party nightmare

[Stilltrue]

Thank God it's all over! We had dd's 6th birthday party on sunday. The first child arrived a full 15 minutes early and proceeded to completely demolish our playroom. I had put in another room most of my dc's larger toys to leave room for the entertainer and the guests, but he managed to hurl all the dressing up clothes all over the floor (having nosed around in a closed box inside a closed cupboard to do so ), break a carefully made lego model which I'd put on a high shelf,etc. I was upstairs at the time getting ds3 out of his cot after his nap, dh was at the door waiting for more arrivals and ensuring all the party bags and balloons were ready,etc etc. Dd and ds1 and ds2 were in the party room with little "Damian" but were too gobsmacked to stop him ! I quickly tidied up AGAIN, putting this down to high spirits, but he was just SO obnoxious the whole time he was here. He shouted at the entertainer, tried to interfere with the set-up of the show, and shouted "no" very loudly at me when I (gently but with a restrained seethe in my voice) tried to get him to sit further back away from the entertainer's den. He was also very rude about the party plates, the food, didn't like who he was sitting next to (they were all on the floor sitting whwer they pleased!) Clearly he had an excess of energy; shame then he also refused to join in any of the action games with all the others, which I'd planned in order to calm them down in readiness for the main show. Boy was I glad to see the back of him. Sorry about the rant. I wanted to post this, then print it off, put it in next year's diary, then it will remind me either to 1. not invite Damian next year,or 2.move the party to an external venue...Oh, and his parents only said he was coming to the party 2 days before, after I'd rung to get a reply out of them, and he didn't bring a present. I know the present isn't the be all and end all, but it reminded me he didn't bring one last year either;fgs what about just sticking a colouring book or a bottle of girly bath gel in a bag for dd. I just think his parents fancied a bit of free child care !

Why did you invite the little tike???

Hm, ive have to eat the entire birthday cake to recover adequately from that experience.
I was reading it through my hands, like watching a car crash.......is there any birthday cake left? If there is eat it, eat it NOW xxx

Yes Donbean there's a tiny bit of cake left ,I think it has my name on it ! Gobbledigook dd wanted me to invite the whole class so I did ! Never again though...

I've never understood this 'inviting the whole class' business!! You are entertaining and feeding kids your child may not even like!! They probably never talk at school!!

Friends do it now with their nursery classes - they invite the whole lot so it's mega expensive and they dont' even like half of them and some of the parents are down right stuck up and rude!

Yes, go and eat the cake now - all of it!!

OMG what a nightmare!!!!

If you like any of the other parents then I would warn them not to invite either if they are having it at their home

I think it is really rude not to bring a present

Why not even give some felt tip pens or something really cheap? but nothing

OMG what a nightmare!!!!

If you like any of the other parents then I would warn them not to invite either if they are having it at their home

I think it is really rude not to bring a present

Why not even give some felt tip pens or something really cheap? but nothing

oops sorry lost connection

Kangamummy I agree about the present: I had genuinely forgotten about the absence of one last year, putting it down to an oversight i think. The point is none of us are grasping ly awaiting a pile of pressies for our kids, but it puts us in an awkward position if someone doesn't bring one at all. You think "where is it/have I lost it/how will I do a polite thank you if I can't find it?" Then it dawns on you there isn't one. I'm angry with the parents for twice now putting me in this position; maybe I'm not the only one and maybe we're all too damn polite to say anything to anyone else ? My dd yesterday finished opening the presents and has even done a list all by herself of who brought what, so that she can do her thank you notes (OK I will be helping her!) She will be wanting to give these to her friends herself at school. I have hardened my heart and will let her do so, even though Damian will perhaps be a bit conspicuous in not getting a letter ( though otoh neither will the 2 or 3 others who couldn't make the party). I had been planning to post the thank yous but I am so p o** with these people I now don't care about their feelings particularly. The parents must know this is awkward (and no they're not short of the money to buy a few felt tips). Grrrrr.

Stilltrue - you have my sympathy, I would have got hold of the parents and asked them to collect young Damien.

As to the pressies, no we should expect it, but FGS it's a kids party, and a bag of sweets wouldnt have gon a miss would they, its the thought that counts not what the bloody pressie is.

I invited to DS's party last year only those at the nursery he actually spoke about more than 5 times, the rest could go jump as far as I was concerned. But they all bought pressies, yeh some were crap, but hey at least they bought em.

Rudeness is not necessary as you saw from my rudeness thread