Birthday party - parents expect to come too?

MrsE_2

Strapped wrote: »

The issue with meeting at the venue mainly is that the play barn is not at the entrance, so parents would not be able to bring their kids right to the barn; we would have to all meet at the entrance and I didn't really want to have a load of kids standing about in the cold/wet if one or two are late showing up. Whereas if they meet at our house, they can wait in the warm. Hmmm, I shall have to give it some thought - maybe I could wait at the entrance for stragglers - although we need a min # in the group to get the free adult passes. Maybe I will check with the park to see whether it's possible to buy the entrance tickets in advance to save messing about on the day. Although it's unlikely to be busy at this time of year. Lots to think about!

If you ferry the kids you will have the car seat problem.

If you just pay for the tickets for the kids to the owners & the adults going (your family) then the venue gate will stop any parents & ask for payment. Perhaps IF you are paying for adult family members you should give them the money in advance so as you are not seen to be paying for adults.

i_wanna_save_money!

At the local ball pools near me the adults do not have to pay admittance. However, at parties I only take whichever child of mine has actually been invited as I think it is really rude just to turn up with my other kids and expect them to be paid for. At my daughters party I had to pay for an extra 11 children as people brought all their kids despite them not being invited. I didn't make a fuss or anything, just paid for them, but these extra children had the cheek to complain they did not have a party bag as I obviously only made enough for the party guests.

Also, just want to say that it is not like the parents who brought the extra kids could not have left them at home with their dad as they mostly got dropped off by their OH then picked up again when party was over.

geekgirl

Hell yes, pay for the Mums as well, and if some of the fathers want to come pay for them too it is a celebration after all, how about their other children, they will want to come and it would be mean not to pay for them as well. They may have some cousins that would like to attend? What about their best friends they may want to come as well. What about their grandparents, perhaps they would like to join in as well. How about neighbours, they could help out too. What about paying for kennels for all of their cats and dogs whilst they are all out couldn't leave them on their own...........

Janepig

I can't understand these parents who expect everything paid for - I've had two "soft play" birthday parties and parents have brought along siblings when there's been no-one else to look after them, but they've certainly have never expected me to pay for them.

At six I'm not sure if I'd be happy for DD to go to a party "alone" so to speak (I don't know yet, she's only 4) it would depend how well I knew the family of the child having the birthday I suppose, but I wouldn't expect to have it paid for me.

Just a thought though, I don't know what sort of place it is, this "playbarn" but I know in the soft play places we've been to it's only the children who play, after all what else is there for the adults to do but sit around, and they make enough money off the adults buying drinks and food etc? Is there anything at the venue to actually warrant parents having to pay, or could it be the case that parents accompanying the children could be allowed in free?

Jxx

ruby6kids

phew
so far i have been lucky, i always booked a community centre venue with bouncy castle and soft play facilities
parents can come and stay, no entrance fee, their is a limit to number of kids so usually invite 10 less than the limit and when rsvp calls are coming in, offer the 'nice' mums the option of bringing the extra sibling and so can keep track of kids coming.

by nice mums - the ones that call up and say thankyou for inviting ****, if you need any help on the day let me know and i will arrange for ******* to stay with their nan/etc so i can help you out.

wonderful!!!!!!!!

Strapped

Janepig wrote: »

I can't understand these parents who expect everything paid for - I've had two "soft play" birthday parties and parents have brought along siblings when there's been no-one else to look after them, but they've certainly have never expected me to pay for them.

At six I'm not sure if I'd be happy for DD to go to a party "alone" so to speak (I don't know yet, she's only 4) it would depend how well I knew the family of the child having the birthday I suppose, but I wouldn't expect to have it paid for me.

I know most of the parents as it's a very small village school (DS's year is the largest in the school, so there are less than 40 sets of parents in total for the whole school). Admittedly I don't know everyone THAT well, but DS has been to a few parties or over to play with a few different boys, and I know a couple of the other mums from my younger son's playgroup.

Just a thought though, I don't know what sort of place it is, this "playbarn" but I know in the soft play places we've been to it's only the children who play, after all what else is there for the adults to do but sit around, and they make enough money off the adults buying drinks and food etc? Is there anything at the venue to actually warrant parents having to pay, or could it be the case that parents accompanying the children could be allowed in free?

The trouble is that it's part of a much larger park, so there is an entrance fee for the adults too. The entrance fee is reduced in winter, because most of the outside parts are shut, but there are still some bits that arguably you could be paying for. I agree though, the main attraction is the play barn (although it's huge and most of the adults end up in there too!)

Spendless

My son is almost 8 and only recently have some parents started leaving their kids at bithday party venues. I think you are likely to find some parents uncomfortable with the idea. I'm guessing it's a mix of 5 and 6 year olds. How many children in total, you said the whole class, so is that 30? If you have 4 adults you have roughly 7-8 kids to keep an eye on.

Ms_Chocaholic

Spendless, there are only 15 children (including her own son) and four adults so four children per adult. I think that is sufficient.

Strapped

Spendless wrote: »

My son is almost 8 and only recently have some parents started leaving their kids at bithday party venues. I think you are likely to find some parents uncomfortable with the idea. I'm guessing it's a mix of 5 and 6 year olds. How many children in total, you said the whole class, so is that 30? If you have 4 adults you have roughly 7-8 kids to keep an eye on.

No, there are 15 in the class including our son + our younger son + my sister's 3 kids = max 19 kids. So max 5 kids each to keep an eye on. I guess I don't see a problem with this because I am used to handling large groups of children around this age (I teach climbing) and my sister is too (she runs an after-school club). My mum is also a qualified nurse so hopefully we could cope with any minor "incidents". But I appreciate what you're saying, not all kids will want to be separated from their parents at that age either, but hopefully in that case they will just decline the invitation.

Keeping_Positive

Cant remember ever staying with a six year old at a party but I guess it may be down to where is is. Youngest is 5 and hes gone to the last few on his own, they tend to be at the community centre or someones home.

Of course I do ask if parents are required to stay.