Share
4th February 2026
11:26am GMT
Every parent wants to make their little one’s day special, no matter what the age, and the cost of cakes, party bags, bouncy castles and other add-ons has seen costs jump.
In the age of social media, parents can feel pressure to live up to online expectations; however, parenting consultant Kirsty Ketley explained to Newstalk Breakfast how she continues to keep things simple.
She explained: “It tends to revolve around a few friends coming to our house, which isn't a huge house, so it's quite stressful in itself.
“Having just a few months ago, my nine-year-old son had six nine-year-old friends over, boys, which was quite character-building.
“But they just went off and played, and he actually chose fish and chips as a supper.
“So, they had a fish and chips supper from the local chippy around the corner.”
It’s commonplace for parents to want to invite their children’s classmates and to include everyone - so no one feels left out - but Ketley says she doesn’t agree with that approach.
“My son and my daughter, who's now 12, have over the years been invited to these big parties and, to be honest with you, they found it quite overwhelming,” she said.
“I'm not going to pay out for, you know, several hundreds of pounds for a soft play party or something, because my child's actually not going to get a lot out of it.
“Let's keep it smaller.”
While you run the risk of a child feeling left out when it comes to smaller parties, Kirsty Ketley says that’s “the way it is.”
“I think there have been a few times where parents perhaps have felt their child's been left out of a party if I've kept it small, but it's the way it is.”
