Are soft play centres allowed to hold birthday parties?

[C33P0]

DS has just been invited to a birthday party at a soft play centre. I know they are open now, but surprised that they are hosting parties. I couldn't find anything online about whether this is officially allowed.

Genuine question - if they are open why would they not be able to host parties? Can't see what extra risk is involved?

Are you in the UK? If so whereabouts?

I guess because it is a gathering of people who are going to stay close to each other, whether it's when playing on the equipment or sitting down for the party tea.

For example, restaurants are open, but you are only supposed to have up to two households per table.

Yes, I'm in the UK, in England

I'm guessing it is just going to be 10 children at the soft play place at the same time, rather than an organised "party".

It's definitely a party, DS's friend's mum confirmed it. It's bookable on the website, just says that they finish the party session 15 min earlier than usual for enhanced cleaning.

My DD’s been invited to a soft play party too. From WhatsApp group looks to be about 10-15 children from her class going on Sunday. I guess as they are all mixing at school from next week it won’t really make much of a difference, but was still a bit at the invite due to all other restrictions in place.

I looked up the govt guidance on this (England) l. It does explicitly mention parties but it says something along the lines of they shouldn’t knowingly help people to break the maximum number of households meant to meet inside. I took from that that Ottie’s weren’t possible. I’ll see if I can find the reference...

As part of the booking process, you should not intentionally facilitate gatherings between a greater number of households than is permitted in their local areas. You should have due regard to the government guidance on social distancing and meeting people from outside your household. You should take steps to ensure customer compliance with the limits on gatherings. These could include:

www.balppa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Indoor-Play-Areas-for-Children-Operational-Guidance-for-Soft-Play-Equipment.pdf

It’s BALPPA guidance, but linked from the .gov site.
My interpretation was that it would exclude parties, but there may be other interpretations.

I found a soft play cafe place that offers parties but at the same time they limit the number of public spaces. It’s all a numbers game and I don’t think there’s an issue: 50 kids who don’t know eachother vs 30kids who know eachother and 20kids who don’t.