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?

The kids enjoyed it, that would be good enough for me.

They would need to pay for the space, or the utilities at least even if the organiser owned the space, labour, materials. £20 is cheap for 2 hours basically. We are charging £25 for just wreath making for adults and we own the hall and all volunteers!

The question is - did the children enjoy it? If they did they might say in years to come can you remember that that Christmas craft we went to it was so good/bad because.... It could and I say could be a memorable worthy banking experience for them,try not to overthink it.

@gogohmm they might have not had to pay anything. I have been to Christmas Fairs at places like local libraries and it's volunteers who are doing crafts and they get the space for free. The cost charged is simply for materials.
If that was the case you can get a lot of children's craft bits for £10. I mean you can get a good amount for a fiver if you go to somewhere like Poundland.

It just sounds a bit lacking - those are the sorts of crafts my DC do at after-school club (they’ll decorate a digestive biscuit or basic fairy cake etc). To be fair they’re always perfectly happy doing them but it’s clear they’re cheapish time-fillers, and not meant as a “proper” craft activity.

Would you like fire breathers on stilts & a trumpeting fan fair, ponies painted as unicons and a red carpet for that too

So rude!!

@UndertheCedartree yes - you were ripped off. For £40 that sounds like a complete swizz

Yes, that was it. I think they could have spent a bit more on the materials. Also speaking to my DD it sounds like they didn't measure the slime ingredients so it ended up in wrong ratios hence slug slime! 😂

It doesn't sound very good... was it commercially run or a volunteer led event? I did better evenings as a Cub Leader and we only had a budget of about £1 per child ... but of course all the leaders were volunteers.

It was £20 each not for both. And I could have asked but if they'd said 'slime' I would expected the correct ratios of ingredients so it could have been played with. If they'd said decorating gingerbread men - I would have expected a full size gingerbread with Christmassy decorations so not sure asking would have helped.

The kids did have fun and the activity leaders were very nice and enthusiastic etc. They had decorated the room beautifully.

I absolutely would not leave a blistering review. I actually just want to give feedback to the kids club. And I would mention the positives and the negatives.

The activities were like the kind of thing I used to put on for free when I volunteered at a food bank and ran the toddler group!

I'm so sorry I know this is a drip feed, but I didn't want to make the OP too long or too complicated!

This was at a gym where there is usually a kids club so staff wages, venue was already covered.

Yes, I agree, there was a lot of other things they could have done. I think it was a little lazy planning.

The market was at a gym with a kids club who ran this activity so they didn't have to rent the space.

It was £20

Yes, ultimately the kids did enjoy it and that's the most important thing!

I realise that I've left out key information!! My fault, entirely!

The kids club is already paid for through membership fees. This was an extra charge to cover the extra costs of the special Christmas session.

They did wreath making for adults for £20 and they came away with something lovely!

This might be a daft question but what age were the other children who attended? I'm glad the girls had fun, but it sounds like it might have been aimed at much younger children.

I completely agree. And this was how myself and the DC looked at it - we were laughing about the 'slug slime' and the tiny gingerbread and fairy cake! I think it will be a funny memory for us!

No, I think its really good value tbh. I can't think of many activities that cost less than £10 an hour these days. I agree the slime is a weird choice, but its very popular, so maybe the focus was on the enjoyment of the activity rather than the end product. What did the children think of it?

Yes, the cost was for materials and probably the decorations in the room. It was £20 per DC and yes, you can get an awful lot for that especially if you bulk buy from Yellow Moon or such like.

Yes, I was expecting a little bit more for £20 than those kinds of super cheap activities.

I do think it was a bit, yes!

It was at a gym with a kids club. The £20 was an extra fee for the special session so venue, staff etc were already paid for.

I pay £5 an hour for gymnastics, less for Brownies, £5 for swimming, £6 for karate...

The DC were appalled with it really, but saw the funny side! They love slime, but the kind you can actually play with!

They had fun or they were appalled with it?