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AIBU?

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Original poster

To have a 5 year olds birthday party at 4-6pm on a Saturday?

54 replies

Bigreddog25 · 07/09/2026 12:31

Would you be happy to go to a 5 year olds birthday party at 4-6pm?

Food will be served towards the end of the party, so 5.30 ish- is that too late?

The hall is local.
Thanks

OP posts:
TheatreTraveller · 07/09/2026 14:34

Sounds completely normal and fine 🙂

We certainly wouldn't eat an evening meal earlier than 5.30pm - that's an early tea time for most people. My DD5 has hobbies several nights that don't even start until 6pm.

yorktown · 07/09/2026 14:29

It's a great time! I love a party that actually covers a meal, rather than expecting kids to eat at 3 pm, then have dinner when they get home.

The hardest part is being the parent of the birthday child, waiting all day for their party. Make sure you have something planned for the day.

TunnocksOrDeath · 07/09/2026 14:04

I would have LOVED this when DC was 5.
You would have basically fed them a slightly early dinner and worn them out, leaving me to get DC home and plonk them in the bath to wind down, after which I could tip them into bed and enjoy a curry and a film on the sofa with DH. Nice.

Megifer · 07/09/2026 14:02

Op asked for views, I gave mine, not sure what the issue is with that. I doubt my post is going to have any impact at all on anything 🤣

HoraceCope · 07/09/2026 13:59

it is not an ideal time but dont stress if that is the time offered

SweetnsourNZ · 07/09/2026 13:59

Sounds fine. No different to the time you might have a family barbecue etc.

WonderWeeksArentReal · 07/09/2026 13:58

Yes we've been to 4 PM parties from age 4 upwards, it's fine.

Jembot · 07/09/2026 13:58

Fine. I'd bring the food a bit earlier maybe. Some of them may well start flagging after an hour or so.

Raptors · 07/09/2026 13:57

Megifer · 07/09/2026 13:52

Yanbu but Id be quietly seething about it from the second I opened the invite, to the time I got home on the Saturday evening.

Also dont know any other parents that didn't hate late parties, although there werent many tbf. No usual Saturday night nice meal or takeaway. Just hanging around all day.

Yea, sorry Id hate this, still go though and it wouldnt be obvious I'd hoped all day that I got the shits/had a low level accident/car wouldnt start etc. 😩

Yikes that's quite the overreaction to a child's party invite. If it bothers you that much you could just not go. Hmm

ChampagneProblemsTS · 07/09/2026 13:55

Megifer · 07/09/2026 13:52

Yanbu but Id be quietly seething about it from the second I opened the invite, to the time I got home on the Saturday evening.

Also dont know any other parents that didn't hate late parties, although there werent many tbf. No usual Saturday night nice meal or takeaway. Just hanging around all day.

Yea, sorry Id hate this, still go though and it wouldnt be obvious I'd hoped all day that I got the shits/had a low level accident/car wouldnt start etc. 😩

What?!

Pippapotamus · 07/09/2026 13:55

Yes thats a great time for a party and would save me having to sort dinner for them so even better

Madamlulu · 07/09/2026 13:54

Are you serious? What is wrong with the time?

Megifer · 07/09/2026 13:52

Yanbu but Id be quietly seething about it from the second I opened the invite, to the time I got home on the Saturday evening.

Also dont know any other parents that didn't hate late parties, although there werent many tbf. No usual Saturday night nice meal or takeaway. Just hanging around all day.

Yea, sorry Id hate this, still go though and it wouldnt be obvious I'd hoped all day that I got the shits/had a low level accident/car wouldnt start etc. 😩

MageKing · 07/09/2026 13:40

Just one warning... I did a couple of late afternoon parties and I ditched it later. Not because of the guests or teh food - but because my child drove me crazy all day super excited about th eparty! Grin

Original poster
Bigreddog25 · 07/09/2026 13:30

Ah brill thank you for the responses. I've been worried!!

Will definitely serve a mix of hot and cold food- sandwiches/pizza/nuggets etc.

Thank you

OP posts:
Sartre · 07/09/2026 13:18

Sounds fine and normal. Much prefer it to ones in the middle of the day.

mindutopia · 07/09/2026 13:10

It would be fine for me. We don’t eat til 7/7:30pm anyway normally and it’s been that way since my now teen was a toddler. No one is having dinner or getting ready for bed at 6pm in our house.

Just make sure you do offer a hot meal of some variety. We went to a 7 year olds birthday a few months ago, 6-8pm on a Friday at soft play, and there was no food served! It was exclusive hire after hours so even the cafe was closed. We were handed a sweet cone on the way out at 8:15pm and it was a 30 minute drive back to where we all lived. I didn’t even throw the fish fingers in the oven until 9pm and poor ds looked about ready to pass out after 2 hours of running around and no food. If I’d known there would be no food, I would have packed my own!

INeedaDietcoke · 07/09/2026 13:08

4pm is when my 4yo (turning 5 this year) starts to lose the plot, so could go either way for us. Would either be fantastic and get him through a tough part of the day, or he'd be in a horrible mood and it would be awful. I'd probably still rsvp and come though.

ThatLilacTiger · 07/09/2026 13:06

It's a touch late for my 5 year old because he needs ages to wind down after a party and doesn't eat much at them so would need more feeding at home. But I seem to be in the minority.

UninitendedShark · 07/09/2026 12:38

Sounds like a great plan.

Raptors · 07/09/2026 12:38

Completely fine. We have a soft play nearby that does parties 5-7 and we've been to a few on weekends at that time and they've always been well attended.

Lmnop22 · 07/09/2026 12:37

Perfectly normal, have been to a few at this sort of time!

PartoftheBand · 07/09/2026 12:37

Sounds perfect. Children's parties over a mealtime are always good.

newseries · 07/09/2026 12:37

Yes, I’ve been to a few at this time and it works well.

Nonotno · 07/09/2026 12:36

Sounds absolutely fine to me.