What happened to birthday parties at home or at a park?

[Anonymous]

It seems like all the birthday parties I hear about for 2, 3, 4 year olds are at kids gyms, or other rental spaces.
Are there families out there who look down or are offended by an invitation to a party at home or a park?
Obviously in the winter it is too cold to be outside, and the host family might not want a bunch of active kids in their nice house.

I am mainly wondering whether we will offend friends' parents who have hosted us at expensive venues if our summer birthday is just outside at a park?

From my perspective, young kids have fun getting together and playing outside, and I will make an effort to provide good food and a fun time for everyone...

[Anonymous]

No, in fact the best party we ever attended was at a park. I think it's just that home/park parties are a lot more work, especially if you're inviting a lot of kids. That's why starting when she was 4, we've had our daughter's parties at rental places.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your question OP. I wonder the same thing. We are planning to have our DD's 6th B-day party at a park near our home this summer. It will be simple, with cake, balloons, and maybe a small, inexpensive toy for each kid. The park has water during summer months, so the kids can bring their suits. Hopefully they will enjoy it. My DD has attended several other parties, to include one where a magician entertained the kids, and one which included a trip to a local theater where all kids got to see a live performance. I prefer a low-key event with about 6 or 7 kids, max. Is there anyone out there who'd be offended, esp. if they organized a more elaborate party, maybe something like the ones I mentioned above?

[Anonymous]

Backyard and park is all we've ever done. If we had a wintertime birthday I'd think otherwise--we couldn't have so many people comfortably inside our current living space.

[Anonymous]

Ive done them all at home or in the park, until a birthday fell within the week I was due with a 4th child. Then we had it at a nature center in Arlington. I asked a friend about the nature center because I thought it was the coolest lowkey place and perfect and inexpensive. She said she went to a birthday party there and she thought it was gross and she almost threw up. Needless to say, we did not invite her daughter! Absolutely everyone else who went thought it was great. We are back to doing parties at home but snobs will be snobs no matter what! The only thing about the park parties is that you need a plan B or a rain date plan.

[Anonymous]

I love home parties th emost but it is A LOT of work...and more $ than you think. I always have WAY too much food b/c I get scared about running out of food or something...

[Anonymous]

I had a winter at home party for my 5 year old and I still have parents telling me that it was a good time. Luckily we had good weather so we could be inside and out. I like them because they are more low key and the parents like to get to know each other better. Plus, kids this young don't need lots of moolah spent on them to have a memorable party. It's more for the parents, IMO. The downside to having one at home is that they seem to be more work (more like damage control) plus you need to have plenty of fall back plans in case a game or craft turns out to be a dud.

[Anonymous]

I live in a small house in Arlington. Everyone at our child's pre-school has invited the whole class to the parties so far.

It is too many people for my house, therefore, our child's party will be held at another venue.

[Anonymous]

I said the same thing long ago...I've always had parties in our yard and I think it is a nice thing to do but the fact is, I have spent about $300 every year just on cake, baloons, decorations, snacks and goodie bags, which is about the same price to do it at a gym. So, as much as it may seem extravagant to do it at one of those places, when you compare costs, there's not much of a difference.

[Anonymous]

Offend people by inviting them to your home instead of some mcparty location? People who would be offended by that are not worth inviting.

[Anonymous]

After the post some weeks ago about the little boy excluded from party invites, I asked a colleague about kid parties. We're a few years away from that stage and she seemed to spend most weekends at some extravagant kid birhtday event. There seems to be alot of peer pressure to have these "events" and even the parents are annoyed if their kid is invited to a park after they shelled out $$$ for some crazy glam party. I asked if all the kids were invited to the park parties and she said that usually they were, but that normally it was a smallish group at the $$$ glam party - but her husband was alwas annoyed when they invited to the park!. After reading the heartbreaking exclusion post and responses it seems to me that fun, park / home parties where all the kids could be invited are the way to go. My goal is to raise a good kid who is able to make and keep friends and I pray he does not grow up to be a meanie.
XO
Mom

[Anonymous]

My experience has actually been the opposite. The out-of-home parties tend to be larger and more inclusive; the at-home parties tend to be the ones that are limited to the birthday child's closest friends. (I have no problem with either.) Having 20 kids at your house or trying to keep track of them at the playground is a lot more daunting than hosting 20 kids at a gym.

[Anonymous]

We live in a small DC rowhouse, so parties at our house weren't really a viable (and fun) option. We generally do a pool party at the pool we belong to. It remains fairly inexpensive - pizza, drinks, cake, and pool. And, I have never gotten the vibe that someone was insulted.

[Anonymous]

We've done home birthday parties for 10-15 kids for the first few years - guest list has been a combination of school friends, neighborhood kids and children of our college friends. This year for the first time we are doing a party at a rental place, I switched b/c the home parties were a lot of work, stressful to me, and it took days to put my house back together again (it has rained the last 2 years and we had to entertain everyone inside). For me it is strictly a matter of wanting to enjoy my child's party, and not be stressing about whether it's going to rain on my treasure hunt, if someone has stuck silly putty in my DVD player, who has allergies, etc. etc. It has nothing to do with keeping up with the Jones or impressing anyone, and I certainly don't keep score of who has spent what on birthday parties. I can't imagine any normal person looking down on a home or park party - I'm in awe of parents who can pull those off without being stressed. I'm just not a natural born hostess of large groups of kids.

Re: the size of the guest list...DC is 6 and still at that stage where everyone is a best friend so we invite all the children in the class who share DC's gender. Once DC is older, I would like to transition to smaller celebrations with 2 or 3 close friends for a special outing.

Do what feels right to you. Goody bags are overrated. Kids really do just enjoy hanging out together, running around, etc. Home baked cupcakes are a treat - kids don't care how fancy they are or aren't.

[Anonymous]

I tried to fight the "party at an alternative location" trend, because until I was there, it seemed ostentatious. I grew up with parties at home, dagnabbit! And we liked it!

Only we couldn't fit many people in our house, and our kid is of the "y'all come" persuasion, so while we don't have fancy parties, we do have them at our neighborhood's community house. It's not that expensive, and we don't have to worry about the weather.