Do some parents truly welcome siblings when venues have limits?

[Anonymous]

I am having an all class party plus added some family friends and former classmates. I tried to be very inclusive.

I’m genuinely curious if these people who want to bring siblings to a classmate party welcome all classmates to bring siblings.

A class of 25 ALL have at least one sibling so your party of 25 can become 50-60 kids. Party rooms at any party venue don’t fit 50+ kids plus parents.

[Anonymous]

It can certainly be done if it’s important to you / your kid. My son recently had his bday party in a huge space. It was a nerf party and the guy setting it up brought like 40 nerf guns. We had people rsvp the day of (ugh!) and people bring siblings with no heads up. I was glad I got to respond with grace (“of course your 4 kids are welcome!”) instead of stress.

Here’s why it worked - venue space wasn’t per kid; I didn’t do party bags; I purchased two sheet cakes to be safe (and went through both of them!) and the party was 1-3 pm so just had snacks, no meal.

I think if you’re doing it at a “pay per kid” venue, most parents will be sensitive to bringing extra siblings.

[Anonymous]

Usually no, but most will takes siblings on a case by case basis if they have extra space. There's always someone who is solo parenting for the day and needs to bring their two kids, and most birthday parties I've been to, the family will allow it rather than have the invited guest decline altogether.

I'll add that it's important to state "no siblings" on the invite if your venue has space constraints. My daughter was invited to a classmate's party she the parents didn't specify on the invite and a bunch of guests RSVPed for their kids and siblings. It got to the point that anyone invited who RSVPed later had to be uninvited, because they ran out of space in the party room. Better to be clear up front than to have to turn away invited guests.

[Anonymous]

I’m often cool with siblings because they’re similar age to my other kid or because we haven’t hit the minimum for the venue so it’s no extra cost. But I never do whole class parties.

[Anonymous]

Being able to accommodate siblings was important to me, and so it factored in when I planned parties. There were definitely venues that I didn’t consider because of that.

As someone who often didn’t have another parent at home on weekends, due to a first responder spouse, I was grateful when people let me bring both kids, and appreciative if they made it clear that no siblings were invited on the invite. When neither of these things happen it’s awkward.

[Anonymous]

We did, because my child was special needs and we often got a poor response to party invitations.

[Anonymous]

We did, rented out a small ice rink for a set cost but the capacity was big, like 150 skaters. I guess we paid extra for the skate rental for the siblings but it was like $2/head, and the rink itself was not expensive. Or we once rented out a municipal indoor play place and cut the cost by sharing it was another party we didn’t know (an option when you booked it), but our capacity was still huge (like 100 kids or something) so sure, bring siblings.

The ceramics party and the indoor climbing party, no siblings and the groups were also smaller - not all class.

Are you the same poster that keeps posting about siblings and evite timing?

[Anonymous]

All class parties don't need siblings because it's a class party.

[Anonymous]

We always included siblings, but 1) never invited an entire 25-kid class, and 2) had parties at places like parks and playgrounds.

[Anonymous]

I have multiple kids. When my kids were younger and I hosted a party, if it wasn't a drop off party - I said siblings welcome.

[Anonymous]

We never did but also never invited more than 10-15 kids total.

The only exception was the year there was an ice storm and the venue we had planned closed and the roads were virtually impossible to drive. Last minute pivot is we invited any families in walking distance to come to our house and hosted parents, sibs and the original guest. Worked out well since we already had food, activities, favor bags and so on for even more kids than we'd originally invited.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It can certainly be done if it’s important to you / your kid. My son recently had his bday party in a huge space. It was a nerf party and the guy setting it up brought like 40 nerf guns. We had people rsvp the day of (ugh!) and people bring siblings with no heads up. I was glad I got to respond with grace (“of course your 4 kids are welcome!”) instead of stress.

Here’s why it worked - venue space wasn’t per kid; I didn’t do party bags; I purchased two sheet cakes to be safe (and went through both of them!) and the party was 1-3 pm so just had snacks, no meal.

I think if you’re doing it at a “pay per kid” venue, most parents will be sensitive to bringing extra siblings.

Cheapo

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It can certainly be done if it’s important to you / your kid. My son recently had his bday party in a huge space. It was a nerf party and the guy setting it up brought like 40 nerf guns. We had people rsvp the day of (ugh!) and people bring siblings with no heads up. I was glad I got to respond with grace (“of course your 4 kids are welcome!”) instead of stress.

Here’s why it worked - venue space wasn’t per kid; I didn’t do party bags; I purchased two sheet cakes to be safe (and went through both of them!) and the party was 1-3 pm so just had snacks, no meal.

I think if you’re doing it at a “pay per kid” venue, most parents will be sensitive to bringing extra siblings.

I had a paintball party once with middle school boys. I was really surprised people were still asking if siblings could come. Of course I said yes but this is way passed the age of drop off. Most people carpooled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It can certainly be done if it’s important to you / your kid. My son recently had his bday party in a huge space. It was a nerf party and the guy setting it up brought like 40 nerf guns. We had people rsvp the day of (ugh!) and people bring siblings with no heads up. I was glad I got to respond with grace (“of course your 4 kids are welcome!”) instead of stress.

Here’s why it worked - venue space wasn’t per kid; I didn’t do party bags; I purchased two sheet cakes to be safe (and went through both of them!) and the party was 1-3 pm so just had snacks, no meal.

I think if you’re doing it at a “pay per kid” venue, most parents will be sensitive to bringing extra siblings.

Cheapo

Unhinged take

[Anonymous]

I always invited siblings when my birthday kid was too young for drop off parties because I wanted to make it easier for people to attend. Not everybody has a spouse at home on weekends to watch the other kid(s). These parties were always fairly low-key, no pricy per-head venues. Once kids are drop-off age I don't invite siblings.