How much would you pay?

[ashamednamechanger]

For a children's party?
Children are all 5-6 years old, about 20 of them in a village hall with no entertainer (apart from the parents!)
Party bags, cake and food has been included in the price, also a sound system with pop music on. But no organised entertainment, so the parent's will have to organise games, etc.
How much would you pay for this, considering that most soft play places charge roughly £9-10 each child?

Round here VILLAGE HALL COSTS AROUND £30-40
Cake - depends on type, but Waitrose is about £2-30 I think
Party bags - I always try to keep them to around £1-£1.50 per child when making them up
Food - depends on what you are doing. Last time we got each child a Happy Meal from McDonalds, so about £2.50-3 per child

We are paying 40 pounds for 4hrs hall hire, I would always prefer to make my own cake/food etc. And make up my own party bags. Probably doesn't work out much cheaper than soft play, but I do it because I enjoy it (I think!)

So going rate is about £40 just for the room?
I'm not actually looking at holding a party myself....am on the fundraising committee for a charity preschool and thought holding children's parties there might raise some funds.
I suppose we could offer parents options...room only, room with food and party bags, room with food and entertainer etc.
Thanks for the McDonalds idea, I never thought of that. Good idea as our local Macs is only about 1 mile away.

The halls I have hired have generally included the sound system within the price, as well as access to the kitchen for food prep and to make drinks, etc.

I personally would prefer to hire the room only and do food and party bags myself.

I guess the other thing you want to consider is the time it takes on a saturday or sunday to set it all up etc. If you just hire it out you just need someone to open up and someone to shut up, or one hall we have to go and collect and then return the key. If you are providing food and cake etc that will take much more of someone's time, possibly yours. We sometimes hire out a preschool hall, they pack all their stuff away, but we do use their outdoor space if good weather, which is nice as sometime you want to hire somewhere in april or sept as can't guarantee nice weather, and if it is nice weather is a bonus area. You also need to make sure that your insurance will cover it if they break something. And that your toy storage is secure, as otherwise little fingers will go exploring. We are in south east so prices might be a bit higher but most places are 13-15 pounds an hour. I think that probably most people who want an easy life will go for soft play areas anyway, and you would find that people tend to do their own catering. The places we hire always have a kitchen we can use. I can see a market for everything included party venue, but for that people would want the entertainment provided too.

Thanks Bunnies....interesting!
So what kind of entertainment would you pay for if it was your DCs party?
AND, if everything was included, how much would you be prepared to pay?

Well we are arranging my Daughter's 6th party for March.

We have paid £26 for a hall. This includes the main hall where the party will take place ,a side room where we can do the food, use of the kitchen plus toilets. All on one level with off street parking.

That is for 3 hours giving us half hour each side for setting up/tidy up.

2 hours entertainment is costing us £110. This is for a Disney disco (with Snow white mascot), face painting, party games with prizes, filled party bags for 25 children.

Sister in law is making the cake so that is free.

All we need to provide is balloons/banners to decorate, plates, cups, table covers, napkins etc. Then the food.

In total the part will cost us between £175-180 for everything.
So for us it has worked out a lot cheaper than soft play which we would consider.

I actually like arranging a lot of it myself.

It sounds as if you are getting a bargain with the entertainment - will the entertainer manage do face painting and the rest of the entertainment in the time allocated? If you have two entertainers to do the job - you are really getting a good deal.