Gorgeous fall Sunday recently. The hosts are a fun group and the parents were all having a good time on the patio drinking Sancerre and eating adult food. Hungover magician came out and yelled at all the parents that he's "had it" with our 9 year old boys at least 3x. Turns out he was serious and quit on us after they broke his wand. We let them run around and watch movies the rest of the time.

We've been to a couple 4+ hour parties where the cake isn't brought out until the 4hr mark. Way too long.

They only served water. It was an 11 am party and after almost two hours I had to take my kids home because they were starving. They said pizza was coming but it just…didn’t. Might not have been their fault, but there were no snacks or anything available and it was at a park. If it were me hosting, I would have just served the cake early.

1. The hosts served a Nutella cake to a bunch of kids who attend a nut-free preschool, and didn’t tell anyone until after the cake had been served. I had to snatch the plate away from my 3 year old, and then she was sad she didn’t have a dessert.
2. Different party. The birthday boy got bored with the planned outdoor activity, climbed a tree, fell out of the tree, broke his arm and had to be taken to ER by Dad, while Mom awkwardly tried to wrap up the party.

Anonymous wrote:Let's just say it ended with a trip to the ER

I mean, parties at trampoline parks etc are pretty common and it’s pretty easy to sprain or break an ankle at those. Or a broken wrist at a roller rink. And so on. I don’t think it’s a sign of a terrible party just because there was an accident.

OP to answer your question I think the worst parties are when it’s fully outdoors and the food is all sitting out in the heat. Let your guests inside .

Let's just say it ended with a trip to the ER

One year in preschool, a family rented out a bounce house place for their child's birthday. Except the birthday girl got the flu, and the bounce house place refused to let the family cancel or even move their party to another weekend. The parents sent an email telling us we should all still go enjoy the party venue and he dropped off the cupcakes (that he had already ordered and paid for) for us to enjoy. I felt so terrible for the poor little birthday girl who couldn't go to her own party.