Anonymous wrote:My 2nd grader was invited to a bday party at a play venue, I had my other child with me also and assumed it was drop off. I was told no parents need to stay but I had already planned to take my other child to a different event. I explained to the host that I had to bring my other child somewhere and apologized for assuming it was drop off but they were visibly annoyed. Do people expect parents of second graders to spend hours of their afternoon at a play venue for birthday parties?

Unless it says drop off on the invite assume it isn't a drop off. I have attended parties like this and parents drop off and their kid has an issue (yes even in 2nd) and another parent has to help your child.

My 2nd just had a party and we wrote on the evite, drop off, or one parent can stay if you want. Please put correct # as we have spacing restrictions. Most parents dropped off, but we had a few parents who stayed. Some were fine but some were high maintenance.

I think next year we will just do a day trip with my son's best friends. If it isn't a drop off party see if you can carpool and one parent brings and stays for an hour and then the next parent comes and picks up and stays for a bit.

Anonymous wrote:If I am inviting second graders for a birthday party, I would appreciate their parents stay (I will also order food and drinks for them obviously). I don't want to take responsibility for really wild kids and I have seen 1 out of 5 is always in that category.

This is why you invite 10 kids max, ideally five or six. They are eight, not two.

Anonymous wrote:My 2nd grader was invited to a bday party at a play venue, I had my other child with me also and assumed it was drop off. I was told no parents need to stay but I had already planned to take my other child to a different event. I explained to the host that I had to bring my other child somewhere and apologized for assuming it was drop off but they were visibly annoyed. Do people expect parents of second graders to spend hours of their afternoon at a play venue for birthday parties?

Weird. My eldest is in K and all parties are drop off!

That's odd for 2nd grade. Especially if they didn't mention staying in any of the communication leading to the party.

I often see ambulances at the trampoline venues.. not sure how safe it to drop off

Where we live all parties are drop off by default starting in first. If the invite doesn’t say one way or the other, it’s default drop off. All parties are drop off unless it’s a pool party and then it’s optional. Usually parents hosting pool parties will specify the lifeguard situation and then state drop off optional.

Crazy that a basic venue party in second isn’t drop off by default, but we don’t live on the east coast anymore where parents are generally more helicopter and anxious.

Depends on the venue. Some venues are so huge that it's not really reasonable to expect the hosting parent to keep up with the whereabouts of 20+ seven year olds. In that situation, I've told the parent, if you trust your child to be here without me actively watching them and to make it over to the party room on their own, that's fine. But I make it clear that I'm not going to be keeping tabs on them specifically.

What grade do parents staying at parties end? I have a third grader and dropped off all last year in second grade but noticed many parents stayed. My kid attended his first party of the school year over the weekend and was surprised nothing had apparently changed in this regard when I arrived to pickup my kid.

If I am inviting second graders for a birthday party, I would appreciate their parents stay (I will also order food and drinks for them obviously). I don't want to take responsibility for really wild kids and I have seen 1 out of 5 is always in that category.

Anonymous wrote:Wow that’s crazy. I had people drop off at venue parties in K and 1st. What is there to do at Sky Zone or whatever in terms of “supervising” a 7 or 8 year old?

Skyzone is very crowded and spread out. They don't monitor who goes in and out. Are you serious you'd just let a 7 yo there without anyone to watch them? I'm not watching the kid as much as the other people if you know what I mean.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it's a public play venue, parched of 7 yo usually stay because there just not enough coverage for little kids in public spaces

Then you need to clarify that or bring along your own friends or family to chaperone your child's party. Unless you've spelled it out, it's pretty presumptuous to assume that families of elementary schoolers are going to hang out and chaperone at your child's birthday party.

YES THIS! Especially if you have other kids other activities etc.

At this age, I would look to see if the expectation is a drop-off party or not in the invitation. I expect it to be drop-off only if the invite says so.

I hate to say it, but I have found that the parents with the most difficult kids often ARE the ones who drop them off and run. I have been at a number of parties with a couple of kids who are always dropped off and always cause problems. It really isn't right, and I'm sure the parents know their kids can be a handful.

I say this without judgment of the parents - one of my kids can get overwhelmed and be problematic, and that's why I would always stay at a party with him.

2nd grade is drop off age IMO except swim/pool parties

At this age, is best if the host specifies on the invitation.

2nd grade is definitely drop off age.

In 2nd grade I feel like the invite needs to be specific on this. If it’s not, when you respond you should ask.
Too much assuming happens and this is always an issue on here.