Anonymous wrote:
LOL "out to Rockville." We live in Rockville and my kids go to school in Bethesda and it never ceases to amaze me how many Bethesda/Potomac parents think Rockville is the end of the earth.

for the record we're Chevy Chase, not Bethesda/Potomac

Anonymous wrote:If your four year is attending a public school preschool then you are committing residency fraud. The attorney general files lawsuits against families doing that.

Are you insane? Who the hell sends their kids to public preschools? It’s all private!

20 min - 30 max EXCEPT for a family friend with history. I’ve done hour plus but I’ve regretted it every time...

We live in Gaithersburg (which I'm sure you all think is basically Neptune). DD is almost 3, so we haven't really gotten birthday party invites yet (although we gave out invites for her party and are hoping to get some preschool friends there).

Anyway, we would drive probably up to 40 min or so for a preschool classmate. We drove longer for a friend who lives in Springfield, but we've known them for a long time.

DD is an only child and we really value her friendships with other kids (probably in part because DH and I were both a bit socially isolated as kids and want to avoid that for her), so we plan to make every effort to bring her to everything she's invited to and wants to attend.

Anonymous wrote:i'd go to out to rockville but not to virginia. virginia seems like another universe

LOL "out to Rockville." We live in Rockville and my kids go to school in Bethesda and it never ceases to amaze me how many Bethesda/Potomac parents think Rockville is the end of the earth.

OP, for my kid's good friend, I'd drive to wherever the party is and make sure I left enough time to get there. For a casual school acquaintance, I may take a pass on a party that's more than 20-30 mins away.

i'd go to out to rockville but not to virginia. virginia seems like another universe

Our preschool is in NW DC and several birthday parties have been at Badlands in rockville. Probably around 30 minutes away from most of the attendees, but the parties were always well attended. I think it depends on the group though. Some schools have more of a “birthday party culture” than others - where the whole class gets invited to all parties, and everyone enthusiastically participates.

30-ish minutes would be fine for us (if on a weekend - but not during the week with weekday traffic). I'd prioritize parties of friends that my kid talks about but if we didn't have plans, I'd happily drive to the close parts of VA (we're in NW DC).

We wouldn't go to Virginia

30 minutes. Irrationally, I actually draw the line at about 26 or 27 minutes. If I look up a location and Google maps says is will take 26 minutes to get there, we attend. If it says 28 or 29 minutes we probably rsvp no.

I personally don't determine our attendance based on distance, although I'd probably draw the line at over an hour. Otherwise, we've gone to parties that are 45 minutes away from our house. My kids are good in the car and we drive a lot anyway, so it wouldn't bother me.

I have driven over an hour to a preschool friend's 4 year old bday party. I wouldn't do it if there was one that far every week, but that one was an outlier so we went.

Anonymous wrote:If your four year is attending a public school preschool then you are committing residency fraud. The attorney general files lawsuits against families doing that.

OP here. Wow, really? Not that you need to know this, but my son is special needs and goes to a private school in DC where he can get services. Thanks for your "concern" though.

And to everyone else, thanks very much for the helpful feedback! I think we'll try to find a place closer to where the majority of the kids live to make sure he'll get a good turnout. On that note, if anyone has any suggestions for fun birthday places in DC or Bethesda for a 4 year old, feel free to pass them on. I'm not as familiar with the options over there. Thanks!

It depends on where the party is at. For instance, we live in Montgomery County, and if there is a bday party at the Smithsonian, we would go. It's a long track, but we would go for something like that. Some jump places in DC? No, I don't think so. I think we would drive 30 minutes for a preschool party.

15-20 minutes for a preschool friend.