Not allowed to take birthday cake to daughters party?

VfM4meplse

krustylouise wrote: »

I wanted somewhere different as soft play centres and community centre parties are very common round us, which is fine and the kids love them but I wanted something different and as dd loves animals I thought they'd enjoy petting the animals etc then having a party and some food.

In your position I'd hire a bouncy castle for 24 hours and have 2 parties - one for the kids in the afternoon, and another one involving adults and alcohol in the evening.

Janepig

I don't think there can be any sort of legal issue regarding health and safety here - it sounds to me like they want you to pay extra for their cake. I've been to all sorts of places for parties with my two over the years and I can't think of any venue that insists on you having their provided cake, including restaurants, soft play, places with animals, etc.... I can't see that it would be to do with nut "contamination" or them being sued or anything, or surely that would apply to anywhere that holds children's parties.

It's one of those givens at a child's birthday party, that the parents provide a cake. I honestly can't recall a party I've taken my children to where the cake hasn't been one brought in by the parents. Usually cut up at the venue and put into party bags, or sometimes if the parents want to keep it intact then there's fairy cakes to put into party bags.

OP, I'd be going elsewhere.

Jx

paulineb_2

peachyprice wrote: »

I don't think it's unreasonable TBH. If you bring in a cake that is contaminated with nuts and a child has a reaction it won't be you who gets sued, if you bring in a cake and people are ill it won't be you who gets sued. Businesses just can't afford to take risks like that these days.

I would imagine that with it being a petting zoo they have to be even more careful with food hygiene that soft play places etc are.

Can you not have her rainbow cake at home for the family? I don't think it's worth cancelling an otherwise perfect party for the sake of a cake.

Agreed, I would imagine they need to be very careful about home made dishes, just incase of allergies etc.

Its the same in a lot of places these days.

susancs

When we had a Birthday meal after a bowling event in Frankie and Benny's restaurant they brought out the cake with the candles on it and all sung Happy Birthday, but the cake was put back in the box and handed back at the end. I would have thought that it is part of the party to have a cake with candles and everyone singing Happy Birthday. You could ask to bring in a polystyrne dummy cake (they are cheap on ebay) with huge ribbon and bow with candles on it for the the birthday cake blowing out of candles part as there could be no objection on the basis of food hygiene or allergy issues.

fluffnutter

I think it's a way to ensure that their own cakes are bought at a premium dressed up as some sort of 'health and safety' concern. Sure, they won't know what's in a cake that they don't produce, but it's nonsense that they'd be liable for anyone falling ill after eating the cake, or if it exploded or something.

They're being overzealous. Sign of the times innit. If I really, really liked the venue I'd still go, all the while feeling slightly resentful in a passive-aggressive way. If I wasn't that fussed, I'd take my business elsewhere.

daisiegg

VfM4meplse wrote: »

Firstly, congratulations on having a LO that has a summer birthday - a well-planned move that she will thank your for, for the rest of her life!
.

Was that a sarcastic comment?

sillygoose

What a rip off! trying on... done dozens of parties and been to many more at all kinds of venues many doing food. Never heard anything so ridiculous, every where I have been the staff are usually only too happy to bring your cake out and help cut up and distribute it if needed.

More likely to get food poisoning from the minging deep fried nuggets made of God knows what they serve in these places than a cake!

Go somewhere else and spread the word.

At six see if you can hire a local village hall for a couple of hours, they can be surprisingly cheap at times - usually you can google find a website with its contact details, try a few.
Book a local bouncy castle company to come in, we have a great one that staffs the slides, does a mini disco and his wife comes on in a giant dinosaur outfit all in the deal.

Buy some paper plates/cups/napkins (Poundland) and with a few friends/family make up a snack bags/boxes for each guest with 1 ham, 1 cheese sandwich, one pack of crisps, 2 mini sausage rolls, a cake and some chocolate. Some cartons or jugs of juice - food done.

A couple of bin bags to clear up after and most 6 year olds will be more than happy with this.

ognum

My niece got married at THe Savoy Hotel in London. She wanted her mother in law to make the cake. The hotel refused to have any food consumed on the premises that was not baked by a company or person without the correct public liability insurance in case of food poisoning etc.

Maybe this is the same.

peachyprice

krustylouise wrote: »

T If I had it at home and any child had a reaction would they sue me? Likely not, it is an unforseeable situation and if they had a known allergy they would make it known before watching their child eat something that may cause a reaction.

You're missing the point.

If you bring a cake into their kitchen that has a nut crumb on it and that gets transferred to their kitchen which then in turn gets transferred to a sandwich and a child eats it and has an anaphylactic seizure it would be the businesses fault for letting outside food into their kitchen.

I bet it has far more to do with their insurance policy than squeezing an extra £10 or whatever out of you.

Hope you find somewhere different that will accomodate your cake though.

SandC

I think they are being overly cautious. I can't see it being a legally enforced health and safety issue because I go to pubs all the time for family occasions where we have always brought a cake, cut it up at the table and are even given the knives to do so. This is parties for both adults and kids but actually mainly adults.

I think they are using some kind of company policy as some of the pubs I have recently attended for birthdays have been big national chains and they are usually hot on H&S and litigation etc.

However, I can fully understand why a venue would refuse on the basis that they have their own rules about bringing your own food onto the premises. In fact I've been surprised that none of them have seemed to have a problem with it when I've been there. They lose on desserts from my experience as a lot of people know they'll be getting cake and don't want both.