to party or not?

[SewandSo]

My parents in law have invited me and my husband and 3 and 5 year old to their 50th wedding anniversary party. It starts at 7:30 pm and is a 3 course sit down meal followed by disco. They have booked everyone into a hotel 10 mins drive away. My children havent stayed up past 8:30 pm before and they would be the only children there. Should we take them and just stay until they are fed up (prob 9:30 at latest) and not really get to enjoy the party, or not take them and go on our own? Would love your thoughts!

My parents in law have invited me and my husband and 3 and 5 year old to their 50th wedding anniversary party. It starts at 7:30 pm and is a 3 course sit down meal followed by disco. They have booked everyone into a hotel 10 mins drive away. My children havent stayed up past 8:30 pm before and they would be the only children there. Should we take them and just stay until they are fed up (prob 9:30 at latest) and not really get to enjoy the party, or not take them and go on our own? Would love your thoughts!

Can you have dinner with them and then drive them back and leave them with a sitter? We did that for a friend's wedding, it worked really well.

My dd is 2 next month and a very good sleeper with a solid routine (bedtime 8pm) would happily stay up till 10ish on an occassion like this. Are you sure your children wouldn't be ok?

A word of warning though, if dd does stay up this late we do pay for it the next day!

thanks, I was wondering if we should do that, we do have some friends who lives in the town where the party is, so we could ask them to come to the hotel to look after them till we get back, at least someone they know then as well...

yes, thats true, if we kept them up til about then, took them back to a babysitter (mind you we may have had enough of all the oldies by then!!) and had a quiet day the next day may not be too bad, thanks for your thoughts!

Hi SewandSo, if you are staying in a hotel, I assume the event is being held a bit of a distance from your home ...

In similar circumstances (weddings and other formal events) dh and I had great success booking a holiday cottage nearby and taking my sister (or in your case friend or perhaps relative who won't be attending the party) with us to baby-sit and making a w/e of it.

• DD happy because keeps normal routine
• Dh and I happy because get to enjoy event without worry or stress
• Sister happy because she gets free weekend away, some rare one-on-one time with her niece, a quiet evening to herself when we are out and great family day together on the Sunday.

It all costs a bit more but it is a model that works well for us.

that is a really good idea too! My sis would actually love that, and the children are very happy with her. She would probably even come and pick them up from the party for us so we wouldnt even have to leave it. I think I will look into this. Thanks!

No prob. Hope you have a lovely time!