Short answer:
Our focus is on the birthday child and their guests. When there are numerous non-painters, it can be very difficult for us to talk over everyone, as well as keeping the party running as smoothly as possible.
Long answer:
Neither studio has a separate area for parents and other non-painters to mingle, so everyone is in the same space. Limiting the number of non-painters also limits the number of possible distractions for the kids.
Children can be easily distracted if their parent stays. We've had cases where some of the kids get upset when their parents leave, while other parents remain. While it's fine for parents who do stay to socialize, it can get extremely overwhelming for our staff trying to run the party, while keeping the kids focused on painting.
The goal is to make sure your child/children's party runs as smoothly as possible and to make sure they have our full attention on their special day. When we have to talk over other parents' conversations, it takes away from the party as a whole and the focus ends up more on the adults vs the kids.
We completely understand that there may be circumstances where there might be extra adults in the studio, outside the immediate family, such as a child with special needs who requires extra assistance, or if a guest's parents have a longer commute. And in those situations, we will accommodate your group to the best of our abilities.
While covid restrictions have lifted as a whole at this time, we still want to maintain a healthy and clean environment in our studios. There are a lot of factors why we don't want to overload the studio with people, regardless of the studio being closed during your party. The more people in the studio as a whole, it directly impacts the number of staff required for your party, as well as additional cleanup and sanitation required before the next group arrives at the studio.
We cannot have unlimited non-painters in the studio without an additional cost to the party host. It may not be obvious on your end, which is understandable, it is absolutely more work on our end. If you are looking for a 1:1 or 1:2 ratio with the number of kids to adults, meaning that there are equal or more adults than kids attending the party, there will be an additional cost.
You can offer parents who want to stay for the duration of the party, an opportunity to pick a piece to paint, within the same price range as the kids -- up to $30. The cost for them to paint would be the same cost as each additional kid, past the first 8 kids -- $35 per person. You'd be surprised how many parents have enjoyed that option. In that situation, we would have a staff member focused on assisting the adults and they'd have a separate area to paint.
Since we have implemented this policy, it's been very well received by our clients and guests' parents. We always try our best to accommodate our clients as much as possible, however, we greatly appreciate your understanding of the reasoning for why we run the parties the way we do.
