Is a 1 hour party acceptable or too short for 4/5 year olds?

[TotalChaos]

A local sports centre does parties for 1 hour or 2 hours, 1 hour naturally being cheaper. This would involve hiring a member of staff and equipment for a sports activity taken by the member of staff. Would it be OK to do the 1 hour one, or is that too stingy?

Depends if you are entertaining and feeding them. Generally 2 hours is about right.

yes, I do plan to feed them too. suspect you are right that 1 hour would be too squashed.

I think you might find yourself a bit pushed for time with 1 hour. I goes really quickly once it gets going and if you factor in some food and a few toilet trips too it whizzes by.

I agree - 1 and a half to 2 hours would be best for activity and food.

yes if I was dropping off and picking up 1 hour wouldn't lave me much time to park and go for a coffee

If feeding them within the 1 hour I hnk it is too short. Food alone can take 20 minutes or more. Can you do the 1 hour party and then decamp to another room for food after?

1.5-2 hours are more the norm here.

i like to be able to go and have a drink somewhere if party a drve away - if no coffee shop at sports centre 1 hour make sit very limiting; I'd end up being stuck at the venue with nothing to do.

one and half would be fine, half hour playing then half hour eating then another play and then they can all bugger off home . Sometimes 2 hours at that age can be just a bit too long and they can get a bit OTT and hyper.

Parties generally run to about 2 hours IME, hour and a half minimum.

I'd say about 2 hours in total is about right.

1.5 hours perfect length in my experience. Not the 3 hour extravaganza we went to recently - i seriously lost the will to live.

I like 1.5 hr parties too - i find the last 15 mins hellish with 2 hour parties.

I was a bit unhelpful yesterday. How I find it generally works in my experience...

Say it starts at 12.00:

12 - 12.30 - kids arrive, settle down, parents settle them and leave
12.30 - 1.10 - entertainment, games, etc
1.10 - 1.40 - food and cake
1.40 - 2.00 - wind down, party bags, final games (ie treasure hunt...), make a game out of tidying up (if you are lucky!)

Have lots of fun - the time will wizz by!