Do parents normally stay for reception birthday parties?

[Brightoncheery]

Just wondering what to expect!

[clary]

Not IME but there seem to be widely differing experiences on MN so I guess it depends.

I certainly left DD at all her reception parties and no parents stayed at hers, tho it was the end of the year as she is summer-born.

[Ilovemydogandmydoglovesme]

Yes, usually, for four and five years olds.

[DramaQueenofHighCs]

With the parties my DS (5) has been to, it seems to be a bit of both. FWIW:

•Village hall parties - most stayed on the 'edges' but didn't interfere. A few who lived very close left. [We stayed]
•Play centre parties - Most stayed and sat in the 'coffee area' a few went home. [we stayed in coffee bar]
•Sports centre parties (with 'party leaders') - a few stayed in the room with the kids, but most went either to the cafe downstairs or home/to town. [We popped to the big toy shop down the road as it was near Christmas so could get DS some presents, then waited in the cafe]

It really depends on your child, a good rule of thumb is to ask the host parent if they have a preference and go from there.

[CurlyhairedAssassin]

They tend to in our school as most see them as a good opportunity to get to know other parents.

[EverythingCounts]

In my experience then yes, parents stay at the party, but as clary says, it varies a lot across MN. Maybe it's a regional thing. As long as you are not the first people in the year to hold a party, go prepared for either to the first one and watch what everyone else does.

[Saracen]

Hosts sometimes seem to think it'll be obvious whether parents are to stay or not, but at this age the practice varies.

If you have a strong preference then ask for what you want: "Do you mind if I stay? What can I do to help?" or "Would it be OK if I leave him with you? Here's my number in case you don't have it handy."

Otherwise just ask what the hosts prefer: "Were you planning on having parents drop children off or would you like us to stay?"

[noramum]

In the first term most parents stayed or one parent came with two/three children when they knew each other from nursery or pre school already. But we just sat somewhere, never interacted unless there was an emergency.

After Christmas when the children knew the parents better more and more parents left. We stayed often as we used it as an opportunity to get to know more parents as I hardly ever did the drop off/pick up. For hall parties Dd then kicked us out but she asked us to stay at soft play as she doesn't like them too much.

Come Year 1 and hardly any parent stayed.

[NormHonal]

It also varied here.

Parents with older DCs tend not to stay so often, as the older DCs also have parties and activities to attend, plus they are more used to dropping-and-going.

Those with younger DCs stay in the first term, and it peters out as the year goes on.

It also depends on how far the venue is away from "home", if it is close to a supermarket, etc.

[ShoeWhore]

It varied a lot with my dcs.

Dc1 no one stayed
Dc2 nearly everyone stayed
Dc3 most didn't stay

Unless soft play, most parents stayed for that. Most of their parties were either soft play or village hall type parties.

[Hoppinggreen]

I do. I prefer it but I also think that at our school it's not really the done thing to leave them so early. If you really can't stay it's ok to ask a mum you and the child know well to look after them.
My dd is in year 4 now but there was one child who was left at parties from Reception, no issue with it in principle but whenever she fell over/needed shoes sorting etc etc etc another mum had to help. Nobody minded but a few times she would ask for Mummy or where Mummy was.

[tumbletumble]

Personally, I would expect to stay with a 3yo child and leave a 5yo. A 4yo would be be borderline, depending on the child and the type of party.

[SapphireMoon]

Children at house parties tend to be left from Reception here as if house just average small parents = crush.
Does give me a pang of worry each time though...

[Ragwort]

Totally depends on the venue/child/parent .

I never forget the looks I received when I dropped my 3 year old off at a party, it had never dawned on me that I was expected to stay .

Equally too many parents staying can be a pain - but then DH & are ex scout/cub leaders so plenty of experience in organising lots of children !!

Best to make it clear on the invitation if you want parents to stay, or if you have a child that needs you to stay make that clear in your RSVP.

[nowwearefour]

No

[Meglet]

Yes. Although it seems to tail off a little towards the end of reception year. Some of us stay in Y1 for 6yo parties if they're held in a hall / softplay.

[missmapp]

At this age we generally stayed. Often though, another friend and i would take it in turns to take the dcs and stay. That meant you got to get a couple of breaks from party fun, but you alos knew dcs were not overburdening the party host .

[CountessOfRule]

At the beginning of R everyone stayed. By the end there was a handful of "drop and run optional" parties, where about a third to half stay, and a lot of lift sharing so a third of parents were missing.

We're quite a sociable class, though, so we see a party as a chance for the adults to catch up too.

[CountDooku]

I've stayed at soft play and village hall parties, DS1 is 5. The class he's in are quite close, and I have a lot of friends amongst the parents, so I generally stay and help and chat and so do other parents on the whole - i know of one or two who have older/younger siblings that drop the child attending the party off and if DH wasn't seeing to DS2 I'd do that too. I think in the next year I'll be leaving DS1 to it.

[HolidayCriminal]

I think it's about 50:50, depends on venue, child, activity, etc. I mostly stayed with mine until half way into yr1, but not always.

[AmberTheCat]

With both of ours parents largely stayed in Reception, dropped and ran from Year 1. There was definitely a tendency with second and subsequent siblings to drop and run sooner.

Def also depends on venues. Soft play centres / sports halls / other outer circles of hell tend to see parents beating a hasty retreat. Sunny village hall parties where you can sit outside and chat to other parents tend to tempt people to stay!

[redskyatnight]

Agree with others it seems to vary a lot. I would say less than half of parents stayed at my DC's Reception parties (tailing away completely in Y1). However SIL happened to mention once that it was the norm for parents in her school to stay until Y2 (where they started dropping off).

[LyndaCartersBigPants]

As a parent of 3 DCs I never stayed for parties, even at nursery age, as I had nowhere for my other 2 to go in the meantime and ex worked most weekends.

[LyndaCartersBigPants]

If it was soft play or somewhere I could pay to take the others in I might stay.

[HappyAsEyeAm]

Yes, DS1 is 6 yo so we did a party for him when he was in reception and again when he turned 6 in year one earlier this year.

For his reception year party, all of the parents stayed. For his year one party, all of the parents save for the mum of one child stayed. I made it clear that I didn't expect them to stay, we had lots of family to supervise the children, but they all wanted to stay.

Parents ime see it as a way of getting to know other parents. Lots of parents cannot do drop off and pick up every weekday, so this gives them the opportunity to socialise, share experiences, discuss anything to do with school, make friends etc.

[Jellyandjam]

Round here the norm has been to stay with them at reception age. Parents didn't start leaving them until around year 2.