Birthday party etiquette

KBarry

Our 4 year old has been invited to the birthday party of one of the other kid's at her playschool. She is really excited about it, and I'd love her to go.

But how do they work? I know we'd have to get her wee friend a present but do we just drop her off and leave her there until they ring us to pick her up. Or is it normal for parents to stay at the party too?

James Jones

KBarry wrote: »

But how do they work? I know we'd have to get her wee friend a present

YES

but do we just drop her off and leave her there until they ring us to pick her up.

NO!!!

Or is it normal for parents to stay at the party too?

Unfortunately.

I can't believe you would consider leaving your 4 year old child in the care of strangers who have to look after loads of other 4 year olds. Do you think they'll be able to ring all the parents?

mfceiling

To be fair I dropped my 3 year old at a birthday party a couple of weeks ago for 2 hours on a Sunday morning...it was her best friend at Montessori.

I went home (3mins away) and collected her 2 hours later. She had a great time and talked about it for days afterwards. I don't think you should have to stay if you know the parents any way at all.....again to balance it out, we know the dad quite well from meeting him at school every day.

When we have parties at home for our girls we find that some parents stay but most are glad of the break!!

SusieBlue

James Jones wrote: »

I can't believe you would consider leaving your 4 year old child in the care of strangers who have to look after loads of other 4 year olds. Do you think they'll be able to ring all the parents?

That depends. If the party is on at the child's home there won't be enough space for all the parents.

If you know the family somewhat I'd eave her. Just make sure the parents have your number.

Davidth88

KBarry wrote: »

Our 4 year old has been invited to the birthday party of one of the other kid's at her playschool. She is really excited about it, and I'd love her to go.

But how do they work? I know we'd have to get her wee friend a present but do we just drop her off and leave her there until they ring us to pick her up. Or is it normal for parents to stay at the party too?

Hi

the way it seems to work .

a) The invite should have a start and end time
b) Drop your child off , make sure they are happy , know someone and have an adult who can help them with toilet etc. Ensure the person in charge knows your number in case of emergency.
c) Have a prezzie ( not too expensive )
d) Leave the child there , return just BEFORE the end time , pick your dirty/fed/happy child up and say thank you and leave

Now if you know the parents well , and want to help out , then stay , but don't stay unless you do , because otherwise you will be seen as a little over protective .

highly1111

Davidth88 wrote: »

Hi

the way it seems to work .

a) The invite should have a start and end time
b) Drop your child off , make sure they are happy , know someone and have an adult who can help them with toilet etc. Ensure the person in charge knows your number in case of emergency.
c) Have a prezzie ( not too expensive )
d) Leave the child there , return just BEFORE the end time , pick your dirty/fed/happy child up and say thank you and leave

Now if you know the parents well , and want to help out , then stay , but don't stay unless you do , because otherwise you will be seen as a little over protective .

+1

Also, character pajamas make the best pressies. Both from my and my 4 year old's point of view!!

RetailChick

KBarry wrote: »

Our 4 year old has been invited to the birthday party of one of the other kid's at her playschool. She is really excited about it, and I'd love her to go.

But how do they work? I know we'd have to get her wee friend a present but do we just drop her off and leave her there until they ring us to pick her up. Or is it normal for parents to stay at the party too?

As the parent of a nearly 6 year old we have been both the hosts and guests at house and "away" parties from the age of 2!

Hosts point of view for house party- I really hoped that the parents would drop their child and collect at the agreed time. Times had been stated on invites. We were busy enough running around after kids and relatives without entertaining the kids parents.........in 4 years only 1 parent decided to stay for the duration. I will add he spent his time eating my mothers sandwiches and drinking bottles of Heineken while we watched his son :rolleyes:

Host point of view for "away" parties- Again happy for parents to drop and go, I always made sure I had family on hand to help out so the parent:child ratio worked. This included bowling, cinema and tgi's and fun fitness. No parents stayed for this.

As guests when my child was invited to a house party we stayed until we felt our child was ok ( in fairness he was buzzing with the other children and couldn't have cared less where we were!) The houses were all within our estate though so we were only a couple of minutes away in an emergency. In regards to away parties I stayed, main reason was older children were invited and I sussed pretty quickly on arrival it was only the Mum staying with 20 + children.

Definitely get a gift, character bed spreads are great and not too expensive. Trust your instincts and don't be afraid to ask questions.

anncoates

James Jones wrote: »

NO!!!

Not necessarily.

All my (5 year old) son's crèche friends have had their parties in closed play centers and on more than one occasion, the party has been supervised and mostly in a private area so the parents were told to come back later.

That said, there's usually a coffee area you can wait if you want.

Best just to ask at the party.

Best also to get a gift. It doesn't have to be expensive.