Best time of day for a 2 year old Birthday Party?

[Anonymous]

Was wondering what time range is best for my 2 year's B-Day party. Ages will be 2 and 3's.
We will be keeping it simple for everyone - snacks and crafts. We won't be serving lunch or dinner.
What seems to work best in your experience?
Pre-nap, 10-11:30 am or (after naps) 3:30/4:00 - 5:00/5:30?
Thanks!

[Anonymous]

pre-nap with lunch - there will be a brief post-cake frenzy, and then everybody will leave by 2:00-

[Anonymous]

i did 11-1 for my son's 2nd birthday.

personally, late afternoon never works for us...my son inevitably naps late or wakes up cranky. alot of kids nap until 4 too, which makes it hard to do 3:30 or 4:00 parties.

[Anonymous]

10-11:30

naps are unpredictable on weekends, and kids are often cranky post-nap

[Anonymous]

I have such strong feelings on this! We had 3 2-year-old birthday parties in a row at 1:00! I say brunch works- like 10-12ish, or really late afternoon- like 4:00-6:00. I personally didn't like my son in the car anywhere after 12:00 until very recently (he's 2 1/2) because he'd fall asleep and then ruin the nap. Depends on where the party is and where people are coming from. We always do ours at 4:00, seems like everyone is up then. Yes, some kids go to bed at 6:30 but no problem for them to leave at 6:00 then.

[Anonymous]

Oh, another reason I like the late afternoon... as a mom of a baby too, kids with morning naps conflict with 10 start times. I figure everyone is awake at 4:00, and no one is cranky where there is cake!!

[Anonymous]

For ages 2 & 3, there aren't morning naps (usually). But they usually do take a late nap between 1pm and 4pm (somewhere in there, depending on the child...some even as late as 5pm). I can never make it with my 2 year old to late afternoon functions, because he wakes sometimes at 4:30 or 5 when he's had a busy morning.

We just did our party from 11am-12:30pm and everyone thanked me for doing it when most every kid aged 2-3 years old is awake, happy and ready to eat lunch/cake. They all left and went home to crash for a long nap after all the excitement.

I also think 10am-1130am works, but it's hard to squeeze in lunch & cake... or if you just serve cake, you'll ruin their lunch after they leave.

If a Mom has to bring a younger sibling along, morning or afternoon will probably hit a nap. Just focus on the 2 & 3 year olds and don't worry too much about it.

[Anonymous]

OP Here. I think I'm going to do the morning time and serve healthy snacks for the kids and have them also decorate their own cupcake that they can take home.