Recommendations for great halls and a few to avoid for having your children’s birthday party
Ritchie has performed at all of these halls
Reigate/Redhill/Banstead/Dorking
Sutton, Carshalton, Wallington, Cheam, Worcester Park
Kingston, Hampton, Thames Ditton, Tolworth, Worcester Park, New Malden,
Croydon, Coulsdon, Caterham, Warlingham, Beddington, Sanderstead, Godstone
When hiring a venue for a children’s birthday party, avoid big, echoey halls. Echoey venues are bad for the party because every chatter, cheer, squeal, and song bounces around the room, creating a headache-inducing ball of sound.
Lots of great venues around
When choosing a venue, try to get somewhere with a car park or easy on-street parking with not too many restrictions. Avoid town centre venues. Small/medium village or church halls (that are not echoey) are great, and home parties work wonderfully too. If you’re hosting at home, I’d suggest having no more than 15 children. For halls, around 30 children is usually a happy, manageable number. Over 50 is too many and gets chaotic.
How long to book the hall for?
If possible, book the hall for four hours for a two-hour party, giving you an hour to get in and set up (prep your food, decorations, set the tables and chairs) and an hour to clean up after guests leave. Enlist a few friends or family to help. Two hours is the perfect time for a children’s birthday party. Avoid inviting them before I start or to stay longer after, as either will lead to chaos. If you make the party longer such as 3 or 4 hours, lots of people will arrive late or leave early as parents do not want to be at a kids party for that long.
Pro tip: book me before you book the hall. There are many halls, but only one Ritchie!
Ritchie Rosson is a children’s entertainer and magician based in Sutton covering Surrey, Kent and South London. He specialises in school shows, family events and birthday parties for 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th birthdays.
