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Original poster

Birthday parties

13 replies

summerdew223 · 15/10/2023 23:09

If you were going to hold a class birthday party and invite the whole class of children - how much would you expect to pay/have paid in the past?

I'm looking at hiring our village hall (£60)
And having a bouncy castle (£80-£165)

And then putting on my own food spread.

How much do you think is reasonable?

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2welshmums · 15/10/2023 23:18

Personally, having done it that way in the past, we have found it much easier and cheaper to hire a soft play centre for 2 hours where we just turn up with a cake & party bags.

We booked for our DD's 5th birthday and it's costing £225 for 25 children - can add extra children for £5pp.

Turn up with cake, kids run around, get fed, sing happy birthday then we leave without having to clean up. Win/win

APurpleSquirrel · 15/10/2023 23:23

I have to agree with PP above; once you add up all the costs of hall hire, entertainment, food, cake, party bags, decorations etc it can be more expensive than just going to a venue.
Our soft play was £180 for private hire, then £3.75 per child with a minimum amount of 20 kids, so overall cost about £255. Food etc all included - I just made the cake & party bags.

LittleRedY0shi · 15/10/2023 23:25

Around £300 - but if by 'whole class' you're talking 25 to 30 children, a typical bouncy castle isn't going to be big enough.

Our local leisure centre does bounce parties - for that number of kids, they have 3 (a combination of traditional bouncy castles, obstacle courses, slides, etc) and the cost is comparable to hiring a hall with just one.

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WYorkshireRose · 15/10/2023 23:38

I'm amazed at the prices PP have quoted. We paid £650 for private hire of our local soft play in January for DS's birthday, then obviously had cake, party bags etc to sort on top. A hall type party would no doubt have worked out much cheaper.

Original poster
summerdew223 · 16/10/2023 10:14

Thank you for your comments
For those of you saying that it worked out easier and cheaper to hire soft play - can I ask if you had to have food included in that?

It might be the area we live in but the soft play near us have packages that must include food and therefore it's £11.95 per child . It made me a bit nervous to think of a child is poorly last minute and doesn't come, I will have just paid for them !!

My thoughts were if I am going to invite the whole class of 28, it would be easier to hire a hall for a fixed price and self cater . But I do understand the comments about the 1 bouncy castle not being enough for that amount of children and then an extra one bumps up the price !!!

OP posts:
2welshmums · 16/10/2023 10:35

summerdew223 · 16/10/2023 10:14

Thank you for your comments
For those of you saying that it worked out easier and cheaper to hire soft play - can I ask if you had to have food included in that?

It might be the area we live in but the soft play near us have packages that must include food and therefore it's £11.95 per child . It made me a bit nervous to think of a child is poorly last minute and doesn't come, I will have just paid for them !!

My thoughts were if I am going to invite the whole class of 28, it would be easier to hire a hall for a fixed price and self cater . But I do understand the comments about the 1 bouncy castle not being enough for that amount of children and then an extra one bumps up the price !!!

Food and unlimited squash/water is included in the price of ours, it's a mix of warm and cold food buffet- nothing special but great for the children.

We looked at a few soft plays and this was the most reasonably priced - although not the closest for us, still close enough for everyone to attend

Bluetrue · 16/10/2023 10:39

summerdew223 · 16/10/2023 10:14

Thank you for your comments
For those of you saying that it worked out easier and cheaper to hire soft play - can I ask if you had to have food included in that?

It might be the area we live in but the soft play near us have packages that must include food and therefore it's £11.95 per child . It made me a bit nervous to think of a child is poorly last minute and doesn't come, I will have just paid for them !!

My thoughts were if I am going to invite the whole class of 28, it would be easier to hire a hall for a fixed price and self cater . But I do understand the comments about the 1 bouncy castle not being enough for that amount of children and then an extra one bumps up the price !!!

You might also get kids that just don't show up, with no apology before or after

Siblings turning up

But i agree, soft play is so much easier.

FoxtrotSkarloey · 16/10/2023 10:47

The two we've done have both been joint, so split the costs with another family.

4yrs: Hired a soft play which included all of the food. Provided cake, party bags and a few decorations. Total cost £670.

STUPIDLY spent £125 on cute baking kits for party bags.

5yrs: Hired a venue but provided all of the catering ourselves. Felt compelled to cater for adults too. Generally over catered. Total cost £640.

STUPIDLY spent £110 on cute party bag lots of a different type.

Thank fuck next year DS just wants to take one friend to a theme park. I am clearly too gullible when it comes to cute kits, in my quest to avoid plastic tat, and have an inability to compute that whilst one kit might not seem to pricey, x30 is a lot of cash.

Actually I think all the other components were pretty good value.

Seriously, whatever you do, don't worry too much about the bags. As long as kids have something to take home, they're happy.

APurpleSquirrel · 16/10/2023 10:56

Yes, ours included food it that price. But there are other soft plays that charge A LOT more locally - this one seems an outlier.
I too am guilty of over-catering for parties plus we seem to have a lot of friends/family with allergies & food requirements (veggy & vegan) so I really try to cater for everybody so no-one is left out, but that creates extra food & often it can be more expensive if it's for specific diets like gluten-free or dairy-free.

FoxtrotSkarloey · 16/10/2023 10:57

summerdew223 · 16/10/2023 10:14

Thank you for your comments
For those of you saying that it worked out easier and cheaper to hire soft play - can I ask if you had to have food included in that?

It might be the area we live in but the soft play near us have packages that must include food and therefore it's £11.95 per child . It made me a bit nervous to think of a child is poorly last minute and doesn't come, I will have just paid for them !!

My thoughts were if I am going to invite the whole class of 28, it would be easier to hire a hall for a fixed price and self cater . But I do understand the comments about the 1 bouncy castle not being enough for that amount of children and then an extra one bumps up the price !!!

Round here, £11.95 per child including the food would be good value. Think about what soft play entry alone would cost £5-£6? So the food is also about £5/head and you don't have to do any of the work towards it. How does that feel to you?

With regards to kids cancelling, it can happen, and it seems annoying when you know exactly what it's cost, but you can equally have people who forgot to reply showing up. Also, you're likely to have leftovers if you self cater so I don't think worrying about the cost of one or two possible cancellations should be the decider.

Blondeshavemorefun · 16/10/2023 11:10

WYorkshireRose · 15/10/2023 23:38

I'm amazed at the prices PP have quoted. We paid £650 for private hire of our local soft play in January for DS's birthday, then obviously had cake, party bags etc to sort on top. A hall type party would no doubt have worked out much cheaper.

Ouch but how many children

Dd 6 has soft play this year

Think it was £15/17pc including food , party bags and decorating room

All I had to do was to bring a cake

So 10c £150 / 20c £300 etx

Blondeshavemorefun · 16/10/2023 11:12

summerdew223 · 16/10/2023 10:14

Thank you for your comments
For those of you saying that it worked out easier and cheaper to hire soft play - can I ask if you had to have food included in that?

It might be the area we live in but the soft play near us have packages that must include food and therefore it's £11.95 per child . It made me a bit nervous to think of a child is poorly last minute and doesn't come, I will have just paid for them !!

My thoughts were if I am going to invite the whole class of 28, it would be easier to hire a hall for a fixed price and self cater . But I do understand the comments about the 1 bouncy castle not being enough for that amount of children and then an extra one bumps up the price !!!

Last year we had an obstacle bouncy castle which company reconmended

So not all on it at same time

They went in one end - climbed over stuff - up the cliff and down the slide

And then round on the floor back to front end

Worked really well for think 52 kids

WYorkshireRose · 16/10/2023 11:17

@Blondeshavemorefun I believe it was 25 children in total, but as we were hiring the whole venue we weren't charged per head, it was a flat fee.

I'm sure there was the option to pay around £16-17/head and still have the soft play open to the public, but I've been to parties like that at the same place and it was chaos.

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