To just not be able to keep up with the cost of children's parties in London?

[milkandmarmite]

It's DS's birthday in September & I live in a v. Small flat in London.

He is pre school age but has asked to have a party and I have agreed. I didnt do one last year as I took him to the aquarium instead.

I looked into booking the local church hall and was horrified at the cost - just shy of £400 for two hours!! then there's food and party bags and goodness knows what else to think of.

The other parties we have been to people have hired entertainers & had a bouncy castles etc. All fabulous and much enjoyed but after I looked into it the additional costs mean the day would be near enough £800!!!

I mean it's ludicrous isn't it? AIBU? Is this what people in London who live in shoe boxes do or is there something I don't know about? I can't keep up with it. I'm half thinking of chancing the weather putting them all in the park

The Natural History Museum is free - just take them round there and ask them to bring sandwiches (and sneak in a cake).

We had the children to our house which cost just about nothing but it was big enough as outer not inner London.

£15 for two hours fiona?! Gosh im moving to muswell hill ;)

Take a gazebo to the park?

yep it was a local evangelical church and they didn't even mind that we ran over.

There is no need to spend that sort of money. I'm in SW London.

Mrsdavidbowie - i hope not because i dont have that sort of money!

We spend about the same and were not in London.

Pizza hut do children's partys now.We've held bowling party's before I think that was under £200 and there was about 15 children,they all had a game of bowling each,a meal and a drink each,face painting and temporary tattoos were included,they provided all the invites and balloons and the Birthday Girl or Boy got a really nice present worth about £15 and they gave all the children a voucher for a free game of bowling for a later date.

Gobsmacked at these prices, sometimes it's worth living in a crappy town.
I hired our local community hall for £25 from 3pm until whenever we wanted. I phoned last week to hire again for DS1, the caretaker was really apologetic they had put the price up, to £30.

no idea on london prices but up here a soft play party would be cheaper, and loads easier to arrange. I think I'm paying about £8per head for dd2's party, for food + 2 hrs play.

ok, so I found a soft play in Wimbledon where parties are £15/head. But still, you could have 15 kids for £225, inclusive of food.

Have you looked at the Discover Centre OP? Could do a little group thing there..... very innovative and fun activities there and reasonable. Also easily accessible via public transport....

I live in South London, but will not cave into these kind of competitive efforts, with a bit of creativity and planning you can pull off something great for your DCs I am sure....

Best of luck... x

Thank you for your suggestions! Will look into them all!

I just did small parties at home...no more than 6 children. No parties before age of 4.
Never did class parties

Depending on where you are in SW London, I've been to parties at Deen City Farm (brilliant) and the pavilion in Wimbledon Park, as well as St Mary's Church Hall in Merton.

Jellybugs in Kingston is a perennial favourite for nursery parties, and is right across from the train station.

Whereabouts are you in SW London? And how old is your DS? Might have a few ideas.

(Oh and how many people?)

Gazebo in park/on a common. S-I-l did this every year - it was brilliant. Up by trees, so shelter from rain. Everyone brought food and games to play with children (ropes, balls, cricket things, and so on).
It was utterly lovely - and not expensive.

That said, there is always the kidsmania soft play place near ikea.

Most genius "party bag" we've had (S London/Surrey borders) was each child being given a pot of bubbles, a slice of cake, and an empty plastic party cup with access to a bucket of Haribo. They scooped up sweets into the cup on their way out and left happy!

We've also been to a party which was a BBQ in a local park, parents had brought along some outside games for the kids to play.

Wilkos is normally good for cheap party bag fillers - little felt tips, crayons etc.

What a nice, helpful thread!

Shop around for halls OP, there must be cheaper options. I'm in London and our local community hall is £8 per hour and has a lovely gated garden. Soft play is also a good option, ours is about £12 per head but includes all food, party bags, invitations and a cake.

Don't bother getting into the competitive party game op. It only gets worse. Do what you can afford. I'm quite smug about the fact that despite some classmates having really expensive parties, dds early cheap class ones, and later the fact 15+ rioting kids in a small house, or 6+ for sleepovers from 8yrs ( and other parents similarly cheap ones) are the ones people remember as fun.

Odeon etc do the cheap weekend kids showings. Ours usually has a row or two booked out for a party and they don't mind you hanging around the foyer afterwards to hand out cake and party bags. Odeon and Vue do a kids box with popcorn, drink, sweets for £3.99.

I'm also SW London and done a few birthday parties now. If you're Wimbledon area St Mark's church hall is £40 p/h, Christchurch in Colliers Wood is £25 p/h, Deen City Farm cost is £50 for room hire plus £20 for the small animal encounter. You can also do pony rides.

Lower Morden Garden Centre has a small soft play area you can hire exclusively for 20 children. That party cost about £150 including food and refreshments for the adults. They were brilliant.

You could hire the entire local softplay place and feed 30 children for £250 here!

I just did DS1's first proper party as he is school age now. 3 hours hire of a community centre hall was £30, entertainer was £80, sweet cones instead of party bags was £25. I spent another £50 on food, plates, balloons, craft activity etc, and £15 on a dressing up outfit for DS - £200 all together and I thought that was expensive!