What’s the “norm” for whole class parties in your area?

[Namechanger67]

London suburb here. DD is in reception and we have attended 2 parties so far. Both for the whole class and both in a village hall with entertainer. I looked into prices and overall cost (venue plus entertainer plus food and drinks) would be close to £700 and this is without adding the party bags. Seems quite a lot to me but now DD is really keen on having a party similar to the ones we have been to.
I don’t have much experience with bday parties so far, what is the “norm” (provided there isn’t such thing) at reception age normally? Is this a reasonable price to spend at this age or am I right to be a bit shocked?

One of the local church halls near me is £25 an hour and has a really nice kitchen with plates etc. There is an observation that parties get more expensive as the year goes on. I don't really see what's wrong with the old musical chairs, pass the parcel etc and some slightly unhealthy snacks. As I will likely have the child with the earliest summer holiday birthday I plan on having garden parties. Hopefully people will be on holiday 😁

South East, did whole class parties for a few years but its mainly stopped in year 2 thankfully.

Hall cost about £40-50 & softplay hire was £100 - it was very basic though. Obviously decorations, food, party bags etc add up. In our area most parents do a packed lunch type meal for each child and your asked the type of sandwiches they want which brings the cost of food down.

Last year a used a soft play venue and the price was around the same but none of work and now DD just has a small party at home with around 8-10 friends.

I've only been to two where its obviously run into the thousands (very expensive cake, multiple entertainers, pizza van, candyfloss, photographer etc) and tbh no one was impressed, it was very OTT for 5-6 years olds, Im very grateful that there is very little one-up-manship.

I’m a big fan of the Morrisons sandwich platters for kids parties - I always used to make them but it was a faff to transport them without squashing them and the Morrisons ones just stayed really nice and tidy in the handy box, and were v straightforward!

We've done 3 whole class parties for between 30-40 children each time and I would say £500-£800 is about on the mark.

First one - hired our local hall for 4 hours (£180), bouncy castle and soft play hire (£200), cake (around £80), 40 party bags (£120), food (we catered it ourselves - sandwiches, crisps, biscuits, fruit, veg sticks) (£120), decorations/balloons/games (around £30).

Second one - hired soft play, exclusive use for 30 kids. Cost around £500 (food included), plus cake (£80) and party bags (£90).

Third one - trampolining at local activity centre, around £25 per child (food included), cake (£80), party bags (£90).

The cheapest whole class parties we've been to have been park parties in summer time. They've been absolutely lovely and lots of fun but unfortunately my kids have winter birthdays and I'm not sure I can convince anyone to come stand in our waterlogged local park for a couple of hours in November!

Have done 2x class parties within the last 6 months. First we had a gymnastics centre, was £230 for 25 kids plus up to 5 more at £5 each. That had food included. Cake was from Costco and then added our own figures for decoration. More than enough and cost around £25 including a topper and candle. Party bags we used the works book deal and gave a book each.

second one we hired a small soft play. Food included for up to 30 children was £250. Cake again was from Costco. Again used own figures to decorate and a topper and candle … so again no more than £25. And again book deals from the works.

both venues had tea and coffee etc for adults to buy so no need to think about that and we don’t do anything particularly special for decorations- just the balloons we had for their birthdays.

we had 2 parties that cost us less than the £700 you’re being quoted for one. I’d definitely shop around in terms of venues and maybe travel a little for the right one. The gymnastics party was a 20 min drive from our house

We did a trampoline park for the whole class but shared it with other parents to make it more affordable. Others did things like a village hall plus entertainer like you described. I don’t think your problem is the type of party, it’s just that you are in a much more expensive part of the country. I’m in quite a nice area of the northwest and our local village hall is either £65 or £110 depending on the size of the room. This is for a whole afternoon (1-5pm) and use of kitchen etc too. Entertainers are around £200 for 2 hours. I wouldn’t worry about doing loads of food, the kids won’t eat much.

I also wouldn’t bother with an expensive cake. Costco is fine.

We did a leisure centre soft play party in reception, bouncy castles, diddy cars and mats. It was £100 for an hour, they set it all up and take it all down so you don’t need to do any clearing up unlike at a village hall. We booked it for 2pm so we didn’t have to do lunch or tea and just took our own snacks, cake and party bags.

I’ve done both - our eldest had his 5th birthday party (reception) in the village hall with a themed entertainer, disco and crafts. I did the food myself, but for 26 children plus a few siblings it was a lot. I love baking so I made the big cake to cut and did themed cupcakes for the children to take home. I also sewed the party bags myself. This was 9 years ago though, and in the south west, but it was still probably about £400-500 all in, so I can well believe that price would be more like £600-700 nowadays.

our youngest had his reception party at home, as we had moved into the family farm by then - it was much much cheaper as there were fewer children (only 16 in his reception class), we didn’t have an entertainer as instead we just hired a bouncy castle and did a treasure hunt around the 2 acres of gardens and an obstacle course in the paddock. I reckon we might have only spent £150-200 on his party including decorations, party bag fillings (again, a glutton for punishment I sewed the actual bags by hand!), food, and treasure hunt prizes etc. I even handmade a piñata for them that was so strong the children couldn’t break it and we had to call on some older brothers to give it a few good whacks! Personally I prefer home parties, and the children seem to have more fun with freedom to run around in a bigger space, plus it’s easier as you don’t have to transport all the food and decorations etc. both of my children have had home parties all the way up - even now they are bigger boys they still invite a small group of friends to come up and camp out overnight for their birthdays.

Can you not have an entertainer and instead have a bouncy castle in the hall
and then set up some tables for colouring/biscuit decoration/making

that would cut the cost back

I would check your council leasure centre prices for room hire. Hiring a bouncy castle may be cheaper than an entertainer. Then some traditional pass the parcel type games. Food- none needed for parents. Kids- you could order pizzas if one if you can pick up, obviouslyeach child only needs a couple of slices, add some crisps and veg sticks.
Or mcdonalds happy meal which includes a toy.
Table cloths- go to b&m/ pound land type places. Paper plates and cups. Party bags- these are a nightmare. Plastic tat, or buy those sets of books £1 each. Or Easter eggs. Or selection boxes if near Xmas. Price up soft plays that do the food for you too. Less stress for sure.

But just to add I did a whole class party when my daughter was in reception 10 years ago
it was probably the same 500-700
I had a hall, a disco entertainer plus a character entertainer
a made frozen cake
sweet table

that was the only big party (other than 1st) that I had to do. After that it was around half the class then even less and less every year

London zone 5 and just booked Y1 all class party. Hall hire £40/hour and entertainer for 2hrs inc face painter is £345. Food will be some sandwiches/fruit supermarket platters then I will get a load of individual packets of crisps/biscuits/raisins from Poundland - I hate all the food waste at some parties.

So yes I can see how it’s costing about that much but I figure it’s only for a couple of years and they love it.

Last year was a bouncy castle in a hall which was a bit cheaper and did a temporary tattoo station as well. I think 5/6 year olds really don’t need too much to entertain them…. Throw in a few balloons for good measure.

In reception we did have one smaller party invite to a trampoline park - maybe about 12 people. I assume there were others but DS didn’t notice. Still been quite a few all class parties in Y1 but definitely less.

With the big party we kept the presents fairly low key… interesting to see if there are still all class parties in Y2

I live in the south east, but not London. When hiring the hall you need to add half an hour either side to the party for set up / clean up, and try and find one with a kitchen.
I had a bouncy castle set up at DD first party - castle, ball pit and diddy cars, which I think came
to around £225. I supplied all the food myself (which involved getting up at six am 😬) and that easily added another £150. I think hall hire was £25 an hour. I easily spend over £500 with decorations and I doubt I was unique. I was shocked at the cost of it all, but the stress was the worst, making sure everything was ready and I had enough balloons and bags and everything, so I think London prices considered, that sounds about right.

I dunno but it’s not fun when they get smaller and your kids left iout

Oh yes I had always refused to buy a fancy cake though. I always buy a tray bake, but I’ve bought a loaf of decorations that go onto it like rainbows and unicorns that are plastic and just go in the dishwasher after. Lasted two years so far and it does look pretty good - not sure if I will get away with it third year running.

My son went to many whole class birthday parties this year and most them cost about £500-£700. But I directed him to choose something else that can be fun, He end up having a clip & climb birthday party which he loved! It was £30 per head. And he invited 10 friends so it was not that bad!

You don’t need an entertainer! Bouncy castle and some music is more than enough for reception age kids, and do the food yourself will save a chunk of the costs x (also SHEIN / temu are fab for food platters and party decs) I think I got everything for about £20 on there for my kids party x

Also SW London, have you checked park pavilions? We hired one for a party few years ago, was reasonable price can't remember exactly but about 120 for 4 hours (needed the extra time either side of party to set/clear up) and it was nice location being in the local park, Also our local libraries and one school I know of too hire out the space/hall for kids parties so maybe look at more options for spaces to rent for a few hours?

Wow glad I'm not in London but we are down in SE. Just done whole class party and was £250 for Scout/Guide hut hire, entertainer, food (Lidl inc. cake which had topper from Amazon on) and decs/tableware/party bags from Amazon

I probably wouldn’t do an entertainer at that age and would just do a bouncy castle and then set up some tables with colouring and crafts. We did a joint party in reception and most people did the same. In fact we even went to a few parties that were for 3 or 4 kids! Just ask in the class WhatsApp group if anyone has a birthday around the same time and wants to split costs.

Sod that! Why have a whole class party in the first place?! We never did that for any of our kids, they invited a limited number of friends they all had a great time, job done. This expectation of whole class party crap gets on my nerves.

As someone with two DC with early in the year birthdays I always liked to set a precedent by having a small at home party. Thankfully it was only ever a minority of people at school who had all class parties. It's an incredibly wasteful experience all round with the disposable plates and cutlery, party bags and the fact that you will come home with 30 not very great presents from people who don't know your DC. Just invite her best friends over for an old fashioned party at home, in a few years the parties will be all about doing the coolest activity and get even more expensive (between my three we did trampolining, climbing, roller skating, laser quest, pottery painting, bowling, woodland craft, water sports, go karting, computer games, bowling, football) but at least they will remember them. The best parties were always at home though with the kids having fun in the garden and ironically now they are teens that's what they have again, although they go on a lot later!

My year ones whole class party was this month, local leisure centre soft play booked out for an hour followed by an hour in one of their party rooms for £145. Spent £100 on food (cake cost included - made the cake myself) and party bags so £245 all in. cousins and some friends younger siblings also came so around 35 kids. They had a great time. I’d say £700 is very steep, what’s the breakdown of your potential costs if you don’t mind me asking?

Even up north and a few years ago a class party cost around £500 all in. Room hire here is fairly cheap, £50-75 then I used a magician who was £250 I think, then by the time you’ve bought a decent size cake, food an drinks for around 35 kids (class plus cousins), paper plates, napkins, cups, tablecloths, party bags, bowls of crisps etc on tables for the adults it all adds up.
Each child had one full class party in year 1 then we switched to smaller parties at trampoline type places.