Birthday Partys

[Springsprung100]

Ok so I have a bit of a grumble, what is going on with children's birthday partys these days? whatever happened to lovely little home partys with a few special friends?

It now all seems to happen with business efficiency in these awful community halls with awful children's entertainers blaring out inappropriate pop music and instructing the children to play silly games, blowing up sausage balloons and a hall table with a few paper plates. that was the first round of parties now its gone on to sharing a party with another little person! I thought birthdays were special - they were for me, sharing takes away any special feeling that its' your birthday'.

My other moan is that why are presents also placed on tables in these halls? Surely this removes really important life skills for children of giving and receiving! my little loves to give and watch friends open the presents and now misses out on this life skill, the present is swiftly taken away and placed on a table - is so 1950's wedding!

These partys also come with inflatable castles and music making so much noise I find the whole thing so stressful. My husband also pointed out that you spend 1-1.5 hours watching an entertainer instructing the children and yet by doing this the kids never get to run around and play with each other.

One last thing is all this means you are allotted to 2 hours of party time, I find it so strange...Please tell me there are parents out there that have lovely home parties, wrapping paper all over the lounge, party table in the dining room and pass the parcel and musical
statues....my little one dreads hearing that a friends party is in yet another hall...

I would prefer to hear from parents who still have home parties so that I know I am not the only one!

You know your child doesn't have to accept party invitations, don't you?

You can do whatever sort of party you like, and just stop going to others. The whole class parties only tend to be in reception and year 1, after that parties usually dry up significantly.

The present thing though is so that children don't get embarrassed if they've given a pencil and other children have given a pony (not a real example). When children's schools have s huge range of parental income, it can risk humiliating children.

I’m with you OP, we are having a party at home for 9 kids for my ds7 next month.
With pass the parcel, kids running and playing in the house, pizza, little sausages and sausage rolls (I may do a few sandwiches too). No hall, no bouncy castle, no entertainer- all too expensive.

Last year we did party in soft play, enjoyed that! (No clean up, food done by others... but getting too old for that now).
I am not a fan of all class invites, I believe in inviting friends!
Re presents- agree it’s their birthday-the time to open presents!!
Each to their own thou, eh?

sharing takes away any special feeling that its' your birthday

Good job you're not a twin then

I never got to open presents at my parties in the 90s. Mum wanted to be sure she knew who was from whom so she could ensure I wrote an appropriate thank you note. Tbf I think it does get confusing to open them during the party chaos BUT as PP said each to their own :)

Wow. Parties in a community hall and not in a home aren't all bad. When my DS was 4, we had a 3 week old so I didn't want a party at home, and he was desperate to have a bouncy castle. Also, we have really close friends from church, nursery, antenatal group, plus cousins, so across that it was about 20 kids.

It was lovely, the kids had fun bouncing and had space to chase balloons around, we played a couple of games, and then it was easy to clear up and head home.

Whilst you might not like it, others might, or not have a house with space or layout that works well for parties even with a few kids, especially if parents stay because they are little.

Each to their own and if you don't like it don't go.

Um, not everyone has room to host a party at home? Or a dining room to set food out on!

Also agree with the PP that said about opening presents in front of guests being potentially awkward when there's a range of family incomes at a school (as there usually is!)

user1498854363 - sound like a great party!

My house is too small for a party! He could literally have 2 friends! Instead I have booked one of those" horrible village halls", a bouncy castle and diddy car track and a face painter. I'm doing pizza in the hall kitchen, crisps, cucumber sticks and mini sausages. My son will be 4 and I'm anticipating parents will stay so I will do tea, coffee and biscuits for the parents.