To not enjoy kids birthday parties

[Chachabingz]

Anyone else really not enjoy other children’s birthday parties? My DC are still at the age where the parents are expected to stay.
DH and I take it in turns.
Do most parents felt the same?
DC1 is 4 and we have managed to get out of having anything but family parties so far but when she goes to school in Sept I fully expect to start hosting the dreaded parties. We will get an entertainer/ bouncy castle though.
DC2 is 2 so we are a couple of years off parent free parties!

They really should. If you fancy moving to SW London, I know just the school! It's also been academised, which has mostly been good.

It does give a chance to get to know classmates and their parents better which has its uses. DC's school is a one form intake so they are with the same cohort for 7 years.

I have DCs in y2 and yR so yR is inevitably a stay and chat. Y2 depends on the venue and who it is, but we are past the class parties. Actually due to an uneven distribution of birthdays, the yRs have only begun having parties since Easter, and as DS did not go to school nursery and I'm split between different exits, it's only since party season started that I've really become aquainted with the yR parents.

The parties are obviously for the social benefit of the DCs and not really for the parents, but it is nice if you can become aquainted with other parents too.

Well no obviously there Shite. No booze , no decent music , no cocaine

I always enjoy seeing my dcs have fun with their mates though so just cling on to that I guess !

You've obviously not been to my kids' parties.

I can take absolutely no credit as my DParents throw them, but they're legendary and an invitation is coveted by parents and children alike.

They've become so popular that they actually have to throw 3 per year for different groups of people to attend.

I never minded them but then I’ll talk to anyone .

Not the thread I needed to read tonight! We’re off to DD’s first pre school birthday party tomorrow - I’ve never seen the child, let alone spoken to them or their parents! 😳

Yanbu. I don't even enjoy my own kids birthday parties !

I've enjoyed one, because the entertainer was great. All the others have been awkward and boring.

Ahhh...you’d have loved my DS’s 6th birthday party. The entertainer failed to turn up so whilst I cowered in a corner one of the other parents volunteered to run some party games. She was a superstar and I now worship her!

Anyway, I quite liked them. Cups of tea, cakes and leftover party food. We’re at the drop and run stage now sadly.

Yep I hate it, with my DD being only 5 she’s constantly invited to parties and I hate it. My Nan has taken her the last 3 times as I’ve had prior engagements but I literally can’t stand it. I’m shy any way keep to myself, so sit in the corner playing on my phone for the spduration .

I don't even enjoy my own kids birthday parties !

Me either!! And I’ve done my utmost over the years to try and get parents to fuck off! 😂😂

I used to find primary parties a good way to meet parents who might then want to do playdates, chat about school, or I'd just sit and read a book, pay for my other child if a play-centre, never hellish, nice 2 hours by myself with the odd conversation, some people on MN are weird and almost affronted if they have to socialize with other humans.

I don’t mind my dC parties I usually choose somewhere where everything is done for you. DS parties are awkward as one of his best friends literally has no filter. At my DS last party he asked the party host where they were he or she 🤔 it was really embarrassing. I wouldn’t not invite him as my DS has a small group of close friends and he’s one of them 😐

“or use them as a social occasion”

“That’s what I don’t get! I have no interest in meeting other parents”

Really! Why not?
I assume that you both live in the area where you grew up and already have a friendship group or you are deeply unsociable. In my case we had moved to the village the year before, and I didn’t know anyone (no family nearby either), and having a chat over a coffee was a lovely way to meet new people. Not everyone is like you

deadringer would you have left a 3 year old at a soft play party, and given someone else the responsibility of accompanying your child to the toilet, and looked after them if they had been hurt? I wouldn’t.

Yes, which is why I said “I appreciate everyone is different” literally after the part you quoted.

No, I don’t live where I grew up and I’m not deeply unsociable (though that’s not a crime.)

I have made friends. My own friends. And two hours of awkward chit chat with people who happen to have kids the same age as mine isn’t my idea of a pleasant social activity.

With the older 3 DC's I mostly enjoyed them. I knew a lot of the mums from ante natal class/mother and toddler groups and so it was fun for all of us. DC 4 wasn't really a party animal so I got out of the habit and then DC5 seemed to have a party or two every weekend for a while.

I eventually started to bribe oldest DD to take her to soft play for me. All was well until they went to one party where youngest DC seemed to be a bit younger than the other children. Oldest DD asked her if she knew of any of the children and strangely she didn't but in the way of small children she handed her present to the birthday boy's mum and joined in with the crowd.

At the end of the party she said "thank you for having me" and came home with her party bag whereupon we found the invitation and discovered that she had gone to soft play on the wrong day to a total stranger's party!

Oldest DD has still not forgiven me. If you are reading this post darling - sorry again!

At the end of the party she said "thank you for having me" and came home with her party bag whereupon we found the invitation and discovered that she had gone to soft play on the wrong day to a total stranger's party!

We’re new to our area (no family/friends here) and our kids have met loads of new friends thanks to parties and I’ve met loads of new people for coffee and chats etc so I’m very grateful and feel more settled as a result BUT I still find them so, so dull. It’s kind of like business networking isn’t it? Don’t start me on the sadists who book an indoor softplay kids party 2-4 on a sunny Sunday afternoon 😡

I fucking hate them,you are not alone op

I enjoy watching my kids play and interact with their friends.

Not sure what's sad about that, or chatting to other adults. Not everyone has lots of friends or opportunities for adult interaction.

Surely you're just as likely to have things in common with parents at your kids school, as any other place?

They are hard work. And relentless in the younger years and sparse in the older years and cause of many tears and much angst. I think it's hard when there's formed groups of friends who all know each other and then lots stood on the outside. I appreciate the money, time and effort and that my child is so happy to have an invite, so I'm very grateful, but I don't enjoy them personally.

I like ones where it's my actual friends, obviously, especially if there's a BBQ and booze and stuff. Some really nice memories of those. Strained conversation with people I don't really know while the kids run feral can fuck off as a way of spending the weekend.

I thought no one did!