Do some parents truly welcome siblings when venues have limits?

[Anonymous]

We don't do all class parties, so yeah. My DD has a summer birthday, so her parties tend to be small anyway, and a few extra kids are very welcome.

[Anonymous]

we learned and found venues that you pay per room/flat fee vs. per child.

Any suggestions in NOVA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DCs had all-class parties until they were 10 or 11. In most venues, I asked for RSVPs in advance for siblings - for food, planning, etc. in a few venues, I kept it to invites only because the venue had a restricted number for equipment or bc of space constraints.

I genuinely didn’t mind siblings with RSVPs. I did mind those that just turned up like it was an entitlement. 1) some venues cost $50/kid, so bringing 4 siblings (I kid you not) was a significant unexpected expense. 2] we always did party favors and sometimes the younger siblings would whine because they didn’t get one because the RSVPs were prioritized. 3) sometimes, it’s just not appropriate to have very young siblings tag along for things like laser tag or paintball. It ruins it for the older kids because they have to be careful of the younger ones. 4) if you’ve prepared food and drinks with the venue for X people, sometimes they aren’t prepared for X + Y, not to mention the adults who are facilitating or helping the kids for different activities like climbing need to be in a certain ratio for safety and if you just show up it throws the ratio off.

We've had people bring 4 siblings along with friends or other family members. Ironically they were the families who didn't bring a gift and one child even had the nerve to ask for a goody bag, which I don't do. It really depends on the venue, after the first year that cost a fortune and people took advantage of it, we learned and found venues that you pay per room/flat fee vs. per child.

Does anyone actually want people to bring gifts?? The consumerism is wild to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DCs had all-class parties until they were 10 or 11. In most venues, I asked for RSVPs in advance for siblings - for food, planning, etc. in a few venues, I kept it to invites only because the venue had a restricted number for equipment or bc of space constraints.

I genuinely didn’t mind siblings with RSVPs. I did mind those that just turned up like it was an entitlement. 1) some venues cost $50/kid, so bringing 4 siblings (I kid you not) was a significant unexpected expense. 2] we always did party favors and sometimes the younger siblings would whine because they didn’t get one because the RSVPs were prioritized. 3) sometimes, it’s just not appropriate to have very young siblings tag along for things like laser tag or paintball. It ruins it for the older kids because they have to be careful of the younger ones. 4) if you’ve prepared food and drinks with the venue for X people, sometimes they aren’t prepared for X + Y, not to mention the adults who are facilitating or helping the kids for different activities like climbing need to be in a certain ratio for safety and if you just show up it throws the ratio off.

We've had people bring 4 siblings along with friends or other family members. Ironically they were the families who didn't bring a gift and one child even had the nerve to ask for a goody bag, which I don't do. It really depends on the venue, after the first year that cost a fortune and people took advantage of it, we learned and found venues that you pay per room/flat fee vs. per child.

Does anyone actually want people to bring gifts?? The consumerism is wild to me.

Yes, elementary kids like gifts.

We have a seven figure income and my kids still love getting gifts at their birthday parties.

I have also attended no gift parties and see the birthday child look happy and poking around the gift table. What kid doesn’t like gifts???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DCs had all-class parties until they were 10 or 11. In most venues, I asked for RSVPs in advance for siblings - for food, planning, etc. in a few venues, I kept it to invites only because the venue had a restricted number for equipment or bc of space constraints.

I genuinely didn’t mind siblings with RSVPs. I did mind those that just turned up like it was an entitlement. 1) some venues cost $50/kid, so bringing 4 siblings (I kid you not) was a significant unexpected expense. 2] we always did party favors and sometimes the younger siblings would whine because they didn’t get one because the RSVPs were prioritized. 3) sometimes, it’s just not appropriate to have very young siblings tag along for things like laser tag or paintball. It ruins it for the older kids because they have to be careful of the younger ones. 4) if you’ve prepared food and drinks with the venue for X people, sometimes they aren’t prepared for X + Y, not to mention the adults who are facilitating or helping the kids for different activities like climbing need to be in a certain ratio for safety and if you just show up it throws the ratio off.

We've had people bring 4 siblings along with friends or other family members. Ironically they were the families who didn't bring a gift and one child even had the nerve to ask for a goody bag, which I don't do. It really depends on the venue, after the first year that cost a fortune and people took advantage of it, we learned and found venues that you pay per room/flat fee vs. per child.

Does anyone actually want people to bring gifts?? The consumerism is wild to me.

Yes, elementary kids like gifts.

We have a seven figure income and my kids still love getting gifts at their birthday parties.

I have also attended no gift parties and see the birthday child look happy and poking around the gift table. What kid doesn’t like gifts???

My kids love gifts. We’re not as wealthy as you but we tend to spoil them ourselves and don’t need a bunch of stuff they probably already have. That said, I don’t begrudge people who prefer for their children to get gifts at parties.