Food and drink for the adults
Whether to feed parents at a children's birthday: cafés, bars, farms, museums and what to say on the invitation.
Decide this on purpose
The children's package almost never feeds the parents. If adults are staying — and at farms, museums, zoos and anything with a toddler they are — they need a café, a pub next door, or permission to bring a sensible lunch. Say which it is.
Do not leave adults standing for two hours with a warm carton of apple juice. They will not come next year, and they will be right. A sentence on the invitation — 'café on site, buy your own' or 'tea and cake included for one adult' — is the whole courtesy.
A bar is a tone, not a free upgrade
A licensed bar is not automatically a good idea next to a six-year-old's birthday. Some bowling and trampoline parties are nicer because a parent can have a beer and stop hovering. Some are worse because one adult treats it as a night out. If you want adults to have a proper drink, pick a venue with a bar and tell people the tone: one drink, you are still in charge of a child.
If you do not want that, pick a farm café, a museum café, or a soft-play coffee. You are allowed to want a sober party. You are not allowed to want it and then book a bowling alley at 6pm without saying so.
Who is invited to eat
If only the organising parents are staying, do not imply a spread for twelve extra adults. If every parent is welcome to the room, price their food before you send the invite. Venues that include one adult per child are telling you the second adult pays.
Grandparents need a chair more than they need a theme. If they are coming, ask whether the party room has ordinary seating or only a picnic mat. Museums and zoos are usually kinder to older adults than a trampoline foyer.