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I also would like to clarify something. Many have mentioned that their schools have a rule that you have to invite the "whole class" to your birthday party.
In my schools, the stated policy has been if your child is passing out invitations at school they have to include everyone.
We never have invited the entire class to a party. I usually have mailed or e-vited a few friends.
Do schools really dictate who comes to your kid's party??
I'm sure it'll all work out. Live and learn. I also think it's well worth the $$ to NOT have a birthday party at home, especially the older they get.
No cleaning, no liability, no broken possessions etc.
I hope the mods will indulge me one funny home-party story. The last party we had at home, we had moved into a new house the month before and were beginning to peel off 1980s wallpaper in the kitchen. The last wall had only one large missing piece where I had just started peeling it off the day before but left it looking pretty rough.
We invited one kid known to be the neighborhood wild child. Let's call him "Sammy." At pick-up time, Sammy's dad just walked into the kitchen, saw the half-peeled wall and said, "Did Sammy do that?!"
Maybe it's time to retro the old fashioned kids party...
Every year my daughter comes up with an elaborate theme for a party and then right before we send the invitations out, she decides she wants a "regular party." Which means six or eight kids doing whatever they feel like for an hour and a half or so, then opening presents and eating cake and ice cream. Sometimes lunch/dinner, more for whichever adults stick around (usually one or two kids will eat with gusto and the rest won't care until the dessert comes out).
I don't plan any kind of organized activity anymore because the kids prefer to do their own thing. The last couple years two or three kids have stayed the night.
More of her friends do "retro parties" than not, and curiously (to me, at least) that seems to be unrelated to the families' financial situation.
Ok, so we're back from the party. We're still alive 15 Children showed up and DD, her sister and all of the children had a great time. It was a nice setup and the place was well staffed with employees who made sure the kids didn't hurt themselves.
We did have 4 parents leave their kids there and frankly, it wasn't a problem. Of the parents that did leave, 3 came back within an hour in time for pizza and cake and 1 left for the entire length of the party which was 2 hours and they all asked either my wife or I if we minded and after seeing all the staff and other parents we said that it was fine for them to go. The one parent that left for the entire party had to take another child to another kids party down the road.
The 2 hours zipped right by and the best part of the day was being able to leave and not have anything to clean up. It was well worth the $$. I'm glad we did it!
Ok, so we're back from the party. We're still alive 15 Children showed up and DD, her sister and all of the children had a great time. It was a nice setup and the place was well staffed with employees who made sure the kids didn't hurt themselves.
We did have 4 parents leave their kids there and frankly, it wasn't a problem. Of the parents that did leave, 3 came back within an hour in time for pizza and cake and 1 left for the entire length of the party which was 2 hours and they all asked either my wife or I if we minded and after seeing all the staff and other parents we said that it was fine for them to go. The one parent that left for the entire party had to take another child to another kids party down the road.
The 2 hours zipped right by and the best part of the day was being able to leave and not have anything to clean up. It was well worth the $$. I'm glad we did it!
Ok, so we're back from the party. We're still alive 15 Children showed up and DD, her sister and all of the children had a great time. It was a nice setup and the place was well staffed with employees who made sure the kids didn't hurt themselves.
We did have 4 parents leave their kids there and frankly, it wasn't a problem. Of the parents that did leave, 3 came back within an hour in time for pizza and cake and 1 left for the entire length of the party which was 2 hours and they all asked either my wife or I if we minded and after seeing all the staff and other parents we said that it was fine for them to go. The one parent that left for the entire party had to take another child to another kids party down the road.
The 2 hours zipped right by and the best part of the day was being able to leave and not have anything to clean up. It was well worth the $$. I'm glad we did it!
I figured it would be fine. I'm glad they asked first.
My daughter's best birthday party, which she requested for both her 7th and 9th birthdays, was at a local wildlife center. They had programs, usually for Girl Scouts or other groups, but you could do it for a birthday party if you wanted. It cost $25 for up to 25 kids, but we never had that many kids, maybe 12 or so. We'd start off in the building at the wildlife center where the programs are held and they have big tanks with fish native to the area and a behive you can see through glass, and snakes and turtles and frogs. The person would bring out a frog, a snake, and a turtle, each in turn, and tell the kids something about them and the kids could see or touch the snakes or the turtle if they wanted (not good for a frog to touch it too much). Then the wildlife center person took the kids on the wooded nature trail and had them look at the trees or whatever had numbers next to them and talk to them about each one. When they got back, we'd have pizza and cake at the picnic tables. It was inexpensive and easy and enviromentally educational, too.
Ok, my wife and I were having a discussion about this today.....my daughter is having her 5th birthday party this coming weekend (I can't believe it). We're having it at one of those indoor bounce house places. It is scheduled to last about 2 hours.
We have about 17 kids coming, and they range in age with no kids over 10 years old. We have had numerous parents say they were coming and were excited about the chance to go have a lunch "date" with each other while leaving their kids at the party. The 2 couples that have said this did not ask if we minded watching their kids. One couple has 2 kids coming ages 6 & 10 which I really don't mind since the 10 year old is pretty responsible (she's still 10 though). The other couple has 2 kids ages 6 & 4....do you think this is out of line to:
1: Just leave your kids unattended at the party
2: If you are doing so, to assume that we are going to watch their kids for 2 hours
What say you?
I think it is ok to leave a 5 year old at a party. If you didn't want the parents to leave you should have told them that.
I don't think it is ok for the parents to ask you to watch the extra kids though.
At our daughter's birthday at Chuck E Cheese we specifically wrote that only the invited child was expected to attend and we would have plenty of adults to help.
One child, brought their mother, aunt, two grandparents and two other siblings and they sat at a different table. When they ordered their pizza, sodas and beer they billedit to our daughter's birthday party (without out knowledge or permission). Yikes! That was expensive!
The funniest (craziest) part was that was the only child who didn't bring a gift or card for the birthday girl. Apparently, their "gift" was having us pay for the food and drinks of four extra adults and two extra children. It was interesting that the adults never introduced themselves or talked to us until they were leaving and said that it was the best children birthday party that they had ever attended.
That's generally how it is where I live which is why I would want to make it very very clear in the invitations who exactly is invited, I think it is cultural, but where I'm from a child's party is children, not a bunch of beer drinking adults. I would not want to buy pitchers and pitchers of beer for a bunch of strangers if I was just throwing a party for kids. It seems that some just think a kid's party means free food and free beer -- lots of both -- for their whole clan. You invite one small child and can get 8 or 9 adults tagging along with 5 or 6 extra kids, often older and pushier.
I also would like to clarify something. Many have mentioned that their schools have a rule that you have to invite the "whole class" to your birthday party.
In my schools, the stated policy has been if your child is passing out invitations at school they have to include everyone.
We never have invited the entire class to a party. I usually have mailed or e-vited a few friends.
Do schools really dictate who comes to your kid's party??
If you're using the school as the distribution channel of your birthday party invitations, then yes.
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Did the Father at least seem worried??? LOL
15 Children showed up and DD, her sister and all of the children had a great time. It was a nice setup and the place was well staffed with employees who made sure the kids didn't hurt themselves. 
