Average cost of children's party?

[macmacaroon]

Have booked soft play on a weekend day for DS1 5th birthday for his whole class. It's £17 per head so a whopping £500+ in total. Includes food, party host and party bags. Seems a staggering amount. Is this a fairly average amount for a kids whole class party or too much?

If you have the money... slot of parents in my DCs classes had a whole class party but not soft play, soft play would only be for max 15 friends. For whole class parties they would rent a hall and an entertainer which was probably about £300 plus do food themselves so £40 and then siblings could tag along. I did 2 whole class parties and rented a leisure centre with bouncy castle and they did the food, for 25 it was about £150 including the costs of party bags but I don't think it could be done for less than that really. I also remember that some parents used a restaurant with a play area attached for whole class parties so they only had to pay for the food (I think about £10 per child).

Depends where you live I suppose, and what package you go for. It does seem a lot. We paid £11 per head for DD's party at soft play (North West) and that's mid-range around here.

I’m lucky boys are November babies, which works out to be late spring in Australia. Whole class parties when the kids were little, consisted of back yard fun. Trampoline , water balloons and Simpson’s on the Xbox . Sausage sizzle, bowls of crisps and lollies for food. Less than half the price you paid. ( we also have class sizes of 20 till they reach year 1 and it then went to 25). Now they are older it’s easier . Ds 1 won a voucher for ice skating. He went with 6 friends, including food it came to £100 ish . Ds 2 didn’t want anything ( he’s austic and he finds it very hard to socialise, it was easy in Primary school but high school is different).

£15-17/head is all in cost of play centres/trampoline park etc where I am intve NorthWest.

Renting a hall is £60-100, catering is max £5/head, entertainer £125-150, party bags etc.

£500 sounds about right for a 5 year old whole class party. Utter ridiculous, but we did it. Roll on year 1 and I can limit it to 8 kids 😅

I never spent anything like that much. £50-75 room hire, £30-40 on food, £30 maybe on party bags, and similar on props or prizes for games for the few whole class parties I did - but I did the entertainment myself with help from family. I did one soft play party, but limited to 10 friends - shared party with a friend so she also invited 10.

Is a few years ago now, but no way could I have afforded anything like that much. Most successful party was a science party we did at home, 2 hours of back to back experiments and making (slime, lava lamps, fizzing eyeballs etc.)8 boys, took the results home as their party bag, and food - came in at less than £60. Knackering but fun!

I used to reckon on £120 max. Room hire £45 then entertainment (craft/disco) and food.

We spend probably £150, but I’d never do soft play or any other organised activity for that many. For a whole class party, I’d hire a hall and a bouncy castle or disco and let them loose. If it was going to be that much per head, I’d limit it to say 15.

Are there any other children in the class with a close birthday? Shared parties are great if you are doing whole-class anyway: you split the organising and the cost with one or more other families, but the children still feel that it's 'their' party. Works well for the other parents in the class too: 30 individual parties to attend in a year gets a bit much.

If you are inviting 30 dc, then you don't have a party that you pay £££ per head for. You hire a hall and an entertainer, or sports coaching or bouncy castle or whatever, not a 'per head' party.

If you want to do a 'per head' party, then you invite 5 or 6 friends.

Unless you are rolling in it I suppose ???

Bloody hell. I’ve done a lot of children’s parties recently and the maximum I’ve spent is £250. All the soft play or other ‘cost per head’ parties we’ve been to have been 10-15 guests rather than full class. Full class parties are usually in halls with a bouncy castle etc.

Better re-think this one! I'll either have to forgo the deposit or ask them to transfer it to another day.

Is it a spring/ summer birthday? Much cheaper to hire a hall with an outdoor space- bouncy castle hire/ cake/ BBQ.

That sounds about right for a full class party. (In London). We split it with another family. And then swapped to a smaller group as he got older doing one activity- so 6/8 kids.

£500 is bonkers! I would expect a budget of around £150.