The 28 Most Common Party Questions Clogging Your Inbox

If you run parties, you've likely already answered most of these questions many times over. The same questions, every week, in slightly different words.

But it's one thing to be in the thick of the inbox, answering questions, and it's another to zoom out and ask the question: How can I stop getting so many of the same d*mn questions every week? We know the deep, soul-crushing pain of answering the same question over and over and over and over again (that's also clearly answered already on the website). We can't eliminate it, but hopefully, the following insights and suggestions will help.

The following list was compiled from 1,186 real party inquiry conversations sourced from a mix of different providers. They encompass both parties run at the venue and mobile parties (scroll down for the 3 common questions that only come up for mobile providers).

Two Questions Come Up 36% of the Time

For both venues and mobile providers, for age ranges from 0-12, two questions come up far more than the rest.

• Is the date and time we want available?
• What does a party cost, and what does that price include?

Between them they account for more than a third of all the conversations. 36% contain one or both.

Neither of those questions is hard to answer. Every provider who submitted emails had at least their package pricing and what's included available on their website. The questions get asked constantly anyway, and each one costs you a reply, usually a reply that produces another reply.

Information that's published and information that's findable aren't the same thing, and the distance between them is measured in emails. Findable isn't the finish line either. If a parent has to work to read it, or meets it at the wrong point in the booking, it may as well not be there.

But it is possible to close this gap. When the date and the price are easy to find, on your site, on your booking page, behind the link in your Instagram bio, a good chunk of the back and forth stops happening and the rest of it starts from a better place.

If you're curious, btw, the third most common question (number 23 about set-up/clean-up time) turned up in about 9% of the conversations analyzed.

How to read the list

You don't have to work through all 28. Nearly half the conversations we looked at contained a question from the first two categories. Sort out date and pricing questions and you've handled the bulk of it.

Each group below opens with how often those questions come up, then the questions themselves, then some recommendations on what you can do to cut down on them.

The conversations behind the list came from businesses that host parties at their own place and from providers who travel to the party.

Scheduling Questions

At least one of these two questions shows up in nearly 25% of all booking conversations, more than any other category. Cutting down on these questions is the single biggest thing you can do to free up your inbox.

1. Is the date and time we want available?
2. How long is the party, and what time does it end?

How to get fewer of these: If it's possible for you, use a booking tool that shows your party availability in real time (Tidybash does this).

If that isn't practical, state and restate your general availability on your party page, in your materials, and in your autoresponder: which days you run parties, which slots, and how far ahead you book. Then use a form that lets a parent pick a preferred date and time and asks for a backup or two, so you can confirm availability in your first reply as often as possible.

Write your slots with a start and an end time rather than just a start, so the length of the party gets answered at the same time.

"Is Sunday October 19th at 2pm available?"

Pricing and Payment Questions

At least one of these five questions comes up in about 25% of all booking conversations, almost exactly as often as dates and times. The most common is question 3, which means the work is in how your package pricing reads and where it shows up.

3. What does a party cost, and what does that price include?
4. What's the cost per additional child?
5. How much is the deposit to hold our date, and how do I send it?
6. When is the remaining balance due, and how do I pay it?
7. What's your cancellation and rescheduling policy?

How to get fewer of these: You almost certainly have a price on your site already. Being up there isn't the same as landing. A parent skimming on a phone gets about as much out of a paragraph of pricing prose, or a PDF they have to download, as they would out of nothing.

So the work here is shape more than publishing. A bulleted what's-included list under each package reads in seconds, with the per-child rate for extra guests in the same block.

Make sure that your payment policies (deposit, balance, rescheduling, and cancellation) are clearly findable on your website but if you have an autoresponder that goes out to parents who inquire then listing the policy there too is a useful way to make sure those questions are answered before they come up.

"Do you need me to submit a deposit somewhere to hold the date and time?"

Activity and Theme Questions

At least one of these six questions comes up in about 15% of all booking conversations. The most common by some way is question 9, which means the work is in laying out what you offer clearly enough that a parent knows what choices are available.

8. What does the activity include, what will the kids be doing?
9. Can we make a specific request about the activity or theme?
10. Can we choose the music, or request a specific song?
11. Is there a sound system we can use, or should we bring our own?
12. Is the activity suitable for the age of our kids?
13. Can you share photos of a real party you've hosted?

How to get fewer of these: Describe the party the way a parent would, what the kids actually make or do, and put the age range each package suits right next to it.

Then list the themes or projects you offer somewhere a parent can see all of them at once, and say what you don't take on. When the options are laid out like that, a request becomes a choice from your list instead of an open question you answer one at a time.

Photos are worth a specific mention. Most providers have them somewhere on the site and get asked for them anyway, usually because they're sitting in a gallery while the parent is on the package page trying to decide. Having a link to said gallery handy is a great way to get this question taken care of quickly if/when it comes up.

"Would Slime be possible?"

Headcount and Guest Questions

At least one of these four questions comes up in about 6% of all booking conversations. The most common is question 14 which is easy to resolve by including a line about maximum headcount during the party inquiry process.

14. What's the maximum headcount for a party?
15. Who counts toward the headcount, the birthday child, siblings, adults?
16. When do you need the final headcount, and what if it changes after that?
17. Can we add kids after we've given you the final headcount?

How to get fewer of these: Give two numbers rather than one: how many children are included in the price, and the most you can take. "Up to 12 children included, 20 maximum" answers what "12 children" on its own leaves open.

Next to those numbers, say who counts toward them, naming each group instead of leaving it to be worked out. Whether the birthday child is one of them. Whether siblings are. Whether the adults who stay are counted, free, or charged as spectators.

The deadline matters once a date is booked rather than while a parent is still choosing, so it belongs wherever you confirm rather than on the package page. Give it as a date rule, a week before the party instead of "closer to the time," then say what it costs to add a child after that and whether anything comes off if someone drops out.

"if a parent insists on staying, does that add to the total headcount?"

Food and Decoration Questions

At least one of these questions comes up in about 11% of all booking conversations. The most common is question 18, though what's worth publishing is your whole setup for what you provide and what a parent brings, rather than a simple yes or no.

18. Can we bring our own food and cake?
19. Is there a fridge or freezer we can use?
20. When should the cake and food arrive, and when do we serve it?
21. Are plates, napkins and cutlery included, or do we bring them?
22. Can we bring our own decorations, or is the space already decorated?

How to get fewer of these: No two providers handle food the same way, so a parent has nothing to go on from the last party they threw. Write your version down in one place: what you provide and whether it's included or an add-on, what they're welcome to bring in themselves, and anything you don't allow.

If there are caterers or bakeries you'd recommend, list them. It answers the follow-up before it arrives, and you end up working with vendors who already know your space. Allergy rules go in the same block, since a nut-free policy is better read in advance than discovered at the door.

The cake is the part that lands on your day, so be specific: when it should arrive, where it lives until it's needed, including whether your fridge or freezer is actually available to guests, and who serves it. Whether plates, napkins and cutlery come with the room can sit right there too.

"Craziest question - but do you have a freezer that we can use for ice pops?"

Day-Of Schedule Questions

At least one of these three questions comes up in about 12% of all booking conversations. Almost all of that is question 23, which is really two questions in one.

23. How early can we arrive to set up, and will there be set-up help?
24. What is the schedule for the party, start to finish?
25. Is the party drop-off, or can parents stay to watch?

How to get fewer of these: A well presented sample run-of-show addresses all three of these questions before they arise.

The schedule is easier to read as a timeline than a description. Guests arrive, activity starts, food and cake, party ends, with your times against each. That's the version a parent can turn into an invitation, and it's a natural thing to include in whatever goes out once you've confirmed the date.

Start it before the party does, at the time the host can walk in, and say what's already set up and what you'll help with. Add where the parents fit, whether they stay through or drop off and come back for the end. Finish with who clears up.

"Is the party set up and clean up included in the cost?"

Mobile Party Questions

At least one of these three questions comes up in about 5% of booking conversations with a provider who travels. They're qualifying questions, which makes them worth answering before anyone writes to you.

26. Do you travel to us, and what's the service area and travel fee?
27. How much space do you need, and do you need power outlets or a certain ceiling height?
28. Can you provide a certificate of insurance for our building?

How to get fewer of these: Answer all three on the page and in the flow, and be concrete with each. Named neighborhoods or a radius with a number on it rather than "we travel throughout the area." A travel fee as a figure or a rule rather than "depends." Floor space in feet, and what you need from the room: outlets, ceiling height, a table to work on.

On the certificate of insurance, the answer is nearly always yes and it nearly always costs nothing, so what's worth publishing is what you need back from them. Your insurer works from the building's own requirements, which means the parent has to send you the sample certificate or requirement sheet from their management company before one can be issued. Say that alongside the yes, and give a rough turnaround.

"I assume you can provide a COI if the establishment asks for one?"

What to do with this list

Open your own party page and read it as a parent would: someone who has never been to your business and is trying to lock in a Saturday six weeks out. Count how many of the 28 they can answer without emailing you.

Then start with whatever they couldn't.

Where Tidybash comes in

Tidybash gives every party package a page of its own. Parents request a slot against your real availability, and nothing is booked until you approve it. Your inquiry form asks your questions up front, so the details you need to confirm a party arrive filled in instead of getting collected over eight emails.

Try it out and see for yourself:

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About the numbers: 1,186 real party inquiry conversations, with each question counted once per conversation. A category percentage is the share of conversations containing at least one question from it, measured rather than added up, since a conversation often contains several. Questions asked on the phone aren't in the count. The questions parents don't have to ask aren't in the numbers either.