babysitter/nanny for a wedding

[jamaisjedors]

We have been invited to my cousin's wedding nr Coventry in August.

No kids allowed at the reception.

We don't live in the UK and my only option anyway for childcare in the UK would be my mum and dad who are also invited to the wedding.

Is it feasible to find someone to look after my boys (5 and 3) for the afternoon and evening of the wedding (presumably better if we stayed in the hotel where the reception is, then we could help with bedtime if necessary?)?

Not sure how to go about it, have emailed the hotel.

Will it cost us a fortune? (in which case might leave the DC in France with their childminder)

There is an agency online - sitters.co.uk - who will be able to provide you with a nanny for the afternoon and evening. I use them a lot for babysitting and they've always been v good

I had an e-mail this week from a family in Malaysia asking me a very similar thing.
My response to them was that I could babysit for their children, subject to them being in a private home (so staying at a friends house, rather than a hotel), as my insurance does not cover hotel work.

So the place you stay at I feel could be your problem, though admittedly would depend on the childcarers view as to if they want to be covered by insurance or not.

Hotels can have arrangements in place with childcare companies, such as www.safehandsbabysitters.com. You could also contact that agency directly to see if they could provide a babysitter.

I would say that if you budget for between £8-£13 per hour, then I suspect it would be in that range... though there could be arrangement fees on top. Safehands Non-Member Prices appear to currently be £12.05 per hour. Though different rates may apply if at a Hotel... I can't locate Hotel rates.

Thank you for those links. And the budget figures are helpful too.

I'm a bit worried about the hotel bit, not sure what a babysitter/nanny would do with the kids all afternoon at a hotel.

I would suggest you pack a variety of long winded activities in your suitcase ie board games, small world people, although they could also go for a walk etc.

I am doing a wedding babysit; going to the ceremony and reception with the baby then taking baby upstairs to do bath/bed routien and staying the night before returning the baby to the parents in the morning.

To be honest that would be my worry as well, another reason why I don't provide care at a hotel. It can be quite limiting depending on the hotel facilities, some places have games rooms, swimming pools, while others have nothing. Location of some hotels can be such that it can be difficult to walk anywhere, so hard to walk to a park.
Look at the location of the hotel, what facilities it provides. The nanny/babysitter could bring some things with them if they are told in advance that things are needed but I would not rely on that. Pack as many things your children like doing stuck indoors as possible.
August is likely to be quite hot, so getting out and about may be something your children would want to do during the day. Consider how the nanny/babysitter would do that - could they provide a car with car seats? Is the hotel located such that they can walk to places? Look up the hotel's address on Google Maps and see if you can see from Satelite view if there are any footpaths, local parks etc. Parts of Coventry map on Google Maps also have the StreetView option so use that to take a look around, get a feel for the place.
Coventry: Parks and Open Spaces.

We have used sitters.co.uk when staying in a hotel. I needed to reassure myself that the person they had selected was suitable as after all it is a perfect stranger! When I enquired I found the person had excellent quals, had been on their books for ages, and was regularly requested by clients for repeat business. She was great - but I don't know if we were lucky or if they are all like that.

The hotel has a swimming pool, am now thinking we should just leave DH with the DC for the ceremony (they could go to the pool etc.) and then get an evening babysitter at the hotel.

Otherwise we are looking at 10+ hours of childcare which is not going to be cheap!

sitters.co.uk seems to come highly recommended, it's a bit annoying that there is a joining fee and a booking fee, seeing as we would only ever use them once!

I will hopefully get some ideas from the hotel manager too - must check about the meal time for the reception, if a wedding is at pm in the uk, would the meal be mid-afternoon or early evening?

i have done many wedding nanny/babysitting childcare jobs

some are wedding creches and look after several children with other nannies in a room with toys, others are looking after one familys child/ren in the room

normally the parent will bring some toys and i will play in the room with child/go for walk round hotel gardens

i will give them lunch/tea/nap/play with them/tea bath and bed - obv depending on what time

many hotels use regular babysitters/agencies so may be worth asking hotel if they can reconmend someone

I have babysat for many families attending functions in hotels and have tended to look after them in the families hotel room.

I am in east midlands and do cover coventry. (I wouldnt be surprised if hotel uses one of the agencies I am registered with!!)

If you would like more information please do email [email protected]

or some local agencies are www.kidsmatter.uk.com and www.firstchoicenanny.co.uk

During the day dependant on whether can play in grounds of hotel, if there is a pool take them swimming, play games in hotel room, explore local area.

I could probably help you out as live about 40 mins from coventry and am a qualified nanny
my email is [email protected]

Thanks for the offers girls. Much appreciated.

I have also looked on Netmums local and sent a few emails out.

As we haven't had the invitation yet I'm not sure of timings.

I think the boys would probably like to see the bride (and DH wouldn't be too gutted to miss the church service and play with them outside!), so I'm guessing we'd need someone from mid-afternoon and evening.

I think I need to check out the exact timings and how many hours we'd need someone for you to see whether it's worth your while coming out for it (hotel East of Coventry, Brandon Hall hotel).

Is it definitely better for us to stay at the hotel venue so that the parents are on hand?

Have noted your emails, you can also cat me if you want.

Will report back next week when we get the invitation and when I've spoken to the hotel about timings, facilities etc.

Thanks for your email have responded with all details. thanks