At what age do you start offering parents the options of dropping off their child for a party? My daughter's 3rd B-day is coming up and I was thinking about letting parents know that they are welcome to join us or drop their child off. Is this too young to do this, although some of her friends are a year or two older that she is or even a couple years older.
Thank you everyone for your advice. It all made a lot of sense. I think I will keep it with parents attending as it is in a public place and I don't want the totally responsibilty of other kids running off or something. Good points were made by all. Thank you very much, I hadn't thought of some of the points you made. Thanks again!
Offering the option is a great idea. Some parents, especially with older kids, will drop off. Others who aren't ready for that yet, or who know their child isn't ready, will be happy to stay (and maybe even help out!). Enjoy the party.
I would make sure they know that they can stay. It also depends on what types of games and/or crafts you will be playing. Haveing extra hands can be very helpful. Several years ago my son, Robert had an "Island of Sodor" party. Each child got a 1/2 sheet of card stock with the activities listed and stickers to mark them off when done. It was very helpful to have parents there to help their child with the different stations.
J.
At the age of 3, most parents will make that decision for you. It's a good idea to make it optional. If it's at your house and parents only know you from saying hi at drop off or pick up, they may want to stay. Other parents, that have olders siblings, have been through this before, and will probably just drop off and come back. If they are all kids of friends of yours, you might think they will stay and they might just drop off, so they can have a couple hours to themselves. If you are having the party someplace where you really feel you need an extra set of eyes, don't make it optional to drop off. 3-5 is really young to be at Chuck E Cheese or a swim party without supervision.
Three is still pretty young...you will likely have some kids still working on potty training, and in the event that one of the kids gets their feelings hurt about something or falls down, or whatever, they might need their mom there. The last thing you'd want to have is a little one crying and upset asking for mom who's not there while you're trying to run a birthday party.
Just my thoughts. That being said, I would not drop my 3 year-old son off at a party - I'd stay for sure. So it might be a moot point if most of the parents of the kids you're inviting feel the same.
Have a great party!
I don't think you would want anyone leaving their kids until they are at least 6 or 7.
I agree - six to seven years old. Kids that are 3-5 (pre-k age) often get upset when parents leave, or some have discipline problems that are best handled by their own parents, etc. Also, I think it's a little overwhelming to have that many young kids at once and actually be in control of them while you are entertaining. God forbid anything should happen while you are "responsible" for them. If their parents are there, then the responsibility falls on the shoulders of their own parents.
Hi, I am a children's party planner so, as you can imagine, I am at a lot of parties. My opinion is that parents of three year olds should stay.. At age 4, most parents stay, but you can have a couple of exceptions. At 5, the expectation is drop-off. So I guess to answer your question, you can offer drop-off starting at age 4, but be careful you still have a good percent of adults in the room. For almost anything you could end up doing, it really helps to have extra hands - most very young kids need lots of assistance with everything!
M. Fortnow, Haveabashery.com
Hi K.,
Depending on how many kids are invited, I think you'd be very brave to take on a party of small children :)
Tell me your secret :)
t
3, in my opinion is way too young for drop off parties. Not only would it be very hard for the mom to leave thier year old, but are you sure you would want to have to deal with a year old who misses their mommy after a half hour? I think unless you are very close to the parent/child, as in you know them very well and the child is comfortable with you, like you've babysat them before, 3m is too young. I let my oldest go to a drop off party for the 1st time when she was 7 and I was a wreck! LOL
If it's your child's party, you can always make it an option, but from what I've experienced with my children, they didn't usually have the option of being dropped off at parties until they were about six. Occassionally parents would offer at five, but few parents took them up on the offer. My youngest is six now, and many parents still stick around for parties. I hope your daughter has a great birthday whatever you decide!
My sister just threw my niece's b-day party and she gave parents the option of dropping off their kids. My niece is in 1st grade. I mean, it's an option, so if they are not comfortable with it they don't have to.
I also think it's the type of party more so than the age. My daughter had a swimming party and a few left their kids for the two hours. I wished they wouldn't as that's alot of responsibility placed on a parent hosting a party. Luckily it was only a couple. Also, places like Chuck E. Cheese, where kids are everywhere, I'd also not be willing to take all the responsibility. On the other hand, I've attended and thrown parties at our local gymnastics facility where parents were only allowed to watch from the window. At that point, why not let them just drop off? Hope this helps. In either case, I hope she has a great birthday!
