Want to come to my twin boys’ birthday party? That’ll be £6
IT wouldn’t be the first time a child’s birthday party has led to a squabble.
But in this case it is the parents who are rowing – over demands for a £6 fee for their sons and daughters to attend.
Ruma Ali, 29, asked other parents to pay towards the celebration for her twin boys at an indoor play centre.
She said she wanted to invite all 60 of the boys’ classmates to ensure no one felt left out. The single mother, a former council worker who is now studying for a degree, said she could not afford to pay for everyone so asked people to contribute £6 per child. But she was ‘shocked’ after another parent challenged her request in a message posted anonymously on a community Facebook page.
The post read: ‘My four-year- old has been invited to a classmate’s fifth birthday party. The said parent has hired Fun Valley and stipulated a payment of £6 per child on the birthday invitations.
‘ My older kids are in secondary school and in all my years of hosting and being invited to kids’ parties, I have never been asked to pay for attending a party. Is this the done thing nowadays?’ The party to celebrate the fifth birthday of Miss Ali’s twin boys Shiyan and Kiyan is set to be held on a Sunday at the Fun Valley indoor play centre near the family’s home in Leicester.
The basic charge for birthday parties at the venue is £10.99 per child at the weekend – meaning the cost for 60 children would be at around £660.
Even with the parents subsidising the cost, Miss Ali expects the bill to be around £500 after extras like goody bags and a cake are included. Her boys are in separate classes at primary school and have 60 classmates between them. Responding to the anonymous post, she wrote: ‘I’m shocked to see this post on Facebook, my number was on the invite and you could have messaged me to ask about it.
‘I am a single mother with twins, and I spoke to many parents about how to organise the party and how many children to invite … I could not invite half the class and not the other half so that is the reason.’
She later went on to explain: ‘I didn’t want anybody to get left out. I thought I don’t want to pick and choose which friends can come. I thought invite the whole class and then nobody’s upset. I thought they [ the parents] would understand [the charge].’
She said that if any parent could not afford the £6 fee she would have understood and still wanted their child to attend.
‘Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But this was the best way for me,’ she added.
Several parents defended the mother on the original Facebook post. One wrote: ‘If you don’t want to, or can’t afford to pay the £6 then just don’t go! You don’t need the internet to help you reach that conclusion.
‘No doubt this [party] has cost the parents far more than £6 so if they want those attending to contribute then that’s their prerogative.’
But others commenting online said she should have organised a smaller party or held it somewhere free like a park or outdoor playground. One wrote: ‘When I was in primary school back in the early 90s I was in separate class to my twin sister, my parents would invite the friends we
‘I didn’t want anyone left out’ ‘We are spoiling our kids’
were closest to and have a party at home! No reason to charge or invite everyone.’
Another said: ‘None of my parties growing up were extravagant affairs. They were always at the birthday child’s house and we played silly games … Too much emphasis is spent on keeping up with everyone and we are spoiling our kids.’
Birthday party packages at Fun Valley include 75 minutes of play time, 45 minutes use of a ‘private party zone’, hot food, squash and invitations. Children are also entertained by an appearance from Disney characters like Mickey Mouse.