To think this wasn't good value?

[UndertheCedartree]

I took my 10 yo DD and her friend to a Christmas market today and payed £20 a head for a Christmas craft and treat decorating class. It was for 2 hours. I was rather disappointed. They made slime - this was grey and sticky/slimy - it looked like slugs. Not sure exactly what went wrong but we've often made it at home with no problem. They used glue, bicarb, contact solution and green food colouring. They also had one of those thin wooden ornaments (plywood?) to colour in with felt tips. Finally, a mini gingerbread man and cheap fairy cake to decorate with icing and sugar strands. I mean, I guess I got childcare for them both for 2 hours but would you have expected more?

What was advertised?

No I think that's about right!

2 hours childcare too? Bargain!

It was advertised as Craft workshop and Gingerbread kitchen - 2 hours of Christmas crafts and treat decorating.

@ThatGirlInACountrySong - a bargain? Hmm, I pay £5 for an hour of gymnastics which includes, gymnastic professionals and all the specialist equipment as well as an hour of childcare, so in comparison I wouldn't call this a bargain.

Grey slime doesn't sound v christmasy

YANBU - if they had been nice, posh, quality items then £20 wouldn't have been unreasonable.

And I didn't need childcare as I was with them at the Christmas market. I planned to read my book while they were doing it but the Christmas music was too loud and I couldn't concentrate! 😂

🤣

It wasn't even a nice grey - it was the colour of slugs!!

Yes, I agree. I was expecting at least a full size gingerbread person, not a tiny little thing!!

Can you give them a bad review? Stop other people being ripped off.

I wanted to give my honest review but I wanted to check if I was being fair.

I don't think it's bad value so much as bad use of time and money. It would have been better if they'd made one good quality item instead of four crappy ones.

So £10 an hour per child , wages plus time spent planning ingredients electricity heath & safety checks renting the space ? I could go on
Would you like fire breathers on stilts & a trumpeting fan fair, ponies painted as unicons and a red carpet for that too

They were hardly going to come away with some blown glass baubles, a delicate holly wreath and an iced gingerbread Eiffel Tower. At least half the time was probably spent herding them and trying to stop them wrecking the place 😄

Well, no. I'd like very basic, cheap, easy slime like we make at home. Some paints/glitter to do the decorations. A full size gingerbread and not a 'basics' fairy cake with perhaps some silver balls or something Christmassy to decorate with. I suppose I was looking for more than 50p out of the £20 spent on materials.

There was no cost for renting the space, utilities, health and safety etc.

No, but slime that could actually be used, would be good. Christmassy decorations as it was a Christmas workshop?

My DD and friend are 10 so weren't wrecking the place. It was a small room, so no herding needed either. I could see them through the glass and they all looked reasonably well behaved. It was for 6-10s so not toddlers.

Well, was it as advertised or not?

I don't think it sounds amazing value, but I don't think it sounds terrible either - especially if it was as advertised.

I'm not sure. If it says craft and they then do slime would you expect it to be a correct recipe that produced actual slime? It did advertise it as a Christmas activity and I wouldn't say the treat decorating was Christmassy as such.

Aside from that yes, they did do craft and they did decorate treats. I just assumed for £20 it would be a bit better quality/bigger.

Still, the girls had fun and that's the most important bit!

It does sound like they scrimped on the crafts, which is a shame. I doubt you were expecting a bespoke wreath but I don’t think you were wrong expecting more either. Those plywood colouring in shapes are about 50p, a large pack of mini gingerbread men about £3. Slime ingredients? £2? They’ve made a lot of profit there! It’s the disappointment factor that would have got me, I think. By ten, they’re pretty able when it comes to craft. Could have done crochet or made something way better. Sounds like the crafts they did were more for toddlers, despite being advertised as for older DC.

I think you are being a little unfair, you got two children looked after for only £20.

The crafts sound pretty low grade but you only had to ask what they were making before you paid, so I think it is on you if the crafts are not up to your standard. I wouldn't have paid for that myself, most cheap craft activities are pretty feeble IMO.

Maybe you could leave a moderate review rather than a blistering one.

Did the kids have fun - were the activity leaders nice?

There was no cost for renting the space, utilities, health and safety etc. How do you know this @UndertheCedartree ?

One hour would have been better - and two out of three crafts. Better use of money.

I would complain - or not necessarily complain but give them feedback.
It sounds rubbish. Surely as a Christmas craft event they should have been making some type of decoration to be displayed - not slime. Can't exactly put slime on the tree can you.
There are so many other (easy for that age group) Christmas crafts they could have done.

They’ll have had to rent a spot at the market and prepare and run the class so I actually doubt they’ll have made a lot of profit. There’s more involved than the price of the items

£10 for 2 hours entertainment for a child? Sounds fair enough.