To think this is actually reasonable value for a child’s party?

[neverplaywithasmoo]

I am paying £750 to exclusively hire a soft play for two and a half hours.

Included in that is obviously use of the facilities for an hour and a half then an hour with all food and drink (including the cake) napkins balloons etc with a theme we want. (DD wants princesses of course but there are others available.)

All guests also get a free return visit to the soft play and party bags are included too.

I can’t see how we’d do it much cheaper really.

I think it sounds brilliant, and great that you get to invite the whole class. Hope you have a great time!

That’s mad! Just out of interest where do you live? Even if I could afford that I wouldn’t spend anywhere near that sort of money on a young child’s Birthday party. I guess it all depends on if you can afford it? Obviously if you can’t and it’s going on a credit card that’s just stupid but if you can’t afford it then why not. If it is a bit nicer and they are taking care of absolutely everything ie cake, party bags, entertainment etc then great.

is that london!?

mad money! here it would be £350 including all food/party bags/EXCLUSIVE hire for 25 kids

I paid £500 for 2.5 hours exclusively for 25 kids so I’d say that’s steep but I’m in the north

I think it depends a lot on where in the country you are. I just did a church hall party for 20 in London and it was £180 for the hall, £200 for the bouncy castle, and probably another £200 on cake, food, party bags, tableware etc. So yeah, £750 is more but it's not a lot more.

Village hall parties definitely all add up. I did one once- never again!! The planning and running around!

A swim party with a maximum of 20 cost me £300 recently at the local leisure centre!! Nothing fancy and no decorations/ party bags ect!

If you’re happy with paying it, that’s all that matters! Hope your DD has a fantastic party! If I could afford it, I’d definitely do it- takes all the hassle out and you can hopefully enjoy it too rather than missing it all having to organise everything!

If you can easily afford it’s definitely worth it for a good party and no stress /hassle for you.

Most people don't do the exclusive hire they pay by kid, so my son has a trampoline park party for hai last birthday £17 a head for 15 kids, lunch and juice included. My daughter was £180 for a play space hire plus £80 for a princess party host but she has 25 kids and for food we did simply sandwiches, juice, fruit and snacks. So probably 30/40 and that was a very expensive party for us. Softplays usually around £150-200 for 2 hours play and food in a party room for 15-20 kids

Seventeen a head would still come out as over £500.

We actually did a trampoline party for my DS. It was slightly more expensive than yours - £22 a head I think. It worked out slightly cheaper than DDs party but the cake wasn’t included so it was probably similar cost when you include the cake.

I bloody loved a swimming party back in the 80s. Best fun ever. The float would be out and you’d spend an hour screaming your head off and leaping off it. I forgot my underwear to one once though. My mother was still reminding me of that many years later …

Where are all these cheap softplays?

I've just checked mine and it's £18 a head for a party - we are not in London.
I wouldn't spend £750 - we'd aim to have 10 kids at that price, so under £200.

It’s definitely cheaper if you don’t have big parties.

Why do you need 30 kids though?
You're kid will be just as happy with 10 kids that she actually likes!

Just checked the best known one near me. £625 for exclusive hire for 30 kids. And I'm up north.

Why wouldn’t she like thirty children?

It Isn’t just for DD. Obviously, it’s her birthday but it doesn’t sit massively comfortably with me to exclude at this age.

Mmm. Yet you could take your thirty four year olds to this really expensive place for just £210.

And you're going to pay over three times that...for softplay. It's an absolutely huge amount of money. And inviting 30 kids doesn't mean that many turn up. One round of poorly-timed chickenpox or gastro in the class and you'll be struggling to get double figures in your exclusive venue.

We've never scrimped on parties and have had plenty of whole-class jobs over fhe years. Never spent anywhere near that much.

Wow! When my eldest was 5, in 2017, I paid £180 for exclusive soft play use, although did cater it myself, and 2 years later I got a deal for youngest dd's party, £45 for exclusive use and again, catered myself.

No way on this earth would I pay £750 for a k8ds party! Last year I took dd1 and some friends away to a log cabin with hot tub for her 13th birthday, that was only £350. Mad!

So ‘my’ one is slightly more expensive but then there’s the cake too, although I guess you could just get a supermarket one but even that must be what, £20/30? Not sure.

I do like the fact everything’s included, even invitations and it’s nice everyone gets a return visit for free.

@Lovelynames123 you must see that that would hardly be suitable for a very young child’s party 😂

We paid more for a party at home for 20 children and loads of stress and nothing fancy at all! This year we doing a soft play so we don’t have the clean up.

Our village hall, ie the village i live in, used to charge a low rate for a half day charge for a child's party. Again, plenty of time to set up, 2 hrs party, clear away. Slightly more than 10 years ago it was £30. £200 - what are you hiring? Buckingham Palace? I did an activity where the product was the party bag plus cake. We did our own food ( thanks Granny!) and decorations, and hired the local ice cream van for pud. He didnt charge for hire, as all the kids knew him anyway and were great customers! So my costs: 30 + cake 45 + ice creams 30 + food not sure - we did Enid blyton picnics on rugs + drinks again not sure + activity sand art £60. It was a fabulous party - could be and was flexed for siblings. Parents unusually stayed and there was enough food for them too. A great memory.

@DotNTimmy But the point is I wouldn’t - a farm for a child’s birthday party wouldn’t really be a great setting. To me, the whole point of a party isn’t so much about ‘oh you can get this for a similar price’, the point is they get to have fun with their friends.

So I could say well, I’m spending this on DDs party and this on DSs party and combining the two we could all have a week in center parcs which I’m sure would be great but then that wouldn’t be a party, which is kind of the point. I’ve probably explained that really badly but it’s like saying ‘what’s the point of spending that on a holiday, you could get a designer handbag for that?’ The point is you want a holiday, not a handbag, or whatever variable you want.

The soft play near us of £450 for exclusive hire which is the equivalent of their nonexclusive for 30 children.
Nearly all of the parties are for 2 if not 3 children's birthdays to bring down the cost

I’ve actually checked @socialdilemmawhattodo and my maths was off, I remembered the village hall being expensive but the actual hire was around £80 for three hours, I think. But the cost of entertainment sent the costs up. I also found it really stressful. So I wouldn’t choose to do it again unless I really had no other options!

I think you’re a mug to be paying that much. But it’s your money, your choice.

Well , yeah because you pay for less kids. Doesn’t necessarily mean it’s better value for money. I think DD’s was in the £300 range for 10/15 kids, and that’s like 10ish years ago, which is why I can’t remember the exact numbers. No cake either.