Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have had this debate before. It's a cultural thing. WASPy people think you should skimp on food out of some bizarre sense of moral superiority of austerity, people from non-WASP cultures are horrified at lettings guests (and yes parents are gueats) be hungry.

No, we just know the difference between kids who are guests of a party, and who should be well fed if the party is at meal time, and the parents who are dropping off and picking up.

You would be seeing different answers here if this were a toddler or preschool party.

This. Those advocating that the parents should have been fed are basically saying that if you throw a dinner party, you are obligated to feed your guests' Uber drivers. Absurd.

If the Uber driver was expected to accompany the guest into the room and stay with them the whole time then yes I would expect to feed them. This comparison makes no sense.

Who expects a parent of a ten year old to stay?

Anonymous wrote:I always made sure there is enough food for the adults when my kids were of drop-off age but the parents rarely ever ate. Maybe a slice of cake but rarely did they eat pizza, etc. So its possible this is not the first time they hosted a party and were left with a ton of leftovers because the parents didn't eat. Who knows.

Also, its possible that the venue will only allow pizza that they order/make and it's included in the package or per kid price. Did they order from outside of the venue or did the venue handle it?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have had this debate before. It's a cultural thing. WASPy people think you should skimp on food out of some bizarre sense of moral superiority of austerity, people from non-WASP cultures are horrified at lettings guests (and yes parents are gueats) be hungry.

No, we just know the difference between kids who are guests of a party, and who should be well fed if the party is at meal time, and the parents who are dropping off and picking up.

You would be seeing different answers here if this were a toddler or preschool party.

This. Those advocating that the parents should have been fed are basically saying that if you throw a dinner party, you are obligated to feed your guests' Uber drivers. Absurd.

If the Uber driver was expected to accompany the guest into the room and stay with them the whole time then yes I would expect to feed them. This comparison makes no sense.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. It wasn’t a drop off party. That was made clear. Maybe I’m weird but we usually eat between 530 and 6 because we have kid activities most evenings. I’m also Italian and am always used to having way more food than necessary. I was quite hungry since I hadn’t eaten since lunch at 1130. I just know that any birthday party I’ve ever hosted has had more than enough food for all attendees, even parents who may be dropping off. I wasn’t trying to gorge on pizza, I was just surprised that there wasn’t so much as a veggie platter for adults.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have had this debate before. It's a cultural thing. WASPy people think you should skimp on food out of some bizarre sense of moral superiority of austerity, people from non-WASP cultures are horrified at lettings guests (and yes parents are gueats) be hungry.

No, we just know the difference between kids who are guests of a party, and who should be well fed if the party is at meal time, and the parents who are dropping off and picking up.

You would be seeing different answers here if this were a toddler or preschool party.

This. Those advocating that the parents should have been fed are basically saying that if you throw a dinner party, you are obligated to feed your guests' Uber drivers. Absurd.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have had this debate before. It's a cultural thing. WASPy people think you should skimp on food out of some bizarre sense of moral superiority of austerity, people from non-WASP cultures are horrified at lettings guests (and yes parents are gueats) be hungry.

This is the answer. OP, we are Jewish and we feed people just as Italians do. My Indian friends are also lovely when it comes to making sure guests are fed. I don’t necessarily think the hosts were being cheap. I think people have a different sense of what is appropriate, as evidenced on this thread. I think a non drop off party at dinner time absolutely should have had food for parents available. I also think there is a weird dynamic in this area where moms don’t eat the pizza or cake or pretend they don’t eat at all. When we went to kid bday parties in NYC, not only did the parents eat, but both parents came to all parties and hosts served good wine. This area is just not that way.

I mean, I'm mongrel American middle class, and my mom lives in horror of not having enough food. It's a weird DC area UMC thing. If the party wasn't drop off, or was in a location far enough away that parents are likely to stay because there's not time to go home or whatever and get back, I would assume that at least some of them will be hungry and have at least some snacks on hand, like a veggie tray with hummus or something or extra pizza. And we'd offer them cake, for sure.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have had this debate before. It's a cultural thing. WASPy people think you should skimp on food out of some bizarre sense of moral superiority of austerity, people from non-WASP cultures are horrified at lettings guests (and yes parents are gueats) be hungry.

This is the answer. OP, we are Jewish and we feed people just as Italians do. My Indian friends are also lovely when it comes to making sure guests are fed. I don’t necessarily think the hosts were being cheap. I think people have a different sense of what is appropriate, as evidenced on this thread. I think a non drop off party at dinner time absolutely should have had food for parents available. I also think there is a weird dynamic in this area where moms don’t eat the pizza or cake or pretend they don’t eat at all. When we went to kid bday parties in NYC, not only did the parents eat, but both parents came to all parties and hosts served good wine. This area is just not that way.

I mean, I'm mongrel American middle class, and my mom lives in horror of not having enough food. It's a weird DC area UMC thing. If the party wasn't drop off, or was in a location far enough away that parents are likely to stay because there's not time to go home or whatever and get back, I would assume that at least some of them will be hungry and have at least some snacks on hand, like a veggie tray with hummus or something or extra pizza. And we'd offer them cake, for sure.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have had this debate before. It's a cultural thing. WASPy people think you should skimp on food out of some bizarre sense of moral superiority of austerity, people from non-WASP cultures are horrified at lettings guests (and yes parents are gueats) be hungry.

No, we just know the difference between kids who are guests of a party, and who should be well fed if the party is at meal time, and the parents who are dropping off and picking up.

You would be seeing different answers here if this were a toddler or preschool party.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused about why you thought there would be food for the parents? I never expect food.

Not OP, but OP said it was clear that it was not a drop off party and that parents were expected to stay on a work night. The parent for each child is then a guest at the party. I have gone to those kinds of places where there aren’t even enough chairs for me to sit down. If you are making a parent stay, then as a host you should make sure they they have a bottle of water, some chips, and offer a slice of cake. And don’t cry poverty, because those places are stupid expensive so if money was an object, you wouldn’t be using one of those awful places.

OP, it was rude and the hosts were cheap.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have had this debate before. It's a cultural thing. WASPy people think you should skimp on food out of some bizarre sense of moral superiority of austerity, people from non-WASP cultures are horrified at lettings guests (and yes parents are gueats) be hungry.

This is the answer. OP, we are Jewish and we feed people just as Italians do. My Indian friends are also lovely when it comes to making sure guests are fed. I don’t necessarily think the hosts were being cheap. I think people have a different sense of what is appropriate, as evidenced on this thread. I think a non drop off party at dinner time absolutely should have had food for parents available. I also think there is a weird dynamic in this area where moms don’t eat the pizza or cake or pretend they don’t eat at all. When we went to kid bday parties in NYC, not only did the parents eat, but both parents came to all parties and hosts served good wine. This area is just not that way.

Anonymous wrote:This is a you problem. So what that you had to race from event to event and showed up hungry. Plan your day better.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. It wasn’t a drop off party. That was made clear. Maybe I’m weird but we usually eat between 530 and 6 because we have kid activities most evenings. I’m also Italian and am always used to having way more food than necessary. I was quite hungry since I hadn’t eaten since lunch at 1130. I just know that any birthday party I’ve ever hosted has had more than enough food for all attendees, even parents who may be dropping off. I wasn’t trying to gorge on pizza, I was just surprised that there wasn’t so much as a veggie platter for adults.

Anonymous wrote:We had a ton of food at our sons party last night and it was enjoyed by parents and kids. No idea why people think it’s fine to completely ignore that parents are there and may want to eat? If parents are expected to stay they should be offered food and beverages. We had chicken tenders, a veggie plate, pizza (ordered 4, we came home with one whole pizza minus 1 slice), fruit skewers, watermelon and cake plus tons of lemonade, water and seltzer. I’d say the parents/babysitters are as much as the kids (as they were mostly standing/sitting around the food and kids were running around playing).
It cost me maybe $150 for everything, I prepped the fruit and veg just before and cooked the chicken (from Trader Joe’s). Pizzas were $70 and I’d generously estimate $80 for everything else.