Best time for kids party?

[ElspethBoomingHowsen]

I’m organising my sons 4th birthday party. He wants soft play and has been to a couple of afternoon soft play parties. I dislike soft play as it’s so blooming loud!

anyway, we want to one with a friend recently 11am on a Sunday and it was so quiet! There was a kids party going on and a few other kids and that’s it. So is it ok to book a 2 hour kids soft play party at 11am in a Sunday?

thank you I’m advance!

People with small kids are halfway through their day by 11am. It will be fine. We went to an 11am party last week, everyone turned up. Only issue is that if its on a Sunday the church crowd probably won't come.

I wouldn’t. When will the parent eat? I think you need either a morning or an afternoon party.

With an 11 party. Parents won’t get home until 1 and then will need to eat and lots of parents will have other children so will want to do something in the afternoon.

That sounds perfect! They can eat in the middle, at 12 and then keep playing. Also as a parent it's nice to then have the afternoon free to wind down.
And not too early that it's a rush for those who like a lazier Sunday morning.
TBH, I'm happy as long as it's not too early, too late or too long!

I would, they get party food at a soft play party anyway. I'm sure a parent can handle waiting until 1pm for lunch.

11am is just right I think, it's not too early but doesn't take up the whole day.

The parents eat at home around 1.30. That's a perfectly acceptable time for adults to have lunch. You don't HAVE to have a roast dinner every Sunday day either, if that's your thinking.
If it finishes at 1, you'd still have the afternoon free?

I think 11am on a Sunday is a good time for a birthday party as DC are less likely to have swimming/football etc. on a Sunday than a Sarurday.

(Unless to you go a church school then I'd not do a Sunday morning as a chunk of the class might be at church/in the choir/sibling is an alter server etc.)

I always arrange my kids party's at around 1-3pm ish

That's fine as long as you feed them.

I tended to do 2-4 and just give snacks.

I went to a soft play party recently the was 10-12 and I thought that was a really good time. We were up anyway and it didn’t cut into our day too much because we were home before 12:30. I also find 3-5 quite good. I personally prefer parties at either the start or the end of the day. I’m not keen on the ones in the middle of the day because you can’t do much else.

I think 10 or 11am starts are best. Nothing worse than a Sunday kids party that doesn't finish until late afternoon and takes up your entire day.

Thanks all. Kids will be fed lunch and it’s a large soft play with a nice cafe on site. It’s also on the same retail park as an IKEA and numerous chain restaurants so plenty to eat for adults.

I very much doubt there will be lots of church goers but that’s certainly worth considering, thank you

DS recently went to a soft play party on a Sunday morning 10am to 12 noon. I was a bit annoyed at having to get up early on a Sunday and losing my lie in but it did mean we were back home in time for lunch and had our usual Sunday afternoon.

Also the roads were empty and so was the cafe at the venue so toddler DS and I got a nice breakfast out!

I never have a Sunday lunch btw the way. But if your not able to go out until after 1.30 and get somewhere until 2 and then you have multiple young children who have dinner at 5 and you want a late night on a Sunday. Everyone has different life patterns, I’m just explaining why it wouldn’t work our family. For us we tend to skip parties in the middle of the day because of the impact they have on everyone else.

I think I’m going to go with 11. Falls over lunch and should still be relatively quiet. His friend list is almost double the numbers I’m willing to pay for so hopefully a few won’t come because of the time! 😂

As a parent I couldn't. But I know this, I would bring a sandwich!!!

I was quoting someone who said parents can wait till 13:30 here, doesn't seem to have worked...