Year 6 end of school party cost

[yearsixparty]

£40 a ticket. The PTA, who do a grand job, have organised this.
There’s pizza, ice cream, fizzy pop, crisps and sweets, and a fairy cake to take home. Disco, games, photo opportunities. It’s in a hut in not quite the middle of nowhere but certainly not the most obvious choice and not the easiest place to get to.

AIBU in thinking £40 is a bit steep for what sounds like a standard birthday party type set up?

We are up north so not paying London prices or similar.

YANBU £40 is a bit steep
YABU £40 is about right

Does this ' hut ' supply staff to cook / warm up the food and clear up afterwards.
Is the ' disco ' inside or outside, as hut doesn't sound big enough for all this activity

Are parents expected to take their child there and stay ? or return later.

Ours had a limo ( well three ) and bowling ( and ate lunch at the bowling ) can't remember how much, as it was years ago.

fairy cake to take home makes the children sound 4 years old, not 11 years old.

This party is in addition to the end of year 6 party at school. I think the school party is the night before the PTA party. The school party is free as far as I know.

For year 6 up north it’s a bit much

No, no staff. I think the pizza is being delivered. The hut is often used for birthday parties but there’s a huge field so people tend to spill out onto that if the weather is fine. Parents are expected to transport their dc and stay on site. Parents are welcome to bring their own food and drink if they wish to eat and drink Siblings can attend at an extra cost.
The hut isn’t that big so you’ve got a point about it not sounding big enough for a disco plus games, especially with siblings. Most of the children have at least one sibling.

Considering its not the actual school party that can be attended for free, I think they can charge what they want. If you don't think its worth it, don't go and just attend the free one. But parties can be quite expensive and if they are covering all the costs and possible raising a bit of money on top, it sounds about right.

I don’t think they are raising money for anything with this, it’s purely for the year 6 class to have fun. There are plenty of fundraisers throughout the year and they raise thousands. I think this is more a case of the PTA members have organised it but not as an actual PTA event.

I’ve just remembered there’s a year book to pay for too 😩 I’ve had other dc go through the school and the party and the yearbook are new things this year and not organised by the school.

My son’s secondary school prom in London isn’t costing that much. That has food and is at a golf club.

£40 is ridiculous for a year 6 party. It’s not inclusive at all. Are the parents who are arranging it wealthy?

I'd be surprised if many went. It also sounds like the hosts would be financially benefitting from hosting the party which feels quite grubby.

We have paid similar for a party which was organised by some yr 6 parents who called themselves the leavers party committee (this was self elected it seems).
No one has had a say in it, when people have shared ideas they have been stomped on and it has just been expected to pay. When questioned what about kids that might have parents who can't afford it, then have brushed over or ignored those posts.
I never knew this would be such a issue.

My son’s Y13 prom is only £35! I think £40 is a ridiculous amount - is your school in a very affluent area? Where we live most families could not afford that.

It’s a fairly middle class area I suppose and yes, the ones organising are those that are better off.
Everyone will go unless they are on holiday because they don’t want their child to miss out.
The group of parents organising have not been asked to do this but have done it behind the scenes then announced it as a fait accompli. It’s a great idea and I think I it’s great that they have arranged something. I just think it’s a lot of money for what is essentially a birthday type party in a hut.

DD’s prom was £80 last year and that was deemed expensive. When she told me there’d been barely any food o was not impressed and they were only given water to drink. At least ds’s prom won’t cost me a fortune in a dress and shoes in a few years.

I would expect something closer to £15-25 for what you’ve described. Presumably there are a lot of kids going so a lot of people splitting the cost.

Oh dear god, don't go if you think it's over priced. Cough up if you're worried your child might miss out.

What is the cost to hire the hut?

I’ve just looked up the cost of the hut and it’s £50 because one of the organisers lives in the area so gets a discount. There’s 30 kids in the class and I think there’s one definitely not going that I’m aware of so 29 year 6 kids plus around 15 siblings at best guess. Perhaps the pizza is coming my from Italy and they’ve got Pete Tong to do the disco!

They will potentially be making over £1000 profit out of you all after the cost of the hut and some minimal pizza/food expenses. That's madness!

Sounds ridiculous. You can hire equipment for a disco for less than £100. Obviously more if you hire a DJ as well but for parties like that it’s usually one of the parents or a phone plugged into a speaker / lights system.

i doubt it’s actually a PTA event as they usually have rules about it needing to be of benefit for the whole school.
sounds like some parents who are also in the PTA have organised it but I can’t see how they’re not making a profit out of it.

Wow! Ours didn't have anything extra from the celebrations at school. And that was fine

Good point! My DDs leavers (16) prom is the same price as that. Marquee, food, music and professional photographer. £40 is a bit silly. Why are they running another party when school has arranged.

£40 x 30 is over a grand. So let's break it down, approximately...

Hall hire £50
DJ £300
Pizza say £10pp = £300
Cupcakes £4 each = £ 120
Ice cream, drinks, sweets, crisps etc £150
Decor £100
Photo props and games £50

It expensive but when you look at it like that, not overly ridiculous.

What?
40 x 30 =1,200
pizza £10 per head
other refreshments £10 per head
DJ £150 = £5 per head
decorations etc £5 per head
hut hire £1.50 per head
Total cost per pupil £31.50 x 30 =£945.00
£1200 - £945 =£255.00 left

My son’s year 6 leavers party was actually held whilst they were away on a residential. They had an entire evening, disco, a massive bonfire, s’mores, the works and it was all included in their final residential - they went the last 4 days before the Friday they broke up.

There was also a prom (my son refused to go) which a lot of parents grouped together and hired the local “community hall” (read cold- spider infested hut which needs to be condemned) overnight and for the day of prom. The girls all got ready there together in one room and the boys in another, and they had a massive after prom party and sleepover which was spoken about for 3 weeks after. But parents paid for the hire of the hall, their own hairdressers and makeup people and limos etc, it was just them (and by them I mean the parents of the super popular kids - there were certain parents who weren’t even told about it) clubbing together.
£40 sounds super expensive.

You're also forgetting that any siblings attending will also be charged.

The OP has said they get a fairy cake, some pizza and general snacks such as crisps and fizzy pop. I strongly suspect the food will not take up such a huge portion of the budget. Even pizza ordered in won't be £10 per child, it won't be a whole pizza each.

It's also unclear if the disco will even be a DJ as the OP has said the hut isn't very large so it could just be some music from a phone linked to a speaker.

I'd be surprised if they spent even half the cost of tickets on supplies.

That’s crazy!
especially when school are doing a party anyway. Why are the PTA doing another one????
year 6’s round here have a residential to like a PGL place but it’s some crazy amount of money for the week - my eldest didn’t want to go which was a relief but dd year5 is talking about it. They also have a day out somewhere like Doncaster some or something and an end of term discount but in the hall free and everyone takes party food to share.