Reply to Birthday parties

Forum Index » Elementary School-Aged Kids

Reply to "Birthday parties "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I dislike most kids birthday parties so my ideal party (if you absolutely have to have one) is Saturday 10am to noon. Simple activity in an easy-to-get-to location (not something a 40 minute drive from where we all live). Party starts on time. Serve bagels and snacks but no need to serve a meal (it just prolongs everyone being there). Do cake 90 minutes into the party. If you have it at a park or playground then people can hang out if they want but once cake happens they can also leave.

I think most kids parties prior to drop off parties (which usually involve the kids' actual friends they made themselves as opposed to the whole class or whoever their parents think they should invite) are horrible and that this whole trend of making them extra elaborate is stupid.

It's a great example of parents shooting themselves in the foot by creating an expensive and time consuming parental obligation that literally no one enjoys (not even the kids -- your 6 yr old would actually be more than happy with a park party because they are too young to know better until you fill their head with fantasies of Sky Zone or whatever). Just stop.[/quote]

Oh please!  :roll:   Most ES and younger kids birthday parties in our circle have the following in common -
- Invitations go out a month in advance. Usually Evites and then some reminder emails.  The day before the party the emails go out again. 
- Generally on weekend.  11 am or noon is a popular time
- it could be at a fun venue  or at home
- Siblings and parents are also invited
- If at home, some entertainment is provided - magic show, clown, bounce house
- Lunch and cake is provided for all attendees, beer or wine is provided for adults. 
- Goody bags for all kids (yes, even the siblings).

- Lunch is served. Cake is served. 
[/quote]

This is fine if you have a very homogenous "circle" and it won't be a burden on some families. What you are proposing is expensive. The majority of venues start at around $500 to host a kid's birthday party. Add in a meal for a minumum of 30 people (10 kids plus parents and siblings) plus cake and goody bags and you're easily spending $800-1000. Or more. Perhaps you can save money if you host it at home but (1) you need a house large enough to host this many people and (2) you are demanding rented or hired entertainment. So you're really not saving much and you have the up front cost of a home that can host 30+ people and has space for a magic show or a bounce house or whatever.

Again -- that's fine if your school and social circle exclusively includes families for whom this is not a big deal. And if YOU want to do this -- go for it.

But if there is any economic diversity in your community at all there will be people for whom this is a huge burden if not impossible. Some people live in apartments. Some people don't spend more than $100-200 on a kid's birthday total including gifts. Others can afford to have a party (and most people do want to have some kind of party for their kid to mark their birthday -- which is the point not providing a fun time for the parents of all their classmates) but can't do anything close to what you describe.

So you can throw out your expectations and privately seethe at people who have Saturday morning park parties with bagels and coffee or people who don't invite siblings or who only invite 4 kids for a small party in their apartment or whatever. But none of it will change the fact that some people simply CANNOT do what you are insisting is required.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics