Would you drive 25 minutes for a birthday party?

[SparePartz]

DD would like to do a certain activity, but it's 25 minutes (via motorway) or 40 minutes driving. Or 60 minutes by foot/public transport.

Would you take your child to a 12th birthday party so far away?

Would you be happy to give the fare (£15) as a gift if your child came with us on public transport?

That's fine. You can say that you will be getting the train there so if anyone wants to join you then it would save them a drive but it £15 fare.

I would drive that far but most of my DCs friends probably wouldn’t so me and DH would drive and limit numbers to 8 including DC.

25mins is nothing to me - but I commute 1 hour to the office 3 times a week so 25 mins feels like down the road to me ha. But if it’s too expensive suggest something else certainly.

I have to drive at least 20 minutes to get to the nearest town so this question seems mad to me 😂

Would happily drop my kids there but would probably try and get them to arrange a car share with a friend or two so I only did one way.

Would not be so happy to give £15 for them to go on public transport. If you were taking them like that I'd expect you to cover the cost as you are doing the inviting.

I think the OP is someone who lives in an area where everyone she knows lives less than 15 minutes walk away, (or a 2-5 minute car drive,) and most people live within a mile of almost everyone they know. Most family and friends, and the school, and the GP, and the dentist, and the shops and everything are within walking distance.

That's how it was for me growing up - and until I was about 40 when I moved to a rural village half hour drive from anyone I know. And I am 15-20 minutes drive from the GP, dentist, shops, bus station, mechanic, bank, pharmacy, hairdresser, post office etc etc. And my family - including DC - are half hour drive to 45 minutes drive away.

25 minutes drive is no biggie for me now, bur some years ago when everything was within striking distance, (ie within a mile or two,) I would have thought that was a long way to drive for a kids party!

25 mins is fine and a total non issue. We had our sons party a 25 min drive away and it was absolutely fine

Of course! I wouldn't bat an eyelid at 25 mins. Most parties we attend are 15-30 mins away.

I wouldn’t think twice about taking any of DC to a party 25 mins away. I would give the bus fare if the party parent wanted to take all the kids on a bus. I also wouldn’t have a problem if the party parent asked for a lift. If I was the party parent though I would be paying for the bus fare as I’d feel bad asking people to pay £15 to get there, some people may just say I’ll meet you at the place (as it’s quicker and cheaper)

I think the OP is someone who lives in an area where everyone she knows lives less than 15 minutes walk away, (or a 2-5 minute car drive,) Yes, pretty much! School and a shop in the village, decent bus links to the next town and a big supermarket only 30 minutes walk away.
Until now, DD's parties have always been at home. Those she's gone to have always e.g. started at someone's house, then both parents drive to town and then back again. Or sleepovers. There is a place in our closest town, but they won't let DS take part.

Yep

I do this regularly for my 2 year olds friends parties

@SparePartz why does your ds need to take part? By 12 I wouldn't expect siblings to be joining in at birthday parties. I'm assuming though maybe you are a single parent with no one to look after him.

I thought it was perfectly obvious from reading the OP who the OP was in this scenario and they were not driving but judging from replies I seem to be in the minority.
It wasn't clear at all.

The point about the £15 gift didn't make much sense either. Presumably the OP means would the other parent pay the cost of public transport if she (OP) chose to use public transport.

@SparePartz Can you explain?

You want to take your child on the bus.

You might take another child with you and you're asking if their parents should pay the fare?

Is that right?

As children get older OP, some parties take place further away.

Some even have parties/ sleepovers at the Natural History Museum in London!

25 minutes is nothing, youve measured the distance in km which suggests you aren't in the UK, do you live somewhere that people have a different cultural view of driving ?

Me neither, anything less than an hour is fine!

Yes

Yes I've done parties that far away on a motorway drive however I also roped in my brother and a friend to take children and parents dropped to my house and we travelled between a few cars.