What's the worst kids party you've been to

[T181]

Please give me some examples of the worst kids party you've been to?? Im hosting one on Sunday for 25 children and actually am so worried about it I need some real life stories to calm my nerves

I did once take DD then aged 6 to a brilliant pool party. Invite was very clear that if you wanted your DC to swim you had to get in , if not activities would be provided in the party room .
The pool was a junior pool so .75m to 1.1m loads of pool noodles, floated ect in the water. Had 30 mins pool time, food was traditional but kids loved it, tea, coffee and hot chocolate for the parents then organized games . Perfect.

There's a mum at my DC's primary who was famous for serving sushi and giving dictionaries as party gifts.

A swimming party for toddlers they had someone doing games etc with the children but everyone had to get in and supervise AKA stand around awkwardly in swimwear making small talk in knee deep water, I was freezing by the end of it.

As a child I went to some odd ones.
Aged 5, I was invited to my best friends sisters film party to entertain my friend. The sister was 12, we watched the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It scared me for life. My Mum went mad.

I was invited to a friends 6th party. My Mum got a bit lost, eventually we saw some balloons on a door and knocked only to find it wasn't my friends house. The random party Mum said we could come in anyway, we went in and my Mum left me there while she went on looking for the actual party house. I was petrified my Mum would get lost and not come back for me.

At another friends party the Mum said I couldn't have anything sweet until I ate my egg sandwiches, I've always hated eggs, I attempted to eat them but just could not swallow them and was sick everywhere. Which she told me off for and I wasn't allowed anything else to eat or drink.

Some of these are horrible. I don’t get parents who think their child’s party is the place to discipline other peoples’ children over eating preferences.

My Mum got a bit lost, eventually we saw some balloons on a door and knocked only to find it wasn't my friends house. The random party Mum said we could come in anyway, we went in and my Mum left me there while she went on looking for the actual party house. I was petrified my Mum would get lost and not come back for me.
Wtf?!

Lots of kids love sushi, it sounds fab.

@LisaSimpson77 That's a really weird thing to do too. It was so horrible when everyone went to look at the teams to see who was playing at what time and the looks on the girls faces - and the girls parents faces - when they realised they weren’t going to be playing. One of the boys dropped out so one girl did manage to play. The dad was not happy about it.

Another thing that they did was the buffet. The girls were not allowed to touch it (fair enough), but they were shoved in the same room with it and were getting hungry. When they were allowed to eat it, they were told to let the boys go first as they’d been working up an appetite, so they were just left with the dregs.

My daughter really wanted to stay otherwise I would have left when I realised the girls weren’t allowed to play. It was like the girls were second class citizens.

Three fucking hours in a village hall in the middle of nowhere.

The party was for my best friend's nephew (through marriage) so we weren't close to the party family, nor did my son know any of the other kids. My best friend didn't go because she hadn't been invited.

The party boy was - and still is - a bit of a twat. Within minutes he pushed my son over on the bouncy castle and jumped on his head. He was pulled off my son only to do it again straight away. My son refused to go near the bouncy castle or the party boy again so we hid outside before leaving after an hour and a half.

We don't invite him to ours and we are no longer invited to his.

@ShirleyPhallus our eldest is that weirdo he loved carrot sticks and blue cheese when he was little (hates the latter now he's a teen)
Thing is I knew he was an outlier so I always provided general party fare (pizza, cake, sandwiches & crisps plus a bit more cake) for everyone else plus carrot sticks and a blue cheese platter for him.
This year he's asked for pizza and no party as he's too old for all that (14) but he "might hang out with some mates later".

Another thing that they did was the buffet. The girls were not allowed to touch it (fair enough), but they were shoved in the same room with it and were getting hungry. When they were allowed to eat it, they were told to let the boys go first as they’d been working up an appetite, so they were just left with the dregs.

The party sounds awful, I'm surprised the girls stayed when the dad made it clear they were second rate citizens. Why do people carry on like that? Bizarre.

My son refused to go near the bouncy castle or the party boy again so we hid outside before leaving after an hour and a half.
Why didn't you just leave instead of hiding?

has to be the one where they played musical chairs......
sounds fine, problem was the girl whose party it was a her friends from school were all in wheelchairs!

I know! Apparently it was perfectly acceptable in the 80's.

Leaving your kids in some random's house? I'm sure it wasn't!

Oh god this thread makes me feel so good about the parties I’ve thrown my kid that I previously thought were bland. We always make sure it’s at our house, with a big bbq for everyone plus party crap food for the kids too, lots of wine and beer (weirdly many parents refuse even when there are two so not both are driving), etc. We don’t really do party games, the kids just do their thing running around, getting into my kids toys and jumping on the trampoline. We did have party games last year and no one really got into them.

My takeaway from it all is that food and drink is essential, as is lots and lots of sugar for the kids.

i personally hate kids parties. Sitting around making small talk with people I don’t know and have not much in common with. Bleh. I always tell parents they’re free to dump the kids and run and sadly no one ever reciprocates 🤣

I'm not sure "lots of wine and beer for the adults" at a kids party is particularly bland and mainstream, tbh.

One of mine 🙄. DD wanted a cinema at home party to watch the Bratz movie. This was some years back. She got up in a foul mood and was rude to guests as they arrived. This was really out of character for her.

I had set everything up with cinema vibe, popcorn, sweets, drinks, all in cinema style containers. This was to be followed by pizza etc. I burnt the pizza and had to rush out to buy more. We were having carpet fitted upstairs and one child impaled her foot on a gripper. When everybody went, DD threw up everywhere. She had also kindly gifted the whole party Norovirus, I found out the next day 😩. It was horrific. Hired a hall and entertainment the year after. Sod doing that again.

Why on earth is it weird for parents to refuse alcohol when they're with their kids?
No child wants to remember their parent staggering home tipsy from their best mate's birthday party.
I do drink but not when I'm with dd and I get fed up with the assumption that anybody who can function adequately without alcohol is weird, square or boring.

A 4 yo (boy) - 20 boys afternoon tea with white table cloths and teapots
A 6 yo (boy) - allowed to choose the food - they got Marmite sandwiches, jelly snakes, M&M's & Cake.

First one sounds bizarre, second one sounds like a kid's party 🤷🏻‍♀️

I saw a really interesting program a while ago.

They held two children’s parties with the same children.
At one they had nice healthy food, carrot sticks etc but the party was loads of running about, music, bouncy castle, that kind of stuff.
The other one was all party food with sweets, chocolate etc but the party was calm stuff like crafting, painting, drawing and ended with a story time.

Guess one that left the children bouncing off the walls.

She was an only child and parents had gotten a magician

what’s the only child bit got to do with it? Is this the 2020s equivalent of 80’s pointing out ‘they were Indian/ Black / some other characteristic upon which to be judged.

We'd just arrived. It was right at the start and we were one of the first to arrive. It felt really rude to just turn around and leave again.

My best friend's husband made a fuss of my son and he had a great time with him.

Eh?