Kid’s party must be worth the money

Hosting your child’s birthday party is similar to a deep-sea fishing trip. You have to cast your line far and deep, and hope your last R10 note bites.

But it is almost guaranteed that you will get seasick. The nausea that is induced by the cost of kicking up a good shindig for junior can be overwhelming.

But while kids’ playground Hyto Tyto is fantastic for a kids’ day out, hosting a birthday party there is a far cry from easy on the pocket.

As far as I am concerned, when I pay a venue a ton of cash to host a party, I wouldn’t want to lift a finger, let alone a hand.

Booking one of the semi-private party venues at Hyto Tyto was easy. It is like online shopping, and you can literally click off almost every item on your checklist including a range of party themes. It was a great start, but can everything really be this easy? Turns out, no.

It was ready-steady party day, and everyone was excited. Extra décor packed, birthday cake loaded, kids strapped in and off we go. Only to get to Hyto Tyto and learn that even though our party hut was at the furthest end of the playground, there was no access beyond the main entrance to take anything inside.

That is a potential four trips to and from the car, for 2 people, and around a 200m return walk each time. Not great. We ended up recruiting waiters and passing stuff between the fence wires and electric fence lining.

The venue, or container, for the party had a little semi-private boma area in front of it. There were some old metal-type garden furniture chairs around and inside the container, colourful bunting and paper lanterns.

That was the extend of the décor effort beyond the party packs, neatly stacked on a small coffee table. We selected a rainbow theme, and with a little bit of imagination the paper lanterns fulfilled the promise of the theme. Overall, and not wanting to get too annoyed on my son’s special day, I decided that it was, well, okay.

The kids had a great time. Hyto Tyto is a super-large playground and there is a lot to do. As soon as the party started, the young ones dispersed and only visited to sing happy birthday, to snack and to refresh.

The platters of food ordered were reasonable in size and disappointing in taste.

The kid’s burger platter was a stacked tray of dry, almost stale slider-buns with patties inside. It tasted okay when washed down with a beer of a soft drink. The cold-cut platter for adults was as sparse as its price tag was inflated. And then there were the flies. These buzzing irritations are nobody’s fault, it is summer, and there’s food. But the least the venue could do was supply some netting or preventative measure.

The assigned server tried hard to please everyone. But if this were the tortoise and the hare, the service would be the tortoise. It was slow, but at least the dad-beer arrived before it warmed up completely and kids did not have to look for a garden tap to quench their thirst.

There is room for Hyto Tyto to up their game. It is a great place for kids, but a 5 out of 10 for a birthday party venue.