The oddest birthday party setup/situation that you have encountered

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Re Midwestern garage parties:

I'm from Ohio, and it is basically using the garage in place of a tent if it's nice enough to be outside. This is what our family and many friends did for graduation parties, etc. You have a shady place to put the food and sit. A garage open to the driveway provides a bigger overall space than a room inside most houses, and kids can run around outside with adults around. Friends and family can wander in and out of the house. I don't see what's so strange about it.

Yep. Ohioan here, too, and it is so common, I can't even think why someone might think it weird. But, now that you mention it, I don't think I've been to an outdoor party in the DC metro area that was in a garage. Maybe just because many people here don't have garages?

And for the original "garage party" poster who asked what to call a party held in a garage, it's called "a party".

No, we have garages out here. We just do not hold parties in them. Garages are grotty places to store your cars, kids' bikes, outdoor equipment like snow shovels, and the like. Parties are of course held outside, but, if so, then on a deck, lawn, patio, etc. People can mill around or go inside, whatever they like. But never is the garage a part of it. The garage is (unless you are one of those people who have paid to have your garage super tarted up like Jay Leno's garage or something like that) really not for anyone outside of the family to see. It would be like, hmm, I don't know, having a party in . . ..hmmm. . .I cannot think of a less appealing part of a house than a garage, actually! I guess: maybe like having a party in your unfinished downstairs storage room, amongst the furnace,ac, w/d, and exposed pipes? Most people would not do this unless they are about 18-22 or a few years removed from college.

[Anonymous]

DD's sister had pretty odd parties for her kids. You had to follow her rules. 1. No shoes in the house 2. You are only allowed to drink water bottles that she provides 3. Her DH will BBQ your hamburger but you can only have one and he will only cook one at a time. You must wait in line for your burger. My favorite rule is 4. You must stick to her child's gift registry for presents. If you don't you will be called out in front of everyone and you will be returning the gift and replacing it. Of course by the time her eldest was 4, people stopped coming to the parties! The most recent one was held at a pizza parlor and was pretty subdued.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD's sister had pretty odd parties for her kids. You had to follow her rules. 1. No shoes in the house 2. You are only allowed to drink water bottles that she provides 3. Her DH will BBQ your hamburger but you can only have one and he will only cook one at a time. You must wait in line for your burger. My favorite rule is 4. You must stick to her child's gift registry for presents. If you don't you will be called out in front of everyone and you will be returning the gift and replacing it. Of course by the time her eldest was 4, people stopped coming to the parties! The most recent one was held at a pizza parlor and was pretty subdued.

Bwahahahaha! Registry for a 2 year old's birthday party!!!! Holly hell!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD's sister had pretty odd parties for her kids. You had to follow her rules. 1. No shoes in the house 2. You are only allowed to drink water bottles that she provides 3. Her DH will BBQ your hamburger but you can only have one and he will only cook one at a time. You must wait in line for your burger. My favorite rule is 4. You must stick to her child's gift registry for presents. If you don't you will be called out in front of everyone and you will be returning the gift and replacing it. Of course by the time her eldest was 4, people stopped coming to the parties! The most recent one was held at a pizza parlor and was pretty subdued.

This is pretty crazy!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most bizarre party was one my DD was not invited to. Every other girl in her 4th grade class was (invites are not supposed to be handed out in class, ha!) Anyway, the birthday girl and her 14 friends were picked up at school on a Friday by a white stretch limo. They were given feather boas and fancy masks and bottles of bubbles. I was picking up my DD so I witnessed this scene. DD was not sad she didn't get invited, she couldn't stand the birthday girl, and she wasn't afraid to show it. Most of the girls that were in the limo couldn't stand her either. Next day on facebook all the pictures were posted. Nothing like 9 year old girls drinking apple cider out of champagne flutes and posing like drunk tramps! I mean over the top stuff! Funny thing is this girl ended up moving away a few years later, and her mom threw a going away party for her at school, then posted pictures making it seem as if the school threw her the party!! Then when they got to their new town, she threw her a "welcome" party and again made it seem as if the entire street gave her precious DD an elaborate party. UGG!

I don't think you get to complain about someone else's party when your child behaves poorly and you, apparently, are proud of that fact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were invited to a party via evite and told something along the lines of "there are a limited number of spots, so not everyone invited will be able to attend." When we opened the evite, we already were too late, and our DC didn't make the cut.

Unreal.

Interesting. We received a similar evite.

Are you sure it wasn't a mistake? A friend of mine clicked the wrong option by accident when setting up an evite invitation, and a similar message went out when people tried to RSVP. She had to email them and say it was a mistake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most bizarre party was one my DD was not invited to. Every other girl in her 4th grade class was (invites are not supposed to be handed out in class, ha!) Anyway, the birthday girl and her 14 friends were picked up at school on a Friday by a white stretch limo. They were given feather boas and fancy masks and bottles of bubbles. I was picking up my DD so I witnessed this scene. DD was not sad she didn't get invited, she couldn't stand the birthday girl, and she wasn't afraid to show it. Most of the girls that were in the limo couldn't stand her either. Next day on facebook all the pictures were posted. Nothing like 9 year old girls drinking apple cider out of champagne flutes and posing like drunk tramps! I mean over the top stuff! Funny thing is this girl ended up moving away a few years later, and her mom threw a going away party for her at school, then posted pictures making it seem as if the school threw her the party!! Then when they got to their new town, she threw her a "welcome" party and again made it seem as if the entire street gave her precious DD an elaborate party. UGG!

I don't think you get to complain about someone else's party when your child behaves poorly and you, apparently, are proud of that fact.

And I don't think you get to claim that the birthday girl's friends couldn't stand her. Sounds like sour grapes to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know if this qualifies - not odd, just over-the-top. After school (on a weekday) birthday party for 6-yr-old girl. Very small house. 16 kids. Lots of family members plus the party company staff of at least 3 or 4. "Spa" themed party including little pink robes for all the girls; they lay down with cucumbers on their eyes; had their nails painted; full makeup put on; hair done, etc. They were suppoed to bring their princess dresses. Once they were all dolled/dressed up, Princess Belle arrived and everyone had photo ops with her. When the parents were arriving to pick up, closing in on 6:00pm, they were only just getting to the cake. The next week the mom sent everyone the 500+ photos that were taken by the party company to document every moment.

God, what a bitch you are PP. A mom tries to do something fun for her daughter and includes yours and you have to comment on the size of her house. My 6 year-old DD would have loved what you described AND it was a drop-off on a school night? What is your problem--they're 6! They don't have board meetings the next morning!

DING DING....Irony Alert! Who is being nasty?

Welcome internaut! Congratulations on the mastery of the: 'ding, ding, ding' expression and the discovery of irony.

Congratulations on your entree into the less-than-exclusive club you and the 2nd PP are in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Re Midwestern garage parties:

I'm from Ohio, and it is basically using the garage in place of a tent if it's nice enough to be outside. This is what our family and many friends did for graduation parties, etc. You have a shady place to put the food and sit. A garage open to the driveway provides a bigger overall space than a room inside most houses, and kids can run around outside with adults around. Friends and family can wander in and out of the house. I don't see what's so strange about it.

Yep. Ohioan here, too, and it is so common, I can't even think why someone might think it weird. But, now that you mention it, I don't think I've been to an outdoor party in the DC metro area that was in a garage. Maybe just because many people here don't have garages?

And for the original "garage party" poster who asked what to call a party held in a garage, it's called "a white trash party".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD's sister had pretty odd parties for her kids. You had to follow her rules. 1. No shoes in the house 2. You are only allowed to drink water bottles that she provides 3. Her DH will BBQ your hamburger but you can only have one and he will only cook one at a time. You must wait in line for your burger. My favorite rule is 4. You must stick to her child's gift registry for presents. If you don't you will be called out in front of everyone and you will be returning the gift and replacing it. Of course by the time her eldest was 4, people stopped coming to the parties! The most recent one was held at a pizza parlor and was pretty subdued.

Crazy. I have seen people enforce the water bottle rule at teenagers' parties. The hosts will typically buy water bottles of a brand that isn't popular and those are the only bottles allowed in - prevents teens from sneaking in alcohol in a Deer Park bottle bc the parents would know right away, as they didn't buy the DP brand. If this concern is arising at a 4 yr old's party - they need new friends.

[Anonymous]

OMG reading about all these folks imprisoned in the yards of hosts makes me glad I have old carpets and casual furniture! Seriously, y'all come to my house, it's not fancy but there's soup and chili in the crockpots, the kids can play and not only can you sit on my furniture you're welcome to prop your feet on the coffee table as well! Wow. You can't fix crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Re Midwestern garage parties:

I'm from Ohio, and it is basically using the garage in place of a tent if it's nice enough to be outside. This is what our family and many friends did for graduation parties, etc. You have a shady place to put the food and sit. A garage open to the driveway provides a bigger overall space than a room inside most houses, and kids can run around outside with adults around. Friends and family can wander in and out of the house. I don't see what's so strange about it.

Yep. Ohioan here, too, and it is so common, I can't even think why someone might think it weird. But, now that you mention it, I don't think I've been to an outdoor party in the DC metro area that was in a garage. Maybe just because many people here don't have garages?

And for the original "garage party" poster who asked what to call a party held in a garage, it's called "a party".

No, we have garages out here. We just do not hold parties in them. Garages are grotty places to store your cars, kids' bikes, outdoor equipment like snow shovels, and the like. Parties are of course held outside, but, if so, then on a deck, lawn, patio, etc. People can mill around or go inside, whatever they like. But never is the garage a part of it. The garage is (unless you are one of those people who have paid to have your garage super tarted up like Jay Leno's garage or something like that) really not for anyone outside of the family to see. It would be like, hmm, I don't know, having a party in . . ..hmmm. . .I cannot think of a less appealing part of a house than a garage, actually! I guess: maybe like having a party in your unfinished downstairs storage room, amongst the furnace,ac, w/d, and exposed pipes? Most people would not do this unless they are about 18-22 or a few years removed from college.

You are a treat. Oh, AND you are invited to the annual family reunion next summer. Jeff and Betty hold it primarily in their *gasp* garage. Which they clean before the party, an idea which I guess has never occurred to you. It's potluck, but they buy the brats and dogs and buns. After dinner there sack races, water balloon fights, a baseball game, or a trip to the river. Please come. It's awesome. So long as your guests' comfort is well provided for, you're good. Even in the garage.

[Anonymous]

I'm from upstate NY and we had parties in the garage too. Most of the houses are pretty old (100+ years), central air is not common, and open floor plans are rare. It's hard to throw a good party in the houses there. The garage (with shade and a level floor) is really the most comfortable place for an uber casual gathering. In DH's hometown, it's very common to use a large screen door for your garage in the summer and use it as an outdoor living space.

[Anonymous]

I'm from Ohio and have spent time in upstate NY including college. Have never been to a garage party or heard of it until now. Why can't people hang out on the porch/patio and inside the house? The garage is for cars and storing your mower.

[Anonymous]

Oh the evite party was not a mistake. It was clearly stated by the hostess in the note section of the evite. B/c of the venue, there were a limited number of spots.