Is a 9am birthday party too early?

[december2020]

It is DS's birthday in the next couple of months.
He has been really keen on a trampoline park birthday. The majority of guests would be between 3-5 years old (DS included).

The only time slot on a weekend they offer kids that age to have a trampoline birthday party is 9am. It lasts for one hour with 30 minutes for food after.

Which means they'd be having 'lunch' and cake at 10am and home at 1030.

Please give me some perspective - this sounds ridiculously early for a birthday, even for kids aged 3-5. Am I totally delusional and this is in fact the norm and a totally standard accepted birthday party time?

Would you book this?

Yes, good plan.

I think it's fair enough of the venue as lots of little ones on the trampolines in the chaos of a Saturday afternoon could be disastrous. Like you say, knock it on the head for a few years.

We'd go - our DC have always been early risers.

But what food would you be doing at that time? Lunch would be silly. I'd do more snack like food - fruit, veg, crackers etc, & cake to take home.

Sounds great. Get up, get the party out of the way and enjoy the rest of the day.

You'd honestly miss a 10am party? Your poor kids, that's just parents being selfish because no way are the kids saying 'no i dont want to go to a party before 11'

That sounds perfect. The worst part of parties later in the day is that you have to work your whole day around it. At least with a party at 9am is that you have the rest of the day free to please yourselves.

For a two hour round-trip it would need to be my child's best friend in the world. Not that my DCs' friends' parents would be that inconsiderate

No it's not the norm, and I think for most people that would be too early. The timings don't work either from a caterinf perspective, as lunch at 10am is too early. I would say 10am is the earliest you should do, I would look at alternatives if it was me.

9am? No way.

It’s not selfish- we have things to do in the mornings, we have horses. We also all live rurally so you are looking at 45 mins plus to nearest venues unless it’s a village hall. 9am is absolutely impossible.

We don’t do anything with friends on weekends before 11am, not that we know anyone that would have a party any earlier anyway. Most parties are 1-3 or 3-5, sometimes 11-1 but I have never been invited to anything earlier than 11. Most of the kids have swimming or dance or rugby in the mornings.

It's too early

Too early. I quite like a 10-12 party but 9am is another school run!

Way too early. My DD wouldn't have even been awake at that time!

Haha.

We live in a small town with travelling distance to any type of decent party destination. Luckily no-one was as snide as you, and the kids and parents were all delighted.

FAR too early for my family.

I don't want to have to get up so early on non-school days!

It's also hard for, say, single mums who then have to get their other kids up and dressed so that just one of them can go to the party!

Needs to be 10am at the earliest

I wouldn’t not go but it is early especially if you have another child you need to arrange child care for (this isn’t a “all children in the family should be invited” post, with different ages etc. I totally get it’s the child’s friends who should be invited, but assuming will be the case for some of the parents involved) x

Funny OP, I had exactly the same issue this weekend and decided against it as all my mum friends said 9am is too early. We will revisit in a few years when we can go to a later slot.

Absolutely bloody not!

I love a 9 am party means the kids have had a run around and lunch and I'm home by 1130 to get my youngest down for his nap.

I have been to 3 parties this year ( 4th birthdays) early on a Saturday morning and every one of them has been very well attended.

I was about to say no way, DS doesn't get up much before 8 at the weekend, sometimes after, and if I'm up I'm drinking coffee and either reading a book, catching up with the news or having a bath, but then I remembered DH goes to the gym at 6:45 on a Saturday so he would be back in time and already showered and dressed, so yes but I wouldn't be there! (I'd be having some lovely quiet alone time). Unless we have plans I don't leave the house before 9 on a Saturday and we've purposefully kept DS' clubs and activities for after school/weeknights so we have family time at weekends.

Yes. My DCs would have had to sit that one out!

Way too early, move would barely have got out of bed by 9.

That's way too early