Is this a terrible time slot for a birthday party?

[PanettoneMoly]

3rd birthday party, 2:30-4pm on a Sunday? It feels like a bit of an awkward slot in terms of nap time and providing food but DH disagrees and thinks it fits nicely in the post-nap shift.

I don’t know anyone who did nap by 3 but 2.30 would have been too early for us post nap to wake up, get ready and get some where.

I have a 2 year old who doesn't nap anymore so unless the party was very close to where we live, we might not go as 4pm is risky for falling asleep in the car and then a late bedtime!

Just a different perspective from a nap free household!

Just book what suits you. Whatever time you choose will suit some & not others 🤷🏻‍♀️

I think all the parties DD went to at that age were midafternoon

This multiplied by a hundred.
Don’t worry so much about pleasing others when you’re already providing a nice party.

My toddler would be a complete nightmare. We only do morning/lunchtime

I think it's fine - I've never been someone particularly beholden to a nap though, especially at 3 years old, when it's probably 50-50 if they still nap.

I preferred late morning parties at that age but do what suits you.

Very few kids are still consistently napping at 3 years old and having a solid 2 hours. My eldest would given half the chance but she was the only one I knew of her age that was, and I just would have happily woken her early so we could make the party. If you’re inviting a lot of younger children it might be tricker though.

We always did lunchtime parties. Short and sweet.

I tended to go for late mornings at that age. 10:30/11, play for an hour, have some party food for lunch then you are done and have the afternoon to recover/drink wine.

Yes agree with this

My 2 year old doesn't nap past 2 otherwise he's up late so that time would work for us! We find lunchtime parties awkward as that's usually when he naps (as do most of our friends children this age)

The problem would be the drive there, because while mine didn't consistently nap at 3, he did always fall asleep in the car in the afternoon and would then have to be woken in a huge grump. (I used to use this to my advantage and go home from whatever we were doing after lunch... going out somewhere new would not have worked.)

Would much prefer a morning/lunchtime party... but if that's all you can get, just accept that some people might not come.

That sounds fine to me.

Mine didn’t nap after 2 and a half so I think it’d fine; even if they do nap then most would be awake before 2.30 surely?

I think it's fine for naps as most 3 year old probably don't need a hugely long one even if they are still napping, however is it quite close to the majority of party goers? I ask as the finish time is entering into evening time if people are travelling more than 20/30 mins, so would just ensure that the food offering is relatively substantiala

To me, 2.30-4 is perfect because you
don’t have to give a “proper” tea and can just get away with a “party snack tea”…. But then we are a family that eat at about 6pm and there’s no way my 3yo would be nodding off at 4pm in the car as others have said theirs might.

All of which proves you should do what suits you 😂

Perfect time in my humble opinion

Thanks a lot for all of the replies. Invitees will be DD’s nursery class so age 2.5-3.5 (plus any siblings who fancy it). The late morning slot would be my preference, so party, lunch, home for sleep, but the place we’re looking to hold it only does two afternoon party slots, 2:30-4pm being the earlier one.

Most kids at nursery live pretty locally to us and it’s a 5-7 min drive to the venue so, with the delights of a party bag to investigate, hopefully the likelihood of any naps in the car on the way home might be reduced.

She’s been talking about her “happy birthday party” since she attended her first birthday party back in December so I just don’t want it to be a damp squib of a day. I’m already trying to work out how to manage the “fairy an’ dinosaurs!” theme she’s repeatedly requested.

If the core group are 2.5-3.5 then I imagine the majority won’t be napping and you’ll be fine. If anyone is super strict on their routine then they’d probably have an issue with whatever time you chose so don’t worry about it. Good luck on the fairy, dinosaur theme!

I tended to go for late mornings at that age. 10:30/11, play for an hour, have some party food for lunch then you are done and have the afternoon to recover/drink wine
That's what we did. I like mid-late morning parties with a party lunch.

The afternoon slot OP has wouldn't have been my preference at that age as DC got quite grumpy and tired by then, but it wouldn't be a problem and we'd have still gone for a friend's party.

My DD goes to nursery with 2-4 year olds and a CM. When she was 3 only one of the kids aged 2+ regularly napped during the day.

All the other kids would refuse to go to sleep during the day because they were having too much fun.

Also any child that did nap did so in the morning so they would go to sleep at a reasonable time in the evening.

My DS was still napping at this age but we'd have tried to get him to nap early, and come after he woke up.
My DS 3rd birthday party theme was "pound shop" but I'm sure you can get fairy stuff and dinosaur stuff at different shops if you can't find it at one place!

Poundshop-fairy-dinos 🤔 That might be a winner!