Alcohol at child's birthday party

[Anonymous]

I went to a birthday party for nephew turning 4. They had copious amounts of high ABV beers and hardly any other food. Just stale chips and a few cans of seltzer water. They had a bounce house but kicked the kids out so the adults could jump around. They didn’t even have birthday cake or ice cream. Obviously, this get together was just an excuse for adults to drink heavily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to a birthday party for nephew turning 4. They had copious amounts of high ABV beers and hardly any other food. Just stale chips and a few cans of seltzer water. They had a bounce house but kicked the kids out so the adults could jump around. They didn’t even have birthday cake or ice cream. Obviously, this get together was just an excuse for adults to drink heavily.

That sounds fun! Wish I was invited!

[Anonymous]

All the kids parties I have been to in DC had alcohol.

[Anonymous]

I live in DC and beer/wine is definitely the norm at birthday parties in my friend group. No one gets drunk, most people walk or bike to get to the party. I don’t think having 1-2 beers over the course of an afternoon cookout is a big deal at all. I’ve never seen anyone drunk at a kids party.

[Anonymous]

Yes, this is normal at the Arlington, VA BD parties I’ve been to that are hosted at home, not at a venue or public park. I’ve been to many preschool parties with mimosas served.

We’ve never served alcohol because all of our parties have been at a venue (Scramble, trampoline park) or at a public park. Now we’re entering into the age of drop-off parties and I would never drink while supervising other people’s children. I have been offered a glass of wine when picking up kids from a drop-off party. I don’t usually say drink, but I was not offended or worried about my kid’s safety. He was in a fenced yard of a house he walks to by himself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like it's the norm here. I admit I'm not a huge fan, mostly because it seems wild that people can't even enjoy a kids' birthday party without a drink. But it's not like any obvious harm comes from it.

Drunk driving = no obvious harm. Who knew!

If you can't have one drink at a time or designate someone in your party to be a DD you might have a drinking problem. Something to think about.

I do not drink at all. But I know a lot of people who do not stop at one glass of wine or one beer. In my opinion, a parent should be able to drink non-alcoholic beverages. at a child's party. Apparently, you have a drinking problem. Something for you to think about before you drive because you are legally drunk from two glasses of wine or two beers. You keep thinking before you kill someone.

[Anonymous]

I *threw* a birthday party at my house for a 4 year old recently, and for a 7 year old at a venue a month ago. At our house, we had maybe 35 people here in total -- family, friends, family friends. On the kid side, it was really limited to 4 or 5 of my daughter's closest friends and their siblings.

We had coolers of drinks and designated them as "boozy" and "not-boozy." The boozy options were assorted hard seltzers/lemonades & session beers & modelo (typical beer for parties in my neighborhood). The non-boozy options were juice boxes and seltzer. We served a meal and cake. In our city (midwestern) it is extremely common for house parties of any sort to have alcohol at any time of the day -- I don't think I've actually *ever* been to a kid's party at someone's house that didn't have booze, even the brunches. Usually this is lemonade & vodka or mimosas if it's not canned stuff like I mentioned above. I would imagine that obviously this isn't the norm as kids enter the "drop off" age.

No one got wasted or close to it but I do think nearly all of the adults chose "boozy." I don't think anyone would have really cared if the boozy options weren't available, but honestly it was really nice to have a White Claw and talk to other parents in the garden while the kids ripped around our house like little tyrants.

We didn't order beer at the venue for the 7 year old party, which was a more classic "invite everyone in the class, let them play with the arcade games, feed pizza, and dismiss" sort of party.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like it's the norm here. I admit I'm not a huge fan, mostly because it seems wild that people can't even enjoy a kids' birthday party without a drink. But it's not like any obvious harm comes from it.

Drunk driving = no obvious harm. Who knew!

If you can't have one drink at a time or designate someone in your party to be a DD you might have a drinking problem. Something to think about.

I do not drink at all. But I know a lot of people who do not stop at one glass of wine or one beer. In my opinion, a parent should be able to drink non-alcoholic beverages. at a child's party. Apparently, you have a drinking problem. Something for you to think about before you drive because you are legally drunk from two glasses of wine or two beers. You keep thinking before you kill someone.

Sound like you need a bit more education on BAC, which is affected by weight, gender, each person's level of natural alcohol converting enzymes, stomach content while drinking, and time.

https://firststepnc.com/blood-alcohol-content-calculator/

[Anonymous]

I’m from San Antonio and this made me laugh. Birthday parties were often big family events and definitely had some drinking. This was true for the Hispanic side and the white side of my family.

[Anonymous]

That's normal if parents are invited.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like it's the norm here. I admit I'm not a huge fan, mostly because it seems wild that people can't even enjoy a kids' birthday party without a drink. But it's not like any obvious harm comes from it.

Drunk driving = no obvious harm. Who knew!

Why the F would you think people would drive drunk ??

- designated driver
- uber
- a drink early on

Having alcohol available doesn't necessarily mean people will drive drunk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a birthday party for nephew turning 4. They had copious amounts of high ABV beers and hardly any other food. Just stale chips and a few cans of seltzer water. They had a bounce house but kicked the kids out so the adults could jump around. They didn’t even have birthday cake or ice cream. Obviously, this get together was just an excuse for adults to drink heavily.

That sounds fun! Wish I was invited!

Doesn’t sound like a lot of fun for the nephew.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like it's the norm here. I admit I'm not a huge fan, mostly because it seems wild that people can't even enjoy a kids' birthday party without a drink. But it's not like any obvious harm comes from it.

Drunk driving = no obvious harm. Who knew!

If you can't have one drink at a time or designate someone in your party to be a DD you might have a drinking problem. Something to think about.

I do not drink at all. But I know a lot of people who do not stop at one glass of wine or one beer. In my opinion, a parent should be able to drink non-alcoholic beverages. at a child's party. Apparently, you have a drinking problem. Something for you to think about before you drive because you are legally drunk from two glasses of wine or two beers. You keep thinking before you kill someone.

Except that many of us stop at one drink. Those of us without drinking problems. If you aren't able to do that perhaps you have a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We went to the birthday party of a newly 5-year-old distant relative of DH. I don’t know DH’s extended family too much, but we’re visiting my in-laws and DH wanted to see his cousins.

It was a big event at their house. Well over 75 people (25-30 kids) Several inflatables (a bounce house and two water slides) and tons of food. There was also alcohol. It wasn’t a kegger but there were IPA’s and craft beers along the sodas in the cooler. Some women had glasses of wine as well but I guess you had to go inside to the kitchen to obtain the wine. I will drink, but not often. I was a little surprised how many adults were opening drinking at what is suppose to be a child’s party. No one seems to get drunk or rowdy thankfully.

Is this the norm in some circles? We weren’t in San Antonio so don’t know if it’s just a southern thing?

I find it weird. I grew up in Richmond and when I’ve gone to kids events of my old friends I notice that there is oftentimes alcohol there in the middle of the day. I don’t see that here in DC except maybe once in a blue moon.

[Anonymous]

I see it sometimes at kids parties. Personally I think it is trashy and a little sad, but I accept that is the norm here. Usually it's the "try-hard" moms who want to prove they are not a regular mom, they are a Cool Mom and whatever the dad counterpart to that is.