Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll be honest. My kids would think a home party is pretty lame unless you have activity stations and entertainment.

I’ll be honest, too. Your children sound like spoiled, overscheduled brats with no imagination or initiative.

NP but even when we were little kids at our own midwestern middle-class home parties, our parents still planned activities! I think someone said it earlier - our parents planned games for us (pin the tail on the donkey, musical chairs, etc...). I think having a party at your house, but not planning out any activities for the kids is a bad idea, regardless of your income level.

My kids go to a public school, and I'd say maybe half of the parties they've been to have been at someone's house, but all of them had something for the kids to do -- a bounce house, games set up in the back yard (like a water balloon toss). My DD once went to a pajama party where they had breakfast for dinner, watched a movie, and we picked the kids up.

Anonymous wrote:Did someone say petting zoos are a thing for house parties? *facepalm*

This is not even a rich people thing. My kids go to a Title I public school and we went to an in-home party where the parents hired Squeals on Wheels to bring a small petting zoo to their back yard!

The people I know at our fancy private who have home parties are the fanciest people- they’re the only ones with houses big enough for more than 4 people to visit at one time!

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like home parties. It feels cozier and more festive, fancy house or not.

I have always limited my kids' parties to 6-8 kids. It's fun, personal,and the kids love it.

Pin the tail on the donkey, hopscotch on the driveway, 4-square etc with a ball, hide and seek in the yard or basement, jump ropes, the games/activities are endless. Just let them be kids.

Anonymous wrote:I'll be honest. My kids would think a home party is pretty lame unless you have activity stations and entertainment.

I’ll be honest, too. Your children sound like spoiled, overscheduled brats with no imagination or initiative.

Anonymous wrote:Our kids go to public school. We go dumpster diving for parties.

Seriously, people. Y'all need to get a grip.

That sounds like more fun than a no activity free range party.

My 10yo DD is at private school and we have always done parties at home. Many of her friends also did parties at home. Here’s some advice/observations. Put your nostalgia aside. Free range parties may have worked in the past but kids and expectations have changed. You need to include some activity. This does not need to be lavish or expensive. It provides some focus and then they can do unstructured stuff the rest of the time if that’s what you want. My DD said the one unstructured party she sent to was boring and the girls broke up into little groups, like at school. Consider whether you want parents staying and whether siblings are also invited. Take the weather into account. If you assume that everybody will be outside, make sure you have a plan B for indoors. Will boys or girls be attending? There came a point when my DS turned 11 that we realized the boy energy levels just didn’t work for at-home parties. A few times we hired a soccer coach to do some drills and a game in our local park and that worked well. My DD and her friends loved crafts and were much easier to manage. At-home parties are a lot more work and the costs can really add up.

Did someone say petting zoos are a thing for house parties? *facepalm*

Anonymous wrote:I'll be honest. My kids would think a home party is pretty lame unless you have activity stations and entertainment.

Activity stations? WTF? How about a good old-fashioned game of hide-and-go-seek or freeze tag?

Anonymous wrote:No. The kids don't really care. I choose venue parties simply because I don't want to have all those children in my home, not to be fancy, but if you don't mind the work and chaos, go for it.

+1. Home parties where the only type of parties I knew growing up, but we didn’t just sit around and have cake. I remember there were games (musical chairs was most memorable, but also broken phone, ... and small prizes), music & dancing (chicken dance ...) and parents ran these activities. So, sure have it at home but come up with a couple of fun games to entertain the kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve never thought of a home party as less than a venue party? We often do venues bc it’s easier - they take care of it all. I personally felt like the one home party week did was the nicest.

Venues always seem like a cop out....kind of like the parents take the easy (expensive) way out. I'd rather hang out in someone's house.

Trust me, sometimes it is also cheaper to do it at a venue.
I spend about $500 or so for my kid parties and we have 25+ kids invited. My kid isn't at the age of drop off yet so parents stay and sibling come. So we are talking 75 people here. I would easily spend 3x what I would at a venue at home because I would be getting the house cleaned right before (outside of our normal schedule), go pinterest crazy, and the biggest expense would be casual catering like a taco bar and drinks for everyone and then some form of entertainment. The venue is what it is, usually includes pizza for the kids and I'll get extra so adults can grab a slice and a big cake or cupcakes and it provides a fun entertainment option. If I was like OP and had a 10k square foot house, yes I very likely would throw some awesome parties at my house! Why else do you have a house that big? And I wouldn't think twice about spending that kind of money on it to make it an awesome party.

I'll be honest. My kids would think a home party is pretty lame unless you have activity stations and entertainment.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Plan some sort of activity. We went to one of these earlier in the school year and it was a total shit-show. It happened during a weekend of a lot of parties for the class and it was all the parents could talk about the next day.

A shit show how?

PP is a private school parent not wanting to out herself.

Anonymous wrote:I bet you're one of those people who only feeds the kids too.

Kidding.

OP, no one cares...and if someone does, then they're cray. Most people will probably be jealous that you're so secure that you don't feel that you have to put on a show.

Yes, this! No one cares. Those that do are irrelevant.