A little help on birthday parties please!

[Summerishere123]

I run a play centre that does several parties a day. I am trying to get the young staff to personalise the parties more. Make it feel special rather than just going through the motions.
So I am wondering if you can share any experiences that made your party feel special or made you leave wanting to do it again?
Anything you don't like also good to hear!
Much appreciated!

Firstly make sure you are charging enough for what you’re doing, even if it means putting prices up.

I would get in touch with clients who book the parties in advance (take bookings further in advance than you do now) and work with them to sort the theme they want, e.g princess, dinosaurs, robots and then buy or rent decorations (reusable if possible) and offer to do a birthday cake. I’m not sure what sort of play centre it is but you could maybe get a cheap disco ball/ some fairy lights for musical bumps/ a small disco and throw in a game like pass the parcel- you can buy cheap toys off places like aliexpress in bulk and there’s probably more eco friendly places too. You could also buy a cardboard “insta” picture frame and make a selfie station. Helium balloons. are always popular too.

If you do games and organised activities, the one thing that would make me book you (or not) would be how well you and your staff adapt the party to the age group of the guests. My DCs are starting to be invited to 4th birthday parties, which are often more structured than the toddler ones, with games and discos etc., but some of the entertainers are terrible because they can't pitch what they do at younger age groups. So they're doing exactly the same as they might for 7 year olds, and some of the little children are very intimidated by it, or upset because they lose the game or don't win a prize. On the other hand I've seen amazing entertainers who can handle little kids or even a mixed age group and keep everyone happy.

Thanks. We have the insta moments and the themed party balloons. We do all the leg work in cutting and wrapping the cake whilst they sit and drink coffee and we play games with the kids. I just feel like the staff could check in more.
One thing I have observed is that they never say good bye when they are leaving. They take their cake out and the kids shoes about 15-20 minutes before the party ends and say thank you and goodbye, but at the point they actually leave. No goodbye!

Maybe up your prices if you feel like you aren’t getting enough for your legwork in doing the cake and wrapping stuff. If you aren’t happy with your staff sit them down and tell them what they’re doing wrong and need to improve on. I assume you’re the one paying their salaries!

Yes I agree with this. We used to do a story etc for toddler time (parties sometimes in this session) and a toddler friendly game like read the hungry caterpillar and then hide food from the story to find.
I watched them the other day try to play hide and seek with a bunch of preschoolers in the same manner they do with 8 year olds and it just doesn't work!

@sprinklesandshines I am indeed paying their salaries and I don't feel like it was that long ago we had a big meeting about parties and how they run and what they felt they needed to make it happen. They have just slipped back into complacency I think. There isn't the fun and sparkle in their delivery. They are young and have never spent £300 to make someone else happy so I don't think they get it.

Definitely need to keep up with the meetings. If they aren’t doing their job properly then get rid hopefully find better staff

I think your party set up sounds fine and its actually your staff and/your management of them that is the problem?
Can you have a staff training day, can you send them on training?

This is very possibly true. I just wondered if anyone had any experiences of something that made them go "wow" at a party that might help the staff think of ways to make the parents and child feel special.
Teenagers are very hard to manage!

It sounds like you need to make the teenage workers engage better with the kids more than change what you offer.

I am not sure how you could go about changing the attitude of the staff you have now but for future reference the best teens I've come across for engaging with little ones are theatre kids. Just an idea for where to look for new employees when needed. They are often less worried about being vocal and being playful with little ones and are very adaptable with playing the princess or the dinosaur. From previous experience I do think it's the staff that make or break a soft play party.

I think if you want your staff to do specific things, you can't expect them to be that proactive or spontaneous if they are teenagers doing a Saturday job. You would probably want to give them a specific list of tasks (including greeting and saying goodbye) and show them what you want rather than just telling. A checklist might feel less spontaneous to you, but will come across fine to the party attendees.

Also, teenagers - even ones who like children - are often not very confident and outgoing in a work situation. At my DCs' nursery, they take on apprentices who are 17 or 18, and it takes a good six months of them being at work every day, developing their skills and confidence, before they typically manage to be fun and silly with the children in front of the parents. Eventually they blossom and it's lovely to see them gain confidence and able to communicate with both parents and kids - but this is after intensive training over a long period. You just can't expect that from even younger teens who maybe only do it once a week. They'll need a lot more guidance and some very clear demonstration by you.