party etiquette for a 4 year old?!

[mammanetta]

Never done this before.
Hiring out the nursery room of our local community centre - party is early March.
Hoping to invite around 20 kids max and parent.
How soon is it sensible to send out invites?
Have heard people mentioning that they leave kids at a 4 y.o. party and bugger off - is this for real?! I thought that only happened once in reception...is it rude to specify 'child's name PLUS parent' on invite?
How about siblings - don't want to get too bogged down with older siblings, but younger ones/babies I suppose are ok - what are your experiences?
Am ok with planning food, but wondering if 2 hours of party time is enough for this age group...and whether I need a basic entertainer too...for how long?
Yikes.
Thank you :)

I think if you stipulate parents to attend then you will have to put up with siblings sorry. Or you can have no parents and no siblings? I don't think it is rude to put "and parent" on the invite though.

Send the invites about 2 weeks before the party date.

And 2 hours is about right. One hour of games/entertainment and one hour for the lunch/cake.

thanks whyme2

To accept younger sibs but not older... invite child and younger sibling and parent. Helps if you know the names of younger sibs...

Having 3 children, I would say preschool parties are easier during school time, as then older siblings don't know/ can't come. Having said that most 4 yr olds will either have 2yr old or 6yr and I think older siblings would be easier to manage, as they will join in/ show younger ones what to do, whereas younger ones will distract any attention a parent might have on their child (though usually they just sit and chat).

If you are doing party bags and people bring siblings then either just make a point of saying 'and would (sib) like a piece of cake' - i.e. no party bag, or I think be prepared to give bags to anyone over 2. Ds (just 2) is much more savy re these things and he is more likely to throw himself on ground in tantrum than dd1 who knows if she isn't invited she doesn't expect party bags. I only take siblings to parties if at soft play area, then I pay + feed them, but means dh can get some work done.

Good idea UniS...
Thanks Duracell - no soft play here, and limited to around 20 kids max plus parents...will start thinking about unisex party bags soon - lots of boys guests...
Going to have an entertainer, so am hoping what they do can appeal to the 4/5 year olds without boring the 6 year olds out of their skulls and scaring the crap out of the 2 year olds
I guess if I write child's name only on invite, most parents will assume that it is that child only who is invited (I would), but am happy for parents to ask me if a younger sibling can come.
One of my DD friends has a single mum parent, so she can hardly leave her other 1 year old DD at home...and if I am fine for her to bring the baby, then I suppose I have to extend that to others, to be fair.

Book People are good for party bags - I'm doing DD3's party on Saturday and I bought 10 decent quality books for £10 (the book bundles usually have a good mix of unisex titles). One each plus a balloon/piece of cake and that's the party bag done :)

nice one housemum off to check now!