Bear and Cub Play Centre Bendigo

A little bit of Bear and Cub, brought to your special celebrations 🤍

Our soft play hire collection is now available to book online. Thoughtfully curated with the same calm, neutral and quality feel you know and love from Bear and Cub.

Perfect for birthdays, family celebrations, first birthdays, playdates and special little moments at home.

Simply select your items, choose your weekend and book online. Then pick up and return directly from Bear and Cub Play Centre.

We can’t wait to see your little ones enjoying Bear and Cub beyond our play space.

It’s been a big week at Bear and Cub and we just wanted to say thank you to every family who came in to play with us this week.

This week’s bookings only trial made a big difference in helping us manage capacity and keep sessions calmer, safer and more enjoyable for everyone. We know this change may take a little adjustment for some families, especially those who love the flexibility of spontaneous play visits, and we completely understand that.

As we head into the colder winter months, our morning sessions are filling faster than ever and we simply can’t accommodate the number of walk-ins we receive each day. It’s a tricky position to be in because if we allow unlimited walk ins, sessions become busier than we’d like for the families who booked ahead expecting a calmer space. If we move to bookings only, it removes some of the flexibility that many families love.

For now, we’ll continue working towards a bookings only system because we truly feel it aligns best with the calm, intentional space we are trying to create here at Bear and Cub. Nothing is officially changing just yet, but for now we strongly encourage booking ahead for all sessions as most mornings are now reaching capacity.

Thank you for continuing to support us as we navigate this next stage of growth. We’re incredibly grateful to be in this position and we’ll always do our best to create a beautiful experience for every family who walks through our doors 🤎If you’ve been following along you might have picked up on some hints that we are working on expanding our space very soon. We can’t announce anything officially until we’ve been given the green light but you’ll hear it here first!

We’re expecting a very big week at Bear & Cub with the rainy weather already bringing in a huge number of bookings. Some sessions are already fully booked and we are very unlikely to be able to cater for walk ins this week, so please make sure you book online before visiting. 🤍

To be fully transparent this is a little glimpse into the future for our space. We know it’s not always easy to plan play sessions in advance with little ones, and we truly understand the appeal of spontaneous coffee and play dates. Unfortunately though, it’s becoming clear that Bear & Cub is likely destined to become a bookings only play space in order for us to keep sessions calm, comfortable, fair and fun for everyone.

Our morning sessions have been reaching capacity more and more often lately, and we’ve been finding it increasingly difficult to safely manage numbers while still allowing walk ins. This week will be a really good opportunity for us to trial how a bookings essential model works for everyone!

We are so incredibly grateful for the support and honestly feel very lucky to even be having this conversation. Thank you for continuing to choose our little space for your play dates, coffees, chats and rainy day adventures. 🧸☕️

Because today’s earlier post felt a little heavy… here’s one of little cutie Finley enjoying the space almost all to himself once the morning rush cleared out today! 🧸

If you can make it work around nap times, we highly recommend popping in to visit us later in the day. Our afternoons are often much quieter than the busy morning sessions, making them perfect for slower play, little adventures, and a calm catch up with friends ☕️

One of the hardest parts of growing a small business is reaching the point where you are required to register for GST.

From next week, Bear and Cub pricing will include a GST increase of 10%. This is not something we ever wanted to do, and we know any price increase affects families. We have held off for as long as possible because keeping Bear and Cub affordable and accessible has always been incredibly important to us.

The GST threshold is based on money coming into the business, not profit. While reaching it means we’ve built a viable little business, it doesn’t account for the huge overheads involved in running a space like Bear and Cub. Insurance, rent, utilities, wages, supplies, cleaning, equipment, maintenance and booking fees all add up quickly.

Unfortunately, absorbing an additional 10% ourselves simply isn’t sustainable if we want to continue providing the calm, clean and welcoming space so many families love.

We also want to reassure you that while our prices are increasing by 10%, we are not personally receiving that extra money. GST is collected and passed directly to the government and we do not keep a cent of that increase.

On a much more positive note, we have made the decision to keep all memberships at their original pricing 🤍 If anything, there is now more value than ever in becoming a Bear and Cub member, and we really wanted to protect that option for our regular families.

This has been a difficult decision because Bear and Cub has always been built around community first. We never want families to feel priced out, and we truly hope you understand why this change has become necessary.

Thank you for supporting our little business and helping us create something so special here in Bendigo. The best news? Bear and Cub is here to stay, and we’re currently looking at extending our little space! 🤍

Another busy morning at Bear & Cub 🤍

Our morning session is now fully booked.

A reminder that our calm and quiet unstaffed afternoon sessions begin from 12pm and still have availability ✨

To our Bear and Cub families 🤍

We wanted to let you know that we will unfortunately be closed this Sunday morning for a make-up birthday party. We know this may be disappointing for some of our regular Sunday families, and we are genuinely sorry for the inconvenience.

Because our parties are often booked many weeks in advance, on the rare occasion when a family needs to reschedule due to illness, Sunday mornings are sometimes the only option we have available to accommodate them. Thankfully this is something that happens very rarely (twice in ten months), but we always try our best to support families when unavoidable situations arise.

We also want to be honest and transparent that parties are a huge part of what keeps Bear and Cub going. They truly are the lifeline of our business. Our parties allow us to keep our open play pricing as affordable as possible, continue improving the space, and create the calm, welcoming environment that means so much to us.

Parties are also a really important part of Bear & Cub’s values. Celebrating childhood, bringing families together, and creating special memories is at the heart of why we do what we do 🤍

Thank you always for your understanding and support of our small business. It never goes unnoticed.

Another busy Saturday morning at Bear & Cub 🤍
We are now fully booked for today’s session.

Just a reminder our Saturday hours are 9am–12pm due to private parties in the afternoons 🤍

Looking to be a busy morning again at Bear and Cub. We’re fully booked until 12pm. Plenty of unstaffed afternoon spots available if you’re after a quieter session 🤎