Do you drink at or provide drinks to the adults at your children’s parties?

Often when adults attend kids’ parties, there is a license for the adults to drink; perhaps even become intoxicated. While most adults enjoy social drinking at parties with their friends, it is usually not appropriate to drink at small kids’ parties. A beer or a glass of wine isn’t a big deal at a kids party, but people have written in that adults at kids parties really can party it up to the point of acting in an embarrassing manner in front of the children.

Read the rest of this entry »

When you play games at parties for young children, do you have winners and losers or is everyone a winner? Recently, on Momania, this question was posed and the responses range from those who think that winners and losers at kids’ parties are acceptable to others who believe everyone should win. What do you think?

The question brings up a good point: often kids expect prizes if they win, and can express disappointment if there isn’t a winner.  A good solution is to set the prize expectation clearly during the games.  If you will be giving out prizes, state, “The team/person that finishes first wins a prize.”  If everyone wins, hand out prizes to the entire group at the end of the game so the prize expectation is met.  If you won’t be giving out prizes, and everyone wins, do something fun like have everyone give themselves a round of applause or do a fun dance to celebrate the fun games.

I have an etiquette question regarding my 4 year old son’s birthday party.  The party is to take place at 1 pm on a Sunday.  I planned to provide finger foods for the kids and appetizers for the adults, but really didn’t know if it was proper to do so, or improper not to provide food for the adults.   My husband wants to provide pizza for everyone, but I am a little concerned about the cost, in addition to the fact that most people will have eaten lunch by then.  As a result, we will order pizza and then have a bunch of pizza left over.  Are we expected to provide lunch for the parents as well?  What do you recommend?

One pm is an interesting time to hold the party.  Some people may think that you are providing lunch (albeit a little late) any may not have eaten.  However, some people will definitely have eaten lunch by that time.  Instead of pizza, which probably can get very costly and is heavy, I would stick with your original plan – finger foods for the kids and a few select appetizers for the parents.Â
Â
Often if adults are attending and it is around a meal time, they will expect to be fed as well.  However, on your RSVP calls, you can also let people know directly that only X & Y will be served, so they should eat lunch beforehand to be perfectly clear.  I know you don’t want this awkwardness to arise at your party.
Â
For future parties, you may want to consider a 2 or 3 pm start time as then no one will expect a meal and you can simply do cake and ice cream for the guests.

Are kids always automatically invited to all events that you are invited to?  Yum Sugar has a great little blog on the subject: Party Foul: Assuming the Kids Can Come!  If the envelope is addressed to Mr. and Mrs. and not the family, do you assume it’s OK to bring the gifts?  Have you ever had to un-invite children to your event?  It’s a good point…if you see an envelope addresses to the family, you are safe to take your whole family, but if it only is addressed to the adults, most likely not.  However, the best way to know for sure, is to directly ask the host.

When I held my party last year, although the party ended at a certain time, people stayed around for an extra two hours and wouldn’t leave!  How can I keep this from happening this year?

There are a few things you can do: Read the rest of this entry »

What to do if you have to invite a guest to your kid’s party that is annoying and rude, and generally dampens the party fun for everyone?

This situation can often arise when you have a small child and the celebration includes the whole family ~ and the annoying person is one of the VIPs of your family circle! This is a common situation, and one that you will have a hard time avoiding. So, it is all about managing the person at the party…here are some ideas for how to handle your guest: Read the rest of this entry »

Is it appropriate to give out prizes at kids’ parties or does it lead to too much competition at an otherwise fun, relaxed party?

Way back when, the only way that party guests got to take anything home from the party was if you won a prize playing a party game.  Yes, it lead to the kids being a bit competitive with one another, but there was something really special about it…if you won, you, along with the birthday kid, of course, each got stuff at the party.  The kids cared and thought “How lucky!”  It was a big deal because stuff at kids’ parties was a limited resource…you didn’t just “get something” for attending.

Read the rest of this entry »