Indoor Playground

Hello K.! I was interested when you said free, but am confused about the price question. Are you planning on having something like an entrance fee? Or is the fee by the hour, by the amount of toys played with, etc?? I'm a little confused. Maybe donations could be made instead, like someone brings juice boxes, or gently used clothes (for accidents) or even diapers for emergencies.

Hi K.,
My son is enrolled in Gymboree and I can give you an idea of their price structure. If the child is "enrolled" in the basic program, he gets a weekly class and access to the free play times (3x per week - I wish it were more available myself because one of the days doesn't work with his nap schedule) for around $70 per month. If the child is not "enrolled," classes are $20 per session and the open play times are $10. The difference between a class and open play is there's an instructor who offers suggestions for the child's development in his age range and there's group time when the instructor leads us all in song and other activities. I actually prefer the open times because he can do his own thing, so a clean, indoor playground with open times each day would be great! I'd pay $10 a pop for that! Hope this helps.

I agree w/ Shannon H., charging a small entrance fee for like $5 for each kid that can walk and also have cafeteria that you can charge a bit higher price to make more profit, selling anything from juice, coffee, cupcakes, wipes, diapers.... Kind of like chuckie cheese. We so need places like this around here, 'cause sometimes outdoor public playground just so dirty and i even see people smoking around there, which is not healthy at all. No need anything fancy, just playground equipment w/ cushion floor, you know, the rubber floor kind. For party, i would say rental the place for $150 for first 2 hours, then $50 for each additional hour, schedule ahead of time of course. You can have people bring their own food for the birthday party, or you can also cater for them.

Good luck w/ everything and keep us posted once you have it open!!!

We NEED something like this here! I would be okay with paying an entrace fee of $5 or so. I think where you need to concentate making more of the money is from the coffee bar for the parents! Serve easy finger foods like muffins & such, and also cater to the kids...juice boxes, milk, P B & J...I would love to go somewhere that I could sit in a comfy chair and chat with my friend and let my kids play. I have been to a place in LA that does this well! I can look into the name of the place- let me know if you are interested. I know that they have a sitting room like I said for the parents that also has childrens books and bean bags scatterd for kids. There were attached rooms that held "art classes" for kids where you coud pay an extra fee and your child could go to a supervised lesson and use their supplies, make a mess- all while the parents relax & chat! They also had a music room that had classes from "Music Together, LLC". That is what drew me to the place- I love that class. I would start googling indoor play areas in the Portland OR area- my sister lives there and with the weather always being rainy, they have alot of them! GOOD LUCK! Again, we need this here!

I'd gladly pay! There is an indoor area that opened up at Westminster mall..new, clean. But there was no control of the place, kids too big were jumping all over..who knows how clean that place is going to be in a few months. good luck! I'd pay 5 bucks for an hour of time!