Maybe. Both mine napped well into 4. |
Never heard of a daycare that does not have naptime for 3 year olds. |
My kids napped at 3, but wouldn't have had trouble going down early and taking a somewhat shorter nap to get to a party. At 1 or young 2, that would have been hard, but at 3 it would have been fine. Playground in the morning, lunch at 11:30, asleep by noon and wake up at 1:30. |
Until 4pm? That's pretty late and a lot of kids are looking at books or doing other things quietly. A few people might not make it if they are nap sticklers, but then again you can't please anyone no matter what the time. 2-4 seems safe for most. |
A lot of 3 year olds don’t nap and for many who do it’s not a big deal to skip a nap. Just don’t go if you have an issue with it. |
Maybe at daycare as they are forced to, but kids not in daycare don’t usually nap at 3 or stop shortly thereafter. |
Lots of kids not in daycare nap at 3. My kids were in half day preschool, and most of their friends napped. |
Mine too, but after lunch until about 2. If my 3 year old slept until 4pm there's no way they would have gone to bed at a decent hour. 2-4 seems late for a nap at that age which is why a 2-4pm party time is appropriate. Come late if the nap runs a bit late or just pass. |
My kid napped until the first day of kindergarten. 😄 But of course I knew many kids who stopped much earlier. Everyone is different!
I would graciously decline the invitation. |
I don’t think anyone’s suggesting 3yos are napping 2-4. I think people are suggesting that a lot of them are napping 1-3 or at least 1-2, and unless the party of for your next door neighbour that would make attendance pretty hard. Especially since I’d assume the invitees to a birthday party for a kid turning 3 are at least half 2yos. But tbf no time is going to work for all — morning and you’ll miss the non-morning people who struggle to get out of the house before 11 (yes I know people like this even with little kids); over lunch and the kids arrive hangry and the cleanup and prep will be terrible; afternoon and you’ll hit someone’s nap time; evening and you’ll miss the kids who’ve dropped their nap. I’m guessing this is a family where 2 is a consistently good time for their kid. It’sa terrible time for mine so I’d probably pass. ![]() |
2-4 is the perfect time to not have to feed anyone lunch or dinner. I'm curious if this is the real plan. |
OMG I thought this was directed at ME! I just sent an invite for my daughter's 3-year old birthday party and was struggling to pick a time. Her schooldays with her friends is from noon-3:30PM so I figured the children would be accustomed to being awake and eating a sit down meal (lunch) at that age is not easy. So we just figured 2-4 and have pizza and snacks. Parents are scary lol. I don't want to anger anyone but yikes. Strong feelings about nap times. |
We’re doing 2-5 for our tot but people can come early or stay late. Is that better? We figured post nap. |
FWIW, I was very protective of naptime when my kids still napped, but I can't imagine being angry at you for having a party during what happens to be my kid's naptime. If your kid were a very close friend of my kid's, I might have even risked skipping naptime, but even if I wasn't going to skip naptime, I would not expect you to arrange your party around my kid's schedule. |
My kids (2 and 4) have morning classes on weekends and are very take it or leave it with naps, so mid-afternoon parties happen to work best for us. We also recognize that there is a lot of variation among toddlers when it comes to sleep and there is no universally perfect time to throw a party, which is why we don’t fall to pieces or act like something is fundamentally wrong or think someone is out to get us if a party starts at a time that doesn’t perfectly conform to our schedule or preferences. |