Children's birthday party concept - A good idea?
A children’s birthday party can also be a business where parents avoid the cooking and cleaning up. Here in June 2010, I’m at a birthday party with my son Mads in Florida, and I want to show you a concept I think could work in some places in Denmark.
Over here, I often see people taking both children and parents to a place with bouncy castles or other activities. This place is total chaos in a good way. I haven’t seen quite the same thing in Denmark myself, and I think there could be money in it if you do it properly.
Children’s birthdays with bouncy castles and space for parents
At the entrance, you can buy pizza and other things you order for the event. There’s a security guard whose jobs include making sure children don’t simply run off and keeping an eye on who comes in.
There’s also a seating area for parents. As I show you around, the fathers are sitting in comfortable chairs watching the football World Cup on television. There are sports on two channels, including football and some motor racing. I don’t know much about sport myself, but they’ve thought about giving the adults somewhere to be too.
For the children, there are bouncy castles in all sorts of forms. The whole area is full of them. There are arcade machines too.
Play, pizza and cake in one package
At the back are rooms in different colours. I show the orange and green ones, and we’re going to be in the green room. There are benches and space for the children to sit and eat pizza and have a drink.
The sequence is simple: First they play. Then they come in to eat and drink. Afterwards, they go out to play again, and of course there’s birthday cake too.
The venue provides the event and makes money from the overall experience. Parents don’t have to organise the whole birthday at home themselves.
What does a place like that require?
You need to invest in bouncy castles and kitchen facilities. And you need staff to watch the children so they don’t get hurt. Forgetting that part would be a really bad idea.
In the video, I say an event for around 15 children typically costs $300 to $400 at the places I’m talking about. At the time, I convert that to around 1,500 to 2,000 kroner and mention pizza and drinks as part of the package.
Those are the prices I mention in 2010. My idea isn’t that you can simply take those numbers and know a Danish business will be viable. But I think the concept is worth looking at.
Parents pay to avoid the hassle
People still want to hold children’s birthday parties. But having all the kids at home can be overwhelming. Here, you avoid the cooking, cleaning up and all the work that comes with it.
I think that convenience is a hit. I believe bigger Danish cities could support a place like this, even though it would probably take people a little time to get used to celebrating birthdays that way. So look at it and see whether there’s an idea to develop. I share my own experiences of building businesses in Iværksætter til jeg dør.
I think bigger Danish cities could support a concept like this. It will take people a little time to get used to it, though. Best wishes, Martin
Sådanne steder findes allerede i danmark. I Aalborg ligger f.eks. jumboland der er et kampe legeland hvor man også kan holde børnefødselsdage og lignende.