4 Party Add-Ons Worth the Extra Cost

Anyone who’s booked a birthday at a bar will have seen the extras list at the end of the booking page. It’s tempting to skip every one of them and keep the cost down, and plenty of them deserve skipping. A handful, though, change how the night feels once everyone’s there. Those are the ones worth a closer look.

A Reserved Area

Without a space of its own, a big group drifts. Some people end up at the bar, while a few wander off to watch the football on the telly. In the end, the birthday girl spends the night trying to find her own guests. A reserved corner or a private room keeps everybody in one place.

There’s a practical side as well. People need somewhere to dump coats. However, dumping them all on a shared bench is how phones go missing. Most venues ask for a minimum spend to hold an area. With twenty people eating and drinking, that minimum gets reached without anyone trying, so it often costs next to nothing on top.

Ask how many the space holds before booking it. A room that’s comfy for twenty gets very sweaty with thirty.

Food Platters Ordered Ahead

Food on the night is where big groups come unstuck. Somebody queues at the bar with a list as long as their arm, the order gets muddled, and the plates arrive in dribs and drabs. Sharing platters booked in advance get round all that. They come out together at an agreed time, and people just help themselves.

Pizza and wings tend to be the favourites, mostly because you can eat them standing up between turns. Party packages at a games bar Watford offer bundles, and it can work out cheaper per head than ordering food separately. Still, ask what’s on each board. Some are piled high, and others are a scattering of nachos on a very big plate.

Mention any allergies or veggies when booking. Kitchens are usually happy to do a separate platter with a bit of notice.

A Games Host

This is the extra most people leave off, and it’s often the one that makes the night. A host runs the games and keeps score. That frees up whoever organised the party, who would otherwise spend the evening explaining rules and rounding people up.

Hosts are especially handy when half the group doesn’t know the other half. They’ll shuffle people into mixed teams and keep things going when the energy starts to dip. On a stag or hen, a decent host can turn a few rounds of darts into a story people still bring up months later. Not every bar will have one, so ask when booking. Some places throw a host in for free once the group is big enough.

Extra Game Time

An hour on a game sounds like loads until you’re in it with a big group. Ten minutes go on picking teams. Another ten go while people queue for drinks. Before long the staff are hovering because the next booking has turned up. An extra half hour means everybody gets a proper turn without feeling hurried.

Adding time when booking is nearly always easier than trying to stretch it on the night, when the lane or table is probably promised to someone else. Some venues also knock money off a second activity when it’s booked together with the first. A round of shuffleboard after the crazy golf gives the group a change without anyone needing to find another venue.

It’s worth thinking about the crowd before paying, mind. A group that mostly wants to sit, eat and catch up won’t use two hours of games. For a competitive bunch, heading to places with bar games that run a bit longer usually pay off, as nobody enjoys being ushered off the table halfway through a tense final.