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?

I should add the magician was definitely worth the money. He kept a roomful of kids from going wild, entertained them for the full 2 hours.

Look about, church halls shouldn’t be more than £100 and entertainers will vary in price. Food can be diy, im sure you can get it under £500 if you shop about

There's a few ways to save costs. I think there's a bit of a north south divide in relation to catering for parents. I've never seen it beyond the hosts saying to make yourself a cup of tea in the kitchen if you want one and finish the food after the kids have left the table. I remember seeing a post on here a while back about how parties in London were providing prosecco for the parents. Again, I've never seen it up here. Closest I've seen is the venue has a staffed bar and they can order their own drink. Definitely decorate a supermarket cake if you're even vaguely capable. You could buy a personalised topper off etsy or something. The costs of one made by a bakery are eyewatering (understandably so but still!).

Most popular activity I've seen at parties besides entertainment is a craft table. Can be done cheaply if you're careful. I did one but I put out some instructions for making a specific themed item (or you could put out a QR code link to YouTube instructions). Kids loved it but it required quite a bit of parental input at this age! (If you have older kids in the family, this is the perfect opportunity to rope them in to helping out).

In terms of keeping cost down, obviously amounts will differ but I found the best deals were sports club bar areas. You can have a staffed bar, some did catering and they weirdly cost the same or less than the church halls (to hire the space, no catering included). I'm not a fan of bouncy castles - very stressful if not an attended (and therefore more expensive) one. Also they limit which venues you can use. Definitely would go for an entertainer. Most parties we've been to last 2 hours so really you don't need to hire an entertainer for longer than an hour, hour and a half if they offer a shorter package - stuff like arriving and eating takes up a large chunk of time!! I searched HARD and went with an immersive themed experience which was brilliant, well priced, and way more engaging than some of the generic DJ types we've been to. Think character entertainer and DJ rolled into one!

All this said, it was one of the most stressful experiences so am fully wanting a smaller experience next year! (as an aside - It's worth a check when hiring venue if you will have to do any furniture moving. We had to set up from scratch and even move existing furniture out of the way which wasn't fun!)

I'm in London (outer borough but quite well off area) and I don't think you'd get change from £500. I'm planning one for a DC at the moment and hall hire is £180, the bouncy castle is similar. You could probably do a supermarket cake/s for £30, and then the food/drinks is going to cost another £80 at least for 30 kids with the cups, plates etc. Party bags at £2 a head is another £60.

It does feel ridiculous. But if it's affordable I think it is worth it in reception when you and your child are still making friends in the school. I forged my mum group at class parties!

Also in London. Some were really expensive and some people did joint. One mum used to arrange for everyone to meet after school in an area of the local park. Invited everyone plus siblings. Told everyone that they didn't need to bring a present. Provided sandwiches and cakes/donuts from local supermarket. The children ran around playing and parents chatted. They were always the most popular but the child had a June birthday so weather was usually good enough.

Round my way, it’s £165 for a trampoline/bouncy castle place (bring your own party meal) for 90mins - this is amazing value and aways booked solid months in advance.

I budget £11 per head plus party bag £2 a head + cake. If party bag seems expensive, just give a puzzle book and cake or a sweet cone and cake.

Each of my kids had small parties in foundation (just friends at softplay) then one whole class party in Year 1, and thereafter just good friends (about 15 people in Y2, then down to 10 or fewer).

I know I don’t go to 30 parties a year so not everyone is doing whole class parties!

We're in London zone 1, hall hire is £180 for 4 hours (you need 4 hours for set up and clean up), bouncy castle package (with bouncy castle, inflatable slide and ball pit) £240. Food is normally a pizza delivery plus home made crudities and fruit, and M&S cake. We provide nibbles and drinks for the parents, but not everyone does. I spend about £6 on party bags as I like to put in better quality items but could be done cheaper. I usually buy different table covers, napkins, plates, cups etc for each party, to fit in with the theme, but again could be cheaper plain items (or you could invest in Ikea plates and cups and reuse every year). DCs are at a private school and some parties are much more expensive with balloon arches, full catering with servers, bespoke cake and party bags done by an external company (parents working long hours in law/finance and it makes sense to pay for someone else to blow up balloons and stuff party bags).

It's expensive, but only for a couple of years, by year 2/3 many parents hold much smaller parties.

I avoided whole class parties for this reason, it can add up very quickly! We live up North and never spent anything close to £700. Maybe £200-£250 max, but that's for a select group and do activity and then say pizza hut. I do think you have to either do fairly small core friend group or invite everyone though, because there were a couple hosted by parents at school where there was a limit was say 20 (or a bit more) and then the small minority that don't get an invite are usually aware and feel left out.

We did similar type parties just in reception, by year 1/2 they've made smaller groups of friends and no need to invite everyone, also the parents have made friends by then which I think is half the point.
I'd look at cheaper entertainment, could a bouncy castle be cheaper, or an animal person/show, or do you have a friend with a talent. A disco is normally not too expensive either and you could organise some games yourself (pass the parcel, musical statues, pinata). For food just grab lots of stuff from aldi and make up little lunch boxes.
I think ours was around £500 but that was catered, a bouncy castle and a disco plus I set up a craft station and my friend had a set of face paints and did face painting for free. I didn't bother with party bags (claimed it was for environmental reasons, half that, half just couldn't be arsed!!) Instead I ordered some chocolate lollies in a 5 shape and handed them out for them to take away.

Having had my now teen DDs birthday parties in London when they were young I think your estimates are about right … it’s expensive 🤷🏼‍♀️ and I think the reason a lot of children don’t have birthday parties. Or have much smaller affairs at home.

I'm doing my very first kids party for my daughters 1st birthday this weekend.

Local function room- free
Soft play hire from small business- £150 with £10 fuel surcharge
Morrisons party buffet food deal (feeds 30)- £100
Music - free with own speaker
Plates/bowls/cutlery probably £10 total from the Range
Invite- etsy template about £3
Balloon arch kit from Amazon- £5
Birthday cake- £15 Asda
Not doing party bags, nobody likes the junk/plastic tat

So whole thing for under £300

Sounds lovely, but there’s a massive difference between a first birthday party and even a third.

I’ve just put a deposit down for DDs; £760. It’ll be worth it!

That seems steep. When my DD had a 2nd birthday party in a hall in the Home Counties where we lived, it was:

£70 for the hall
£70 for a bouncy castle
£150-ish to make up a buffet (sandwiches, cake, fruit, cheese snacks etc.)

We didn't decorate because kids really don't care.

There was also a group called "pass the party" in the area which was basically just a load of plastic plates and cups that could be collected for free, then returned washed and dried, to be passed onto the next person. Brilliant idea, but paper cups and plates aren't expensive either.

Yes seems normal except the hall. Entertainer is about £200 and hall £100 here. Food and extras additional.

What about looking for a cheaper soft play. Some leisure centres have them (everyone active) and it works out the same or cheaper and you don’t have to make all the sandwich’s.

My daughter is in year 1 with a 1 form intake in the ear Midlands. The whole class parties have been joint, more so after the first term. Last Nov we had two parties at the same place two on the Saturday and Sunday of the same weekend. This year they had a joint party. If the full class is in attendance and the soft play has been hired out the cost is about £450 for the venue. We lucked out with an August birthday joint with another child and whilst we invited the full class only 12 could make it. By the summer I knew who had birthdays nearby earlier in the year parents posted or asked around who's got a birthday this half term and went from there.

Keep cakes and party bags simple. My daughters class of 30 have 8 that are dairy free and 2 of which have multiple allergies so we bought 2 supermarket cakes that were suitable for everyone for £7 total. We then had a nice cake at home. I know a few people have a nice cake for blowing the candles out and singing happy birthday but putting a supermarket cake in the party bags.... Don't waste nice cake on a bunch of 5 year olds!

Party bags. Keep it simple we got a multi pack of paintable animals. I think they were £1.50 a child and gave them out with a slice of cake. For gifts this year I have bought packs of 12 colourable pencil case, notepad and crayons, gel pens and a couple of other bits. It came to £3 a child for most of the class and £4.50 for a couple of close friends.
I'd recommend this for parties you are invited too - I am annoyed that I didn't think of it last year! It they would also make good party bags collections ... Especially if you go with a pencil case option that you can put the other bits into to save on party bags!