£300 for a sitter to watch ds over night?

[Spuddybean]

DP and i are getting married in beginning Jan. We would like DS to be watched overnight in the hotel so we can have a shag drink.

The hotel room for a sitter costs £130, which is fine. I contacted an agency who have said the sitter charges £9 per hour, also fine. But then the agency have said they charge £50 fee on top, erm not so fine and that we have to pay 'expenses' - and i'm not really sure what that entails. Room service for dinner i suppose, which is fine. But what else? taxis to and from the hotel?

Anyway, this then means it will cost more than £300 Does this seem reasonable?

4 months is very little to be looked after by a sitter in a hotel... (sorry .. I'm a bit precious maybe).

Why not just keep him with you? Ok so you won't be able to get drunk but surely thats not the end of the world?? Sex is still possible :) (bathroom even?! Be inventive if you don't feel comfortable with dc asleep in the same room).

I was 25 weeks pregnant when I got married and we are both teetotal anyway but we had a great time :)

i don't think it's the St Johns wood price as £9 an hour is standard everywhere i think. It's all the extras which add up.

And i didn't mean £300 for the sitter, but all the add ons. We were prepared for £250 but this will probably be £100 more :(

We aren't having a 'wedding' as it were - in st johns wood. we are having a cheapy wedding at westminster reg office and all going to a boozer opposite regents park - nothing is booked just a drink in the pub/Pub have reserved an area for us for free and we'll pay for everyone's drinks and buy bowls of chips etc.

Could you have DS for a bit with you and then have the babysitter for a shorter period?

Plus people love babies, won't your family and friends all pass him around and cuddle him for you?

If we kept him with us we'd have to leave the reception by 8/9 i can't see a baby staying quiet in a pub for any longer than 3-4 hours.

Which feels utterly depressing and shite and not really fair on guests - some coming down from Preston and the Lakes.

Sex will be a no no, not that i'm really bothered about that, but i would have liked a few glasses of wine.

I am feeling anxious about leaving him with a sitter.

Your wedding sounds fab btw, Westminster registry office is lovely

well the quote was 9pm to 8am, so i doubt we could keep him in the pub for any longer.

You can still have a few drinks now you've got a child. It's ok.

Any chance you could get an interconnecting room? That way you and DH can do stuff without disturbing Babybean and you'll only need a babysitter for a couple of hours.

oh i will have a few, but it's more the leaving at 9pm Badger.

i feel a bit mean on the guests. i hope they aren't expecting a 'wedding' and get there and we leave early and they think 'well that was fucking worth it!'

What Badger said.

Or send the babysiiter and the baby to a cheaper hotel in nearby Kentish Town/Tufnel Park

Sorry, joking. It is the room that makes it expensive.
Would Maida Vale be cheaper but still nice and close to the reg office.

Can you get a sitter from 9 till 1 am (or whatever)?

and i was joking about the shagging. i doubt we will - i still find it horribly painful since the birth :(

we've paid for our hotel room already so we wont be able to change that, once you add taxis too i doubt it'd be any cheaper.

we could get sitter to 1am but i wouldn't drink much as i would worry about looking after ds. everyone would be getting pretty merry which would be boring if we couldn't join in i think.

oh well.

Also we only have my parents and my sis as family attendees and friends are dp's uni mates and army blokes. So i doubt they'll be queuing up to hold a baby!

Oh just do it, it will be worth it! Pay out and enjoy your time together, it's not every day you get married and I'm sure there are people in this country who have spent £300 just on napkins or something daft... whereas this is worthwhile and you've considered all options. Go for it!

I suppose that's why it's usual to get married before kids!!!

Personally I would keep ds with you & hope he sleeps soundly with all the excitement - £300 is an awful lot of money!!

i think you are right lubey. dp says it's up to me.

ds will be okay wont he? i've never left him with anyone.

I presume the sitter people are all crb checked and are probably nursery nurses etc as a day job. I'm sure it would be fine. I would do it in your position.

yes apparently so lubey. i think on reflection i would rather a sober professional in a hotel room looking after ds, than some pissed up mates passing him round a rub-a-dub!

Babies are placed in nursery from 6 weeks because parents have to go to work, please don't beat yourself up about leaving him. Could you perhaps go to a cheaper hotel?

that's what i tell myself Billy, and he loves strangers/has no probs with new people.

hotel is paid for (we got a groupon deal half price £400 for 3 nights). actually it's very cheap for London i think. a holiday inn in Brentford is £100.

I see where Everlong is coming from, but the period from 9 til you getting to the hotel yourselves will only be a couple of hours (assume babysitter will collect the baby from the party, so probably won't leave straight away, and you're staying in the same hotel).

If you can afford it, do it.

fwiw if I was a guest, I'd go easy on the booze and happily mind your baby for you. Are you sure none of your friends wouldn't do that?

sadly i doubt it Jenai :(

we will take the baby back to the hotel to settle him. the pub is next door so wont be far away.

Why don't you get a babysitter for the evening and then have a weekend away when your family can look after the baby?