if you plan an outdoor birthday party, do you rent a rain location?

[Anonymous]

I am planning a largish outdoor birthday party for my 3 children and my husband (their birthdays are all close to each other). I have rented a large pavilion at a park, but I am stressing about what I will do if it rains. We live in a townhouse, so our house is out of the question for this many people. I have located two community centers in our area that we could inquire about renting, but the cost to rent one of those would be more than the pavilion, and since there is a 95% chance we won't need it, I'd really rather not spend that much. The church where my son goes to preschool has a fellowship hall that would work so I may inquire about that, but it is looking to be pretty difficult to find the kind of venue I'm looking for without breaking the bank.

Wwyd in this situation? Just risk getting rained out? Call local churches? I already tried to get the clubhouse in my neighborhood and it is not available on the date of the party. We could try just going on with the party under the pavilion, but it would be crowded and depressing and with that number of young children people would end up wet and muddy ... not the festive atmosphere I had envisioned. Surely someone else has faced this dilemma and can advise. TIA!

[Anonymous]

Either squish everyone into your house or cancel the party day before/day of and plan a rain date.

[Anonymous]

Church hall is a good idea

[Anonymous]

We had a similar situation. we decided that if the forecast was ugly the day before, we would change it from a party to an open house and ask people to come by between 11 am and 5 pm or whatever.

[Anonymous]

I scheduled the pavilion and my community's party room for the same date and time slot.

Luckily it didn't rain.

Another thing I've seen is a foot note in the invitation mentioning a rain date.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I scheduled the pavilion and my community's party room for the same date and time slot.

Luckily it didn't rain.

Another thing I've seen is a foot note in the invitation mentioning a rain date.

OP here. This is what I planned to do too, but the party room is not available. (The neighborhood swim team gets first dibs on it, so even though I asked about it 3 months out, it was already taken by them).

I thought about a rain date, but I can't afford to rent the pavilion twice. (It was $300). There is another pavilion at a playground close to my house that you can't reserve, so I could do it there and risk running into someone else wanting to have a party. My bigger worry about a rain date is that many fewer people would be able to attend then because they will have made other plans. I am still looking into churches. I guess I'm just going to call every single one in the vicinity and see if I can find one willing to rent me their fellowship hall for a reasonable price. The one where my son attends preschool has a wedding that day so that one is out.

Thanks for all the suggestions -- keep them coming!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I scheduled the pavilion and my community's party room for the same date and time slot.

Luckily it didn't rain.

Another thing I've seen is a foot note in the invitation mentioning a rain date.

OP here. This is what I planned to do too, but the party room is not available. (The neighborhood swim team gets first dibs on it, so even though I asked about it 3 months out, it was already taken by them).

I thought about a rain date, but I can't afford to rent the pavilion twice. (It was $300). There is another pavilion at a playground close to my house that you can't reserve, so I could do it there and risk running into someone else wanting to have a party. My bigger worry about a rain date is that many fewer people would be able to attend then because they will have made other plans. I am still looking into churches. I guess I'm just going to call every single one in the vicinity and see if I can find one willing to rent me their fellowship hall for a reasonable price. The one where my son attends preschool has a wedding that day so that one is out.

Thanks for all the suggestions -- keep them coming!

see if you can re-schedule the pavilion for a date that your community room is still available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I scheduled the pavilion and my community's party room for the same date and time slot.

Luckily it didn't rain.

Another thing I've seen is a foot note in the invitation mentioning a rain date.

OP here. This is what I planned to do too, but the party room is not available. (The neighborhood swim team gets first dibs on it, so even though I asked about it 3 months out, it was already taken by them).

I thought about a rain date, but I can't afford to rent the pavilion twice. (It was $300). There is another pavilion at a playground close to my house that you can't reserve, so I could do it there and risk running into someone else wanting to have a party. My bigger worry about a rain date is that many fewer people would be able to attend then because they will have made other plans. I am still looking into churches. I guess I'm just going to call every single one in the vicinity and see if I can find one willing to rent me their fellowship hall for a reasonable price. The one where my son attends preschool has a wedding that day so that one is out.

Thanks for all the suggestions -- keep them coming!

see if you can re-schedule the pavilion for a date that your community room is still available.

that's a thought. I had already told a lot of people about the date but this far out I could probably still get away with changing it. I will look into it.

[Anonymous]

I'd keep pavillion and tell people you're having the party come rain or shine. The thing is that if it rains, a lot of people will no show. They won't want their kids to get wet or the idea of going outside won't appeal. It will cut down a lot on the attendance. Probably in fact your party will become the parents with toddlers and cooped up pre-schoolers who just don't give a <beep>...

I'd make sure there's a close by bathroom and if it rains, I'd bring a rubbermaid plastic bin with dry towels in it, in case kids need to get rubbed down or whatever.

[Anonymous]

Huh. I'd think the rented pavilion would be enough to keep the rain off. We rented something like this for my DSS' birthday party when he was about... 8? Anyway, it absolutely POURED rain but it was still warm. We did food/cake/pinata in the pavilion and then kids ran around like crazy in the rain. They had a blast, actually!

I've been trying to figure out how to have a park party without a pavilion or rain location