Soft play £35 for 40 minutes for 2 kids

[GlummyMcGlummerson]

Most of the local soft plays are still closed, preparing to reopen shortly, and the only one open is part of a farm park. There's a soft play inside and outside you can feed and stroke animals and usually do things like crazy golf, quad bikes, tractor rides, zip wire etc. Right now due to COVID the outdoor activities are off, and the only animals you can see now are the horses but not to touch or feed. The soft play is limited to 40 minutes per family.

They've actually raised admission prices (which were extortionate anyway BUT on a normal day you can stay 10am-5pm and get your money's worth). They charge for adults too, so for the 2 kids to play in soft play and then for us to go and stare at horses will be £35. Then you have to take into account drinks, money for the little arcade cars (the kind you get in supermarkets) etc.

AIBU to think this is daylight robbery? I know they will have taken a hit due to COVID but I think this is actually taking the loss. Almost £1 a minute to enjoy the soft play!

Oh yes I forgot the enjoyment of mothers doesn't matter. As long as the darlings are happy, your feelings are completely irrelevant, you should be happy because they are happy hmm

So contrary to your opening post, the £35 DOES include entertainment for you too then, not just the children.

I suppose they are pricing to reflect either what they have lost or the yield they would have if everything could open.
They might not necessarily be taking the piss, but I wouldn't pay it.
All these things used to be free when I was growing up, in the hope your parents would buy something from the farm shop.

OP, I think YANBU. That's really expensive for soft play.

I understand businesses have been hit hard recently, but so have many of their usual customers. A soft play type activity near me has put their prices up by 50% and an additional adult now costs £12 instead of £2. That means if my husband and I take our two toddlers on the weekend like we used to it would now cost £36 rather than £18 (one adult is still free). I just can't justify that for two hours when it costs less for us all to go to the local farm for the day.

I really do feel for the business as their capacity has been reduced but I think it's important to find a balance between them making a profit and what their customers are willing to pay.

It all comes down a person's perception of value and is not necessarily to do with that they can afford. For example, if the price of a punnet of strawberries doubled, I wouldn't buy them. I could still afford them but I'd buy raspberries instead.

OP if you don't want to go that's fine, but don't come on here and complain in 3 months when all the places like this have closed down

For all the people saying they cant help it, sure, maybe they cant but the fact of the matter is- you raise prices sky high, people WONT come.

It really is that simple. If you price your service ridiculously high then be very very careful because a few months down the line you'll end up with very low or no customers and you'll end up going bankrupt anyway.

Then, you may aswell have just closed beforehand. People do vote with their feet.

People do vote with their feet
This is true. The example I gave above, when it was cheaper we would have gone maybe 4 times over the holidays. As it’s so expensive now its a one time treat. Cumulatively I would have spent more when it was cheaper on coffee, ice creams, gift shop etc as the entrance felt value for money. This time we took a picnic and skipped the shop at the end because we paid significantly more to go in.

If your kids are in still in the age of soft play, they are in an age of "they will be happy with a n y t h i n g " 😊 so stop waisting your money.

And you are talking about hiring a private pool? 😣 just buy a cheap plastic kids pool. Little kids love that.

Stop complaining about things being so expensive when it is you that is choosing to do these things.

Why would you want your kids to hang out in a gross, germ/pee accident ridden ballpit anyway? Especially right now...

@Badbadbunny

Oh yes I forgot the enjoyment of mothers doesn't matter. As long as the darlings are happy, your feelings are completely irrelevant, you should be happy because they are happy hmm

So contrary to your opening post, the £35 DOES include entertainment for you too then, not just the children.

If "sitting and being left alone to read" constitutes entertainment then yes.

But I was talking about feeding the ducks. It's quite alright for a grown adult to be bored of what she's doing for her children you know.

And you are talking about hiring a private pool? 😣 just buy a cheap plastic kids pool. Little kids love that.

Well I'm not sure how successful a shallow pool would be in the pissing Yorkshire rain 🤣 but the public pool near us is still closed and in desperate to get the kids back swimming, they made real progress in their lessons (off until October) early this year and I'm worried it will have been forgotten about before long 😖

You don’t have to go surely. It’s really expensive.

Contrary to what some here think, kids don't need expensive days out, they are happy with a paddling pool day after day if warm enough. In poor weather a puddle suit and wellies will allow them to do most kids favourite thing, jump in puddles. I watched 2 kids circa age 8 play for 30 mins jumping in the puddles from a sudden downpour in their crocs, they were soaked (still drizzling) but they were laughing and giggling. Their parents were just pleased they were happy and it amused us too. They left before us to be taken home for baths!

One thing I have learned from this lockdown is to stop relying on these indoor activities centers. We used to go regularly too and I enjoy sitting down with a book and having a coffee and cake. Now I actually found my kids are able to find things to do themselves without me at home. Paddling pool, role play with the toys, whatever took their fancy. They are 9 and 5. Today I’m entertaining the kids. We did some school work, the exercise and something from the curiosity box. But they have been playing without me since lunch now. I have time to catch up on learning I needed for work. And ofc mumsnet.

@minnieok

Contrary to what some here think, kids don't need expensive days out, they are happy with a paddling pool day after day if warm enough. In poor weather a puddle suit and wellies will allow them to do most kids favourite thing, jump in puddles. I watched 2 kids circa age 8 play for 30 mins jumping in the puddles from a sudden downpour in their crocs, they were soaked (still drizzling) but they were laughing and giggling. Their parents were just pleased they were happy and it amused us too. They left before us to be taken home for baths!

Yeah, DS is happy jumping in puddles for 30 minutes. But there's another 12.5 hours a day he's awake... So sometimes it's nice to go for a day out, rather than spend the day in a series of activities of 2 year old attention span length. I enjoy it, he enjoys it. I just don't see why anyone seems to think this is wrong or somehow wasteful - is it also wasteful to pay to go to the cinema when you could just watch a film at home? It feels like such a puritan 'fun is a waste of money' attitude

Also, he's too little to play in a paddling pool without very close supervision and I find sitting by a paddling pool several days in a row very boring. Yeah, it is 'for my entertainment not his' that we go to the beach, or a farm, or a café, or whatever instead - why is that so bad?

@Badbadbunny

During lockdown we went on a walk in the park and fed the ducks every day. Christ, it was boring.

For who? You or your children?

By the third month, probably both.

I really do feel for the business as their capacity has been reduced but I think it's important to find a balance between them making a profit and what their customers are willing to pay.

They can't survive if they don't make a profit!

@Hardbackwriter

I'm often beyond astonished that people need to pay anything to entertain their children. My (now adult) kids must have been severely deprived. There were occasional visits to the zoo, seaside etc., and holidays. But most days out cost little or nothing. They don't charge for parks yet, do they? The countryside is still free. When did it become necessary to spend lots of money for children to play? Doesn't play come naturally? It used to.

. Yes, you were just the best and the current generation of parents just can't compete. Do you also not understand why adults spend money on entertainment? I don't need to go to the theatre, or the cinema, or the pub, or a museum or art gallery that charges entry, and most days I don't, but I'd be sad if I never did. Similarly I don't need to take DS to a farm that charges entry, a paid for toddler class or a softplay - and we do a lot more free activities than any of these - but they all brighten our lives so I choose to spend some of my money on this. I hope that's ok with you.

I don't think you read what I said. Yes we did do things that were paid for, but not all the time. And we certainly didn't whinge about the things that cost money. There's plenty that don't cost anything at all. There was another thread on here the other day winging about how nobody cared about children because all the holiday activity clubs had been cancelled due to Covid so the parent was having to think up things to do for her own children. If the OP doesn't want to pay what an activity is charging, then that's a choice - there are other things that people can do and they don't have to pay for many of them.

@Hardbackwriter

Also, he's too little to play in a paddling pool without very close supervision and I find sitting by a paddling pool several days in a row very boring. Yeah, it is 'for my entertainment not his' that we go to the beach, or a farm, or a café, or whatever instead - why is that so bad?

Because as soon as you deliver the placenta you also forfeit the right to EVER have a smidgen of fun of your own, it always has to be the complete enjoyment of the children, and anything less is utterly selfish.

But equally if they charge too much no one will pay either! However they can charge whatever they can get away with.

I wouldn’t leave a 2yo alone in a paddling pool. But equally I won’t leave a 2yo on his own in a soft play. 2yo is hardwork. They just need close supervisions. At the age of 9 and 5, it’s the same going to softplay or paddling pool. I just do the same of looking at my screen! I don’t sit out with them in the garden.

I'm often beyond astonished that people need to pay anything to entertain their children.

😂😂😂😂 thanks for the laugh.

Clearly you're just a better parent thank those of us who spend money on our kids entertainment sometimes.

Christ we did the same walking route for about 3 weeks to feed ducks and it was boring as hell for all of us beyond about day 3! We just went as I was knocking on a few people’s doors and asking if they needed any groceries/medication etc and it seemed a good way of getting the dc out for a bit of daily exercise.
Adults don’t always have to be bored at the expense of their children having fun though you know! There’s a balance

I'm often beyond astonished that people need to pay anything to entertain their children

Beyond astonished? really?! I suggest you open your mind a little bit then if this leaves you "astonished". We have been doing walks since March when lockdown started and frankly, I'm bloody sick of it. So are the kids. Doing the same thing albeit in different places multiple times a week does tend to get boring after a while. Some of us crave variety and change. If you like it then great but here's something else for you to be astonished by: Not everyone is the same as you! Crazy I know!

Our farm park has reopened, we have a pass so it doesn't matter to us that we only get 40 minutes soft play and 40 minutes hard play but I do agree I would not be paying to go as it would be £41.90 for all 4 of us.

I was literally just saying to OH yesterday after we went that I wonder what they will do in the winter when the outdoor is pretty much written off, they may struggle to bring people in with just a 40 minute session.

I'm often beyond astonished that people need to pay anything to entertain their children

If this is the sort of thing that astonishes you, you really need to widen your horizons a little.

If all the normal attractions there were open and the time limit was longer, then they might be justified in charging that amount, since numbers have to be reduced. But since all you can do is 40 mins of soft play and look at horses, they are most definitely taking the piss imo. I wouldn't pay that.