Frequently Asked Questions

Our sleepover packages are primarily created for younger children aged between 5-12, but age is no limit! We can also cater for older teens (and even adults!) with our larger airbed mattresses and our more grown-up themes such as our Dusky Pink Dreams or Dusky Blue Dreams.

With both our 'Styled By Us' and 'DIY Tipis' service, you'll get a full 24 hours hire of our sleepover kits which we'll set up / deliver and take down / collect at a pre-agreed morning or afternoon timeslot convenient to you (depending on availability). Morning timeslots are typically available between 9.30am - 12.00 noon. Afternoon timeslots are typically available between 2.00pm - 4.00pm. Feel free to contact us if you wish to discuss a particular time in advance of your booking so that we can check our availability.

Sadly not! As much as we'd love to stay and join in the fun and excitement, once we've completed your sleepover setup (or delivered it to you) we'll be on our way. We'll be back the next day to collect it again and look forward to hearing all about your party!

Yes of course, most of our customers have pets. However, all animals must be kept away from the bed setups due to some children having extreme allergic reactions to animal hair (which is not always easy to eliminate despite thorough washing and will incur a deduction from your damage deposit for any specialist cleaning required).

Yes, where we can (see list below). You must inform us immediately if one or more of your guests has an allergy so that we can make the necessary arrangements to accommodate your guest/s in advance of your booking. Skin allergies/sensitivities: we can use hypoallergenic washing powder and fabric softener for the entire party upon request. Skin conditions: we are unable to accept any guest who has a skin disease or bacterial infection at the time of your event, such as impetigo, ringworm, chickenpox, shingles, cold sores, scabies or any other infectious skin disease. Food allergies/intolerances: any food items ordered from our party extras range are supplied with full allergen information, which can also be provided upon request. Suitable substitutes will be provided for any foods that the allergy relates to. Please inform us immediately if any guest has a severe food allergy. In such case, we will handle all equipment and food in a safe environment away from the allergen in question, however we cannot guarantee that all traces have been eliminated. Latex allergies: we can use foil balloons instead of our regular latex balloons for your balloon bouquet/s upon request. Feather allergies: we only use 100% Polyester Hollowfibre filling in our cushions, and 100% Polyester filled pillows and duvets. Any accessories that include feathers such as dreamcatchers or feather boas will be replaced with a suitable alternative for the entire party. Pet hair allergies: we ask all customers to refrain from allowing their pets onto our bed setups, however in households with pets it is difficult to avoid any pet hair coming into contact with our equipment. We thoroughly lint roll and wash all bedding on a 60 degree cycle ready for the next party, however we cannot guarantee that all traces of pet hair have been eliminated. If one of your guests has an allergy not listed here, please contact us to discuss how we can help to accommodate them. We take no responsibility for allergies where we are not advised in advance of the condition.

Yes, we hold in-date and suitable Public Liability Insurance. Please inform us if you would like to see a copy of the certificate.

Please fill in our enquiry form or email us at hello@cocoaandmarmalade.co.uk and we'll be in touch within 24 hours to confirm our availability.

Fill out our online enquiry form using the link below or you can email us directly at hello@cocoaandmarmalade.co.uk and once we've confirmed our availability we'll send you a 50% deposit invoice to secure your party date.

Once we've confirmed our availability for your preferred party date, we require a 50% (non-refundable) security deposit of the hire cost upon booking to secure your date. Your date will not be secured until we have received your deposit payment. The final balance is then due at least 14 days before your party which would include any party extras and delivery costs (if applicable), plus a refundable damage deposit of £10 per tent / tipi (temporarily held in case of any damage/breakages) which is released back to you within 4 days of your party, subject to a full equipment inspection.

We accept payment via bank transfer or credit/debit card via a secure online payment link. We provide both options on our invoices.

With each sleepover party booking we require a Damage Deposit of £10 per tent / tipi to cover any loss, damage or extra cleaning that is required following your hire period. This will be added to your final balance and due for payment up to 14 days prior to your event. Once your party is over, the Damage Deposit will be refunded back to you via your original payment method once we have collected and fully evaluated our equipment (within 4 days). In the unlikely event that any items are broken, stained or damaged, replacement or cleaning costs will be deducted. All deductions to the Damage Deposit, if applicable, will be fully itemised.

We require at least 7 days notice for any party booking to ensure that there is sufficient time to prepare, clean, sanitise and safety check our equipment.

We'll provide the full sleepover kit for each guest including: A-frame tents with tent covers (Styled By Us) or traditional tipis with white tipi cover (DIY Tipis), mattresses (foam or airbed) with waterproof protectors, 4.5 tog duvets & anti-allergy pillows with protectors, freshly laundered bedding & cosy blankets, lighting, drinks glasses, cushions, breakfast trays and all accessories in your chosen theme.

No, we'll provide everything your guests will need to have a comfortable night's sleep including freshly laundered bedding, a 4.5 tog duvet, an anti-allergy pillow and a cosy blanket each. You can find the full list of equipment provided for each guest here.

No, our A-frame tents require full specialist assembly using bolts and screws and are therefore only available with our 'Styled By Us' service.

Yes absolutely! Our 'Styled By Us' service typically comes with our A-frame tents with tent covers, however if you'd prefer us to set up our traditional white tipis for you instead that's no problem at all. Just let us know when you enquire for your party.

Unfortunately not. Everything that we supply during your sleepover party is included as part of your hire and must be returned to us at the end of your event. Exceptions apply for any personalised party extras that have been purchased separately, such as additional balloon bouquets, personalised sleep masks or sweet jars, and are for those lucky guests to keep. Any hired items that are missing from your sleepover party will be deducted from your damage deposit.

We have an ever-growing range of over 15 popular sleepover themes for you to choose from, such as the popular Ohana Lilo & Stitch Party, Football Fun (Wales), and Minecraft Sleep-Overworld. We also offer seasonal themes during the holiday seasons and special dates throughout the year including our festive Elf's Christmas Capers theme, and spooky Dare to Sleep Halloween theme. Whichever theme you choose, we'll ensure your sleepover party is a magical occasion your guests will remember for years to come!

Absolutely! We love designing and creating (and shopping!) new bespoke themes and always welcome your ideas for a sleepover theme that we don't currently offer. Please contact us or leave your theme ideas in the additional info section on our enquiry form and we'll be in touch to chat it through with you. For bespoke themes, we charge an additional £10 per guest, on top of your hire cost, to pay towards the additional equipment costs (i.e. cushions, accessories, decorations, blankets) in order to bring your ideas to life. We will try to use as much of our equipment that we already have in stock, if it fits your theme idea, wherever possible.

We can deliver and collect your sleepover party anywhere within 30-miles from CF23 (Cardiff), up to and including: Pyle, Porthcawl, Maesteg, Treherbert, Hirwaun, Merthyr Tydfil, Ebbw Vale, Abergavenny, Raglan & Chepstow.

We offer FREE delivery and collection to addresses in Cardiff where we are based, and within a 10-mile radius to surrounding areas. For distances beyond this, and up to 30 miles, we charge a delivery fee based on 45p/mile to cover our travel costs for the two return journeys (for delivery & collection).

Yes, but we may request some help to carry equipment to and from your property if we have to park some distance away. At the time of booking, you must let us know if any parking or access restrictions to your property apply, such as parking permits, lane access or gated entry codes. If you live in a residents parking zone we will require a visitors parking permit on our arrival for the duration of our stay. Failure to do so will result in the deduction of your damage deposit for the parking charge received. If access is extremely limited or difficult, it is at Cocoa & Marmalade's discretion as to whether the booking is accepted. No refunds will be given if your booking cannot go ahead because of difficult access or needing permits/permissions which has not been disclosed at the time of booking.

Please ensure you have enough clear space for your requested number of sleepover beds prior to booking. We recommend a space of approx. W100 x L200cm per tent/bed setup, which includes room for the breakfast tray with our foam mattresses. We recommend a slightly longer space of W100 x L220cm per tent/bed setup with our airbed mattresses.

For larger parties of guests ≥4, we kindly ask that your sleepover is held in a ground floor room where we'll deliver and install all of the sleepover kits - this is due to the amount of equipment required to carry in/out. Some exceptions may apply, i.e. town houses where living spaces are on a first-floor level (please contact us to discuss this prior to booking). For smaller parties of guests ≤3, please inform us if you'd like to hold your sleepover party in an upstairs room, advising us in advance of the floor level and if any special access is required.

Unfortunately not. Our tents / tipis can only be used indoors as they are not waterproof and the frames cannot be secured to the ground.

No, our tipis are super easy to set up! With our DIY Tipis service we aim to make your set up run as smoothly and as quickly as possible, so all of our traditional 4-pole tipis come fully pre-assembled with a white fabric cover, an attached set of fairy lights (batteries included) and, depending on your theme, either a colourful fabric drape, flower garland or scarf so all you'll need to do is stand them up and switch on the lights! They'll arrive in a long pole bag which you simply take each tipi out, remove any carry bag or velcro strapping and stand up by pulling the four poles outwards into a square shape to tighten the fabric at each side.

With our 'Styled By Us' service, each tent / bed setup takes us approximately 30 minutes to set up and expertly style, so for three guests, for example, please allow at least 1 hr and 30 mins for setting up before your guests arrive. With our 'DIY Tipis' service, each tipi / bed setup is a little quicker as the tipis don't require much assembly, and should take you approximately 15-20 minutes to set up yourself, so for three guests, for example, please allow at least 1 hour for setting up before your guests arrive.

With our 'Styled By Us' service, for your own safety, once your tents have been fully assembled we do not recommend that you move them afterwards as they are awkward to manoeuvre once fully constructed and could cause injury to yourself and/or others, or could be damaged/broken in the process (which would result in a deduction from your damage deposit to repair/replace). With our 'DIY Tips' service, once you have set up the tipis, beds and accessories in your party room please do not attempt to move them whilst fully assembled. If you decide to move the party to another room you must first disassemble the set ups completely by removing all decorations, garlands, lighting, cushions and accessories, collapse the tipis and remove the bedding from the mattresses before attempting to move any of the equipment.

We know accidents can happen. If a spillage occurs or a stain is found on our bedding or equipment we kindly ask that you do not attempt to clean it yourself so that we can make an assessment as to whether the item can be easily treated, or whether it requires specialist cleaning (which may result in a deduction from your damage deposit).

No. All of Cocoa & Marmalade's fairy lights, tealights, lightboxes, number lights, nightlights, and even our disco ball light, are powered by rechargeable batteries, which are supplied fully charged as standard with every sleepover party (plus a spare set of x3 batteries, just in case). To prolong the use of our batteries and to achieve maximum brightness, we advise turning your lights on during the early evening when daylight starts to fade, and turning them off before going to sleep... whatever time that may be! However, battery life does naturally fade over time. If any of our batteries are not working at 100% please swap these with the spare set provided - do not throw them away as this will result in a deduction from your damage deposit for the cost to replace them.

Packing a sleepover party away is a little quicker than setting it up. With our 'Styled By Us' service, each tent / bed takes us approximately 20 minutes to disassemble and pack away, so for three guests, for example, please allow at least 1 hour for us to take everything down, ensuring your guests have removed all personal belongings beforehand. With our 'DIY Tipis' service, each tipi / bed should take you approximately 10-15 minutes to disassemble and pack away yourself, so for three guests, for example, please allow at least 45 minutes to take everything down, ensuring your guests have removed all personal belongings beforehand.

No, leave it to us! We provide either porcelain mugs, glass mason jar drinking glasses, or plastic drinking cups complete with lid and drinking straw for each party guest. Feel free to refill these with your guests' favourite drinks whilst they're enjoying the sleepover. We do kindly ask that once the party is over please empty any remaining liquid from the drinking cups / mugs so that they can be collected and packed away without creating any spillages. We then wash and sterilise all cups, lids and straws ready for the next party.

No, leave that to us. Once your party is over, we'll return to collect our equipment and all bedding will be inspected and laundered at 60 degrees ready for the next party. With our 'DIY Tipis' service, we kindly ask that all bedding is stripped from the beds after use and placed into our laundry bags ready for collection.

No, please don't stress about packing away all of the sleepover kits back into exactly the same bags / boxes that they arrived in. As long as all of the equipment is contained and can be transported safely and securely ready for inspection.

If you should unfortunately wish to cancel your sleepover party, you must inform us in writing via email no less than 14 days prior to your event. Cancellation over 2 weeks before your party date will result in you being liable for any security deposit already paid. Cancellation within 2 weeks of your party date will result in you being liable for 100% of the final invoice balance, including any security deposit paid. In the event of illness or injury, we are committed to rescheduling your sleepover party at no additional cost within 6 months of your original booking date. In the unlikely event that we need to cancel your party you will receive a 100% refund.

Yes absolutely! Once your party date is secured with your deposit payment you are welcome to make any changes to your booking up to 14 days prior to your event, which is when your final balance is due for payment. Maybe your guests have changed, or you want to add on some of our Party Extras, or maybe you need to add on extra guests, just get in touch with us as soon as possible and we can update your booking and adjust your final balance. We are unable to accept any further changes once your final balance has been paid. If, unfortunately, any guest fails to attend your event, regardless of whether notice is given or not, we are unable to offer a refund once your final balance invoice has been paid. If for any reason you need to change the date of your party you can do so up to 14 days prior to your event. Please contact us immediately and we will discuss alternative dates, subject to availability. In this instance, we'll retain your security deposit and transfer it to your new party date.

Yes absolutely! You are welcome to add on any of our party extras to your booking up to 14 days prior to your event. When ordering any personalised goods, the entire party package must be paid for in full 14 days prior to your party / event and before printing commences. The personalisation (names) written on your booking confirmation will be exactly what is printed. It is your responsibility to check spellings are correct upon receiving the booking confirmation and prior to paying. We cannot give refunds for any party extras that are either personalised or sourced from an external company once the order has gone into production.