them myself and check.

"un trained adults"

You just have to belay - not rocket science.

rbe78 · 01/02/2022 11:53

Absolutely outrageous, and I suspect incorrect.

For context, at my climbing wall, it's only £9 for a non-member adult to actually climb, and £2 if they are just there to supervise/belay a child (or free in off-peak times).

Definitely contact climbing wall to confirm.

CoastalWave · 01/02/2022 11:57

Nope. What the parents are doing is making you guys pay for the party!

At my reckoning, 8 kids x £25 is about the cost of the party!

Utter utter crap. Been to x3 parties at climbing wall places (think Velocity etc). Not one charges for parents to supervise. Not one. It's all included in the price of the party for the child.

Personally I would ring the place as if YOU were going to book a party - and then forward the info back to the host saying good news, that's not how it works!

BadgerStripes · 01/02/2022 11:58

@goldfluffyclouds

that is ridiculous - i would call the place myself and check. if true i would withdraw and do something else instead
This
mindutopia · 01/02/2022 11:59

We were thinking to book a climbing party for dd and this was not a stipulation of the booking at our local climbing wall (though may have been for under 4's - but they are all 8/9). I would expect the birthday child's parents to pay for this.

saygeronimo · 01/02/2022 12:01

Yes please call the venue to check (or actually, that info will be on the website so it'll be easy to find out what the actual terms / rules and prices are).
Maybe the host meant £2.50?
It may be that they are not paying for a party package for the kids, which is fine.
But I find it almost impossible to believe that parents would need to pay £25. That makes no sense whatever the scenario is!

aquamarine1 · 01/02/2022 12:01

This happened to us once - child's party was at a country park and the host sent a message to say 'remember some change for parking'. When we turned up it wasn't a parking charge but an entry fee and cost £20 for us as a family. No waiver for party attendees. I can honestly say that I would never do this and think it's beyond rude.

FelicityPike · 01/02/2022 12:01

@goldfluffyclouds

that is ridiculous - i would call the place myself and check. if true i would withdraw and do something else instead
I’m afraid I would do this too. That’s a scandalous amount of money to have to fork out.