Not a Drop Off Party

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Annoying. Part of the fun of birthday parties is talking/meeting/getting to know the parents of my kids friends. It's not free babysitting. If you want that, suggest playdates. Those can be drop off.

+100 Great time to meet other parents.

I absolutely agree with this in general, but that isn't what ends up happening. All birthday parties since my children turned 5 have been slumber parties at our house. Should the parents have all stayed the night? Many do stay and have a drink, but then they leave and, if they don't have any other kids, they usually go out. They aren't using me for childcare, but it is the upside to someone inviting your kid somewhere.

But see, not everybody wants to meet the other parents.

You don't want to know the parents of your children's friends? I feel bad for your kids.

My children's friends are their friends; that the kids enjoy each other's company has nothing to do with whether I wish to spend time with the parents.

I drop off (honestly never occurred to me to ask, since I assumed guests for a party would be limited to friends of the person and/or those named on the invitation) once I think my kids can handle a few hours without me. Since all of my kids attended preschool, that was by age 3 or 4. Younger than that, we didn't really do or get invited to parties for a kid who wasn't a friend of the family.

We usually hired a teenage babysitter or two to be on hand during parties for our young children to give us extra supervision for the kids in addition to just me or me and my spouse.

-NP

[Anonymous]

My 3-year-old was invited to her first birthday party, for a classmate turning 4. I should assume it's not a drop-off party, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 3-year-old was invited to her first birthday party, for a classmate turning 4. I should assume it's not a drop-off party, right?

Would never assume unless that was directly told that I should drop my three-year-old off. And I would have to know the parents very very well before I would drop my three-year-old off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I am OK as long as there is someone else watching the child -- for example, a parent could bring a child and another classmate; I don't necessarily need one parent per child, but I don't want to be the parent responsible for the child if I'm hosting the party. There was an accident at a party I was at last weekend. It wasn't bad, but it required parental attention.

Question for parents who drop off at that age: do you normally ask ahead of time? Or assume it's ok? I'm wondering if instead of saying something in the invite, if I can expect the parent to raise it with me and state that I would prefer they not drop off? There is one child in particular that I am concerned about (the others seem to be more self-sufficient).

No OP, no one is going to ask you. Dropping off is quite common at 4.

no it isn/t I have a four year old and we go to parties almost every weekend for 4 and 5 year olds and none of these are drop off parties. We do drop off playdates at homes of people we know well but no one I know does this for parties unless they have specifically asked another parent attending (NOT the host) to watch their kid.

[Anonymous]

Dropping off is not common at 4. Neither of my kids had drop off parties at that age. And I wouldn't have been comfortable leaving them at a party if I didn't know the people hosting fairly well. They did drop off play dates and sleep overs but not birthday parties.

[Anonymous]

These mothers of 4 kids are kidding themselves when they say it's ok to drop off a kid at 3 or 4 to a birthday party.


My son is 15 now, but there were no drop off parties in our crowd until AFTER K.

[Anonymous]

We are hosting our turning 4 year olds party at a venue and the birthday planner there mentioned that parents usually stay at this age. We do drop off play dates with close friends but we haven't dropped off at a party and wouldn't feel comfortable doing so yet.

[Anonymous]

There must be different norms depending on where you live. It was never a drop off party until K in our area. That said, four kids aren't all that common either.

[Anonymous]

I made it through the first two pages before I realized this was an almost four year old thread revived from the dead....