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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

£16 to take our child to a party!

117 replies

SteppingIntoSpring · 03/04/2016 11:25

I am currently sat in a children's 4th birthday party with DH having had to pay SIXTEEN POUNDS to stay here with DD3.

We are 15miles from home so would be silly for one to go back. The party is in a farm park but at the indoor play area, the mother hosting the party is mortified as only one of the kids invited (all aged 3 or just 4) wanted their parents to stay. They mum had no idea you had to pay for parents too.

£8 to sit here, not use any facilities other than the loo and buy coffee seems a bit excessive to me. Surely most pre-schoolers want their parents to stay at parties? All the parents are Confused.

AIBU to think that no mention of this charge from the establishment, £16 for entry, £4 for coffee and a gift make for a costly 2hrs on a Sunday morning given the parents have already paid for the party itself.

OP posts:
MrTiddlestheFatCat · 03/04/2016 12:32

We don't pay for soft play centres, but a farm park like heads of Ayr we do. We spend a whole day at places like this and make use of all the play and animals with the kids so I don't argue

MrTiddlestheFatCat · 03/04/2016 12:33

Oh no stepping I didn't think you came across as rude at all, sorry. I just meant some of the suggestions people were giving

Original poster
SteppingIntoSpring · 03/04/2016 12:39

Mrtiddle, thanks.
If I was going for the day I would gladly pay and have done so numerous times before. But this was for the duration of a party in the soft play area. Outside is sodden and muddy from inclement weather recently. One to chalk up to experience I guess.

OP posts:
Passthecake30 · 03/04/2016 12:39

£8 is steep! There's a soft play near me where you have to pay adults entry (a few pound I think) which annoys me too...so I make a point of going down the slides etc to get my money's worth😀

Aeroflotgirl · 03/04/2016 12:39

MrTiddles your totally missing the point, the op was accompanying her little boy to a party at the farm, that the host mum has already paid for, not a family day out. The host mum would have paid a price per head within the party package, which will include 1 parent accompanying, especially the child being only 4, will be naturally accompanied by a parent, especially in a Farm situation.

ivykaty44 · 03/04/2016 12:42

I don't know why these places charge for adults, it's not as if the adults would go on thier own - why not just chargea little extra for the children and a parent goes free. They would probably have far more repeat business.

It smacks of greed to charge a parent to take thier dc to a party and would certainly leave a sour taste

Name and shame and tweet

evelynj · 03/04/2016 12:46

I'd have sat in the car as I'm stingy but this would massively have pissed me off. Enjoy your holiday though!

merrymouse · 03/04/2016 12:47

That is really unusual. Usually adult is included in the price at this kind of place because they want to keep the adult:child ratio up for H&S reasons. They don't want you to drop and leave.

Floralnomad · 03/04/2016 12:50

Honestly though it's the fault of the host as they should have known that the majority of parents will stay at a 3/4 yr olds party and they should have checked with the venue .

SylviaWrath · 03/04/2016 12:51

It's not a soft play though, is it? It's a whole farm thing, with an entry price to get into the whole thing. That would be standard UNLESS the party host arranged to hire the soft play bit specifically for the party and negotiated prices based on that.

Host fucked up. First by expecting a horde of 3 and 4 year olds to be dropped off without parents (major fail) and also by not finding out exactly what the set up and prices were in the first place.
Then when realising scale of fuck up should have paid for one parent per child to stay.

DoreenLethal · 03/04/2016 12:53

What have the hosts paid for the party? Surely this would include entrance fee for the attendees?

Aeroflotgirl · 03/04/2016 12:54

I agree sylvia you find that out before booking! I would never book a venue that charge extra for parent to stay with their little one, it woukd put me off.

OohMavis · 03/04/2016 12:57

£8?! £8?!?

I'm speechless. That's less than the cost of two children's entries into our local softplay.

That's absolutely ridiculous.

OohMavis · 03/04/2016 12:58

That's more than the cost, that should have said.

AugustaFinkNottle · 03/04/2016 13:05

I must admit, I begrudge paying full adult entry prices for children's attractions anyway. It's not as if I go there for my benefit.

AugustaFinkNottle · 03/04/2016 13:08

Hmm, I see their party room info says "Party room price includes Park entrance, hire of your private room plus lots of extras for you to choose from to make your visit to the Heads of Ayr Farm Park perfect." That's a bit ambiguous, and they should make it clear that it doesn't include entrance for accompanying adults. Also the printable invitations they offer make no mention of that.

HooseRice · 03/04/2016 13:11

Sounds like Storybook Glen near Aberdeen in the old days.

I phoned to book a party and the exceptionally rude owner who was taking the booking asked who was paying for the parents, me or themselves. I was embarrassed because DD had recently been to a party there and DH and I both stayed. If we'd realised the party mum and dad were being charged only one of us would have gone.

I've had parties there since joint parties, definitely not my choice and I believe they've changed their policy.

thomassodorisland · 03/04/2016 13:18

I know where you are and I've heard of this happening there.

Would have been cheaper to go to kidzplay adults get in free, at least the host is apologetic it is a big mistake to make and she'll be feeling a bit embarrassed and annoyed about it.

Hopefully no other kids parents in your group will make a similar mistake now.

Hulababy · 03/04/2016 13:20

Normally you get x number of free adults per paid for children, usually somewhere between 1 free adult per 5-10 children paid for). It would be unusual for this kind of venue (farm rather than soft play) to admit one free adult per child.

Maybe the parents already have their free parent places used up?

Did the parents really not know? It would normally be part of the party terms and pointed out. If they really weren't told, this is poor on the part of the venue.

Or did the parents think that children would stay without a parent, and they just have enough adults for supervision? If so, then pretty naive on their part - it is unusual for pre schools to attend parties without a parent.

MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig · 03/04/2016 13:20

Clearly a balls up between the party mum and the farm. They should make it clear that every adult has to pay to attend and the mum should have checked if parents could stay with such young children.

The school gate's gonna be a bit frosty.

Original poster
SteppingIntoSpring · 03/04/2016 13:32

Party mum was really embarrassed, I don't think she knew. We used kidz play last year. Great service and reasonably priced with as many free adults as we needed.

OP posts:
Viviennemary · 03/04/2016 13:46

That is very annoying. I blame the mother who made the arrangements but the jpark should have made it clear that every adult would be charged. A complete botch up all round I'd say. They should be reported to the Advertising Standards people if their charges aren't made clear. And name the greedy lot.

WhatchaMaCalllit · 03/04/2016 13:51

Before you leave, ask to speak with the manager and raise your issues with them. Tell them that you're not happy with the arrangement that parents have to pay to sit while their kids are in at a party (which has been paid for by the host of the party). Tell them that you're more likely to use the facilities for other parties in the future if parents are not charged to wait for their kids and these parents are also more likely to have more than one cup of tea/coffee while they wait. If they keep up with the current charging policy, you will be left with no option but to post an unfavourable report on TripAdvisor, also contact the local tourist board and draw their attention to this hefty charge so they can let others be aware too.

Best of luck!

ShutUpSirius · 03/04/2016 13:54

We used pirate Petes in Prestwick for wee ones first birthday. We only paid for 10 children. No payment for adults of anyone over age of 11.

The ten we paid for had a buffet which was enough for adults too. Wee one for free entry and me and hub for free coffee.

It was quite nice too

MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig · 03/04/2016 14:47

Watcha has it spot on.