Birthday party question: can I do this?

[Anonymous]

Costco cake is huge and $20. Do make your own sandwiches and done. Why spend all that on a bounce house. Just go to an open jump instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is really weird. So you will be serving full on dinner/lunch, but not to everyone? I don't see how you think people will be fine showing up at 4pm, and see the whole table with proper sit down lunch and them coming after? Plus, why are you catering to your adult parents paranoia? Your kid is having a party and it is all about the parents? Are your parents those snowflake boomers people post about on dcum? Who cares what old geezer grandparents want. Have them come at the end. Geez.
I don't see a way around this without offending people.

Because we actually enjoy the quiet party time with family, too. We like the small gathering at home with grandparents and cousins.

I just thought if I was renting it for a day, I could have some kids come jump.

Oh! Maybe the kids can come in the morning???? Hmmm. That might work. I could have friends and kids at 10. No cake. Just a select few kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

We can’t do two separate parties because the cousins must come to the family party and the cousins will also love the bounce house.

I suppose I could do friends from 2-3, but then they’ll miss cake. Unless I do cake at 3, and then dinner at 5 for family. But isn’t that backwards?

Are you ocd or a very anxious person? Are these your anxious parents that you are talking about? How are you going to make sure friends leave in one hour? And miss cake? Would you serve lunch then? You need to stop with this insanity, and just invite all at the same time and do some type of spread. Grandparents can stay inside if they are uncomfortable. Nobody invites kids to one hour only, I have never seen an invite for an hour. I have also hosted and been to tons of parties, you can't kick people out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just don’t want to pay to feed everyone. I’m sorry, but I don’t. But I do want to share the bounce house and cake! But I don’t want the double platters of food, and before I know it it’s dinner and I’m feeding everyone.

I would do it at 2 then. Have family come at 12:30 for lunch.

I have another baby who naps.

Then the timing works even better!

Family comes over for lunch. Kids are invited in the afternoon. Nobody would expect a meal for a 2pm party. It’s obviously just going to be cake and bounce house at that point.

What time do they pick up the bounce house? If it’s 5 it could be awkward if a kid arrives at 4:30 and the guy is ready to take it down at 5. Whenever you invite kids to play, you should allocate at least 2 hours for the activity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is really weird. So you will be serving full on dinner/lunch, but not to everyone? I don't see how you think people will be fine showing up at 4pm, and see the whole table with proper sit down lunch and them coming after? Plus, why are you catering to your adult parents paranoia? Your kid is having a party and it is all about the parents? Are your parents those snowflake boomers people post about on dcum? Who cares what old geezer grandparents want. Have them come at the end. Geez.
I don't see a way around this without offending people.

Because we actually enjoy the quiet party time with family, too. We like the small gathering at home with grandparents and cousins.

I just thought if I was renting it for a day, I could have some kids come jump.

Oh! Maybe the kids can come in the morning???? Hmmm. That might work. I could have friends and kids at 10. No cake. Just a select few kids.

Don’t rent a bounce house. Problem solved.

[Anonymous]

Peaceful and quite party for a 4 year old with a bouncy castle? It seems that anxiety runs high in your family op.

[Anonymous]

OP, I'm not going to be witchy towards you like many love to be to OPs here.

I think if you're going to end up inviting non-family friends around 10am to jump, you still need some kind of refreshments, even if no cake, but them knowing you're inviting because it's your kid's birthday and not having any cake or other celebratory type dessert looks a little odd. It's just the truth.

[Anonymous]

You sound really weird.

[Anonymous]

Well, I did something a little similar once when we rented a bounce house and had a party for school friends. I then texted a bunch of neighborhood friends and said “Larlo has his party with school friends today, but they’re not picking up the bounce house until 8 pm —anyone that wants to swing by and bounce between 5 and 8 is welcome!” I don’t think anyone thought it was rude not to be invited to his preschool party. Maybe you could do something similar and just say “we are having a family party this afternoon but they don’t pick up the bounce house until late. Open bounce at our house from 4 to 7 for anyone that wants to swing by!” But don’t make it like a party because then it’s weird to be invited only for a portion of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, I did something a little similar once when we rented a bounce house and had a party for school friends. I then texted a bunch of neighborhood friends and said “Larlo has his party with school friends today, but they’re not picking up the bounce house until 8 pm —anyone that wants to swing by and bounce between 5 and 8 is welcome!” I don’t think anyone thought it was rude not to be invited to his preschool party. Maybe you could do something similar and just say “we are having a family party this afternoon but they don’t pick up the bounce house until late. Open bounce at our house from 4 to 7 for anyone that wants to swing by!” But don’t make it like a party because then it’s weird to be invited only for a portion of it.

This is more like what I was thinking. Thank you! Good idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I did something a little similar once when we rented a bounce house and had a party for school friends. I then texted a bunch of neighborhood friends and said “Larlo has his party with school friends today, but they’re not picking up the bounce house until 8 pm —anyone that wants to swing by and bounce between 5 and 8 is welcome!” I don’t think anyone thought it was rude not to be invited to his preschool party. Maybe you could do something similar and just say “we are having a family party this afternoon but they don’t pick up the bounce house until late. Open bounce at our house from 4 to 7 for anyone that wants to swing by!” But don’t make it like a party because then it’s weird to be invited only for a portion of it.

This is more like what I was thinking. Thank you! Good idea.

Are you sure you are up to this OP? DP than above. I mean, this pp sounds very relaxed and not against people going in and out. Did it involve a lot of chatting on your part pp? Is your yard open and they just came and left, or did they come through the front door and you had to say hi? OP posted that she wants a relaxing event. Having people come and go till 8pm doesn't sound relaxing, if you are seeing people all day long. If people are able to just come and go without saying a word to OP, that is different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is really weird. So you will be serving full on dinner/lunch, but not to everyone? I don't see how you think people will be fine showing up at 4pm, and see the whole table with proper sit down lunch and them coming after? Plus, why are you catering to your adult parents paranoia? Your kid is having a party and it is all about the parents? Are your parents those snowflake boomers people post about on dcum? Who cares what old geezer grandparents want. Have them come at the end. Geez.
I don't see a way around this without offending people.

Presumably, OP will clear away the lunch food by the time the friend guest arrive, so they will just see family sitting around and the cake. I don't think it's strange to be invited to a friend party and know that there was a family lunch before the party. I'd also be okay with my kid jumping, having cake, and then heading home to eat dinner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is really weird. So you will be serving full on dinner/lunch, but not to everyone? I don't see how you think people will be fine showing up at 4pm, and see the whole table with proper sit down lunch and them coming after? Plus, why are you catering to your adult parents paranoia? Your kid is having a party and it is all about the parents? Are your parents those snowflake boomers people post about on dcum? Who cares what old geezer grandparents want. Have them come at the end. Geez.
I don't see a way around this without offending people.

Presumably, OP will clear away the lunch food by the time the friend guest arrive, so they will just see family sitting around and the cake. I don't think it's strange to be invited to a friend party and know that there was a family lunch before the party. I'd also be okay with my kid jumping, having cake, and then heading home to eat dinner.

Thanks, this is exactly what I was asking.

[Anonymous]

I’d have the kids come in the morning - 10-11. Serve muffins instead of cupcakes (preschool parents will thank you) and get a couple boxes of coffee for the parents. Explain to your friends you’re having a family party later in the day and are so glad they were able to come enjoy the bounce house too! Be prepared to politely kick everyone out at 11:30 (“It was so nice to have you! So sorry we need to shut this down now - need to go get ready for grandma and grandpa! Let’s do it again sometime).

If anyone has a problem with this, that’s their problem, not yours.

[Anonymous]

I dont see anything wrong with inviting friends just for cake. Though I would make each half 30 minutes longer. 1.5 hrs for family 1.5 hr for friends. Family first then friends. It would be weird if you had friends lingering into the family party