late afternoon b'day party ~ do I need to serve dinner?

[cepmom]

It just seems like the OP is making all kinds of excuses and has some ulterior reason why she will not be offering food.

again ~ I never said I would not offer food. In fact, I have mentioned more than once that I would serve fruit and another type snack food along with cake and ice cream. Why do you keep accusing me of not wanting to serve food? Isn't fruit, snacks and cake/ice cream food? What excuses have I come up with? And what in God's name would be an ulterior motive for not serving pizza??

The party starts at 3:45.... I will serve cake ice cream at the begininng so the kids won't be "stuffed full of sugar" when it's time to go home. They will be eating at 3:45...that's not dinner time.

 

[katerkat]

Margaritas, beer and wine should be available for the adults.

Anything less than that should be considered rude and appalling.

You jest, but the first thing on our party list after hamburgers and hot dogs was "beer, margaritas and cosmos." How else can we make it through a three-way two year old birthday party? (There's a reason we're only doing this once instead of three times!)

 

[cepmom]

this is off topic... but in line with birthday parties:

Does anyone open birthday gifts at the actual party???? When I was a little girl, we ALWAYS opened birthday gifts...it was kind of the "end of the party" activity. My DD has gone to 5 b-day parties in the past 6 months and NO ONE opens their birthday gifts. Is this a regional thing in the mid-atlantic/Washington, DC area? Is this a nationwide afront to gift opening??? Does anyone know why this is the new practice??? THoughts?

we always open presents at the party, but I have been to a couple where the gifts were not opened. My kids also like to see the b'day kid open their present.

 

[Wishing on a star]

Margaritas!!! Ahhhh, now there's a food-group!!!

 

[hlbtimes2]

Does anyone open birthday gifts at the actual party????

I've only been to one party where the child didnt open gifts. It was a family we didnt know well- my dh and the other dad worked together. It was for their sons 1st bday. The mom got drunk, there was a family squable of some sort and gifts didnt get opened. We never went back to their house.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

this is off topic... but in line with birthday parties:

Does anyone open birthday gifts at the actual party???? When I was a little girl, we ALWAYS opened birthday gifts...it was kind of the "end of the party" activity. My DD has gone to 5 b-day parties in the past 6 months and NO ONE opens their birthday gifts. Is this a regional thing in the mid-atlantic/Washington, DC area? Is this a nationwide afront to gift opening??? Does anyone know why this is the new practice??? THoughts?

Seems that very often the kids don't open presents at the party even though my kids always do since the other kids seem to enjoy seeing the birthday child open the present they gave them.

Also, I wonder if I have I have traveled to stepford in this thread...here we do this, here we do that...

There really isn't one right way of doing all these things. I'm amazed at the black and white views of so many people.

I don't think there's anything wrong with serving food, but also nothing wrong with not serving it.

BTW, dinnertime is nowhere close to 4pm in this house and I don't know of anyone personally who eats that early. Our elem kids don't get home from school until almost 4pm, with dinner between 6 and 7pm, and we don't eat any earlier on the weekends. My kids would be shocked if I gave them dinner at even 5pm.

 

[C.Ann]

Kind of tricky because that is in fact dinner time for many families - but - considering you did state on the invitation "cake and ice cream", it's up to the parents to read it and understand it..

Having said that though, I would definitely serve the cake and ice cream first thing so the kids have time to run off some of that sugar before they go home and have dinner..

 

[bananiem]

It's one day!!! So your kid eats cake and ice cream and doesn't want supper for [I]one[/I] night. Or maybe they'll eat a little later than usual. Big whoop-de-doo! Be grateful some kid likes them well enough to have been invited in the first place.
OP, I'm sure the party will be fine and the kids will have a great time.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

It's one day!!! So your kid eats cake and ice cream and doesn't want supper for one night. Or maybe they'll eat a little later than usual. Big whoop-de-doo! Be grateful some kid likes them well enough to have been invited in the first place.
OP, I'm sure the party will be fine and the kids will have a great time.

For sure! And, as far as I'm concerned, there's something to the whole "eat dessert first" saying on occasion.

 

[Mrs.Toad]

For sure! And, as far as I'm concerned, there's something to the whole "eat dessert first" saying on occasion.

Oh, yea!

 

[Tiffer]

Did someone say margaritas??

OP--have a blast at your party. It is a close call onthe food, but not crazy if you don't. We don't eat that early...maybe Easter and Christmas.

 

[disneymom3]

For sure! And, as far as I'm concerned, there's something to the whole "eat dessert first" saying on occasion.

Heck ya. We had Cold Stone for dinner on Mothers day! We didn't intend it to be dinner but we were all too full from being stuffed with all that sugar to eat dinner. What a shame!

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Heck ya. We had Cold Stone for dinner on Mothers day! We didn't intend it to be dinner but we were all too full from being stuffed with all that sugar to eat dinner. What a shame!

OMG! You didn't!

 

[Caropooh]

BTW, dinnertime is nowhere close to 4pm in this house and I don't know of anyone personally who eats that early. Our elem kids don't get home from school until almost 4pm, with dinner between 6 and 7pm, and we don't eat any earlier on the weekends. My kids would be shocked if I gave them dinner at even 5pm.

If my family ate dinner at 5pm, the DD's would be eating by themselves Monday thru Friday! That is a very scary thought! I can't even imagine what DD13 would make for them! DH doesn't get home till 7pm and I work 2nd shift!

 

[disneymom3]

OMG! You didn't!

Ice cream is yummy!

 

[Tigger&Belle]

If my family ate dinner at 5pm, the DD's would be eating by themselves Monday thru Friday! That is a very scary thought! I can't even imagine what DD13 would make for them! DH doesn't get home till 7pm and I work 2nd shift!

I'm sure your DD has a healthy dinner on the table when your DH gets home, right?

Ice cream is yummy!

Damn straight it is!

 

[wilderness01]

If my family ate dinner at 5pm, the DD's would be eating by themselves Monday thru Friday! That is a very scary thought! I can't even imagine what DD13 would make for them! DH doesn't get home till 7pm and I work 2nd shift!

My kids eat lunch at school at 10:15 am and are home from school by 2 pm so we try to eat between 5 and 6 pm by the latest. If the kids have activities after school they eat between 4:30 and 5 pm. The time you eat dinner is relative to the time you get up, eat lunch, etc. On Saturdays we do eat a little later, but will only eat after 6:30 if we have eaten a late lunch or the kids are outside playing, etc. My neighbors never ever eat before 7 pm because their dad doesn't get home until then. It's all how your family lives and what's right for them.

 

[aprilgail2]

My daughter has never been to a birthday party where they didn't serve at least pizza, no matter what the time of day-2pm, 7 pm -whatever...so I would not have fed her before a party figuring she was getting food there. We eat dinner at 4 so not having food my daughter would be miserable.
Out of all the parties she went to I think the kids opened their gifts at the party once-and that was at a house party. But she has only been to one party that was a house party so that could be the reason, 99 percent of the people have the parties out, not at their houses, so at the places they pack the gifts right up for you to take home and not open there.

 

[LindsayDunn228]

maybe it's a regional thing, but I've been to parties where only cake was served....it's not that out of the ordinary. In fact when I was kid, unless the party was sleepover, there was usually only cake and snacks served. Birthday parties are out of control these days. Nobody ever has friends over for games and cake anymore?

No kidding!!! When I was a kid we got cake and ice cream, sometime Ruffles and dip. Was fine by us!

 

[Caropooh]

I'm sure your DD has a healthy dinner on the table when your DH gets home, right?



Damn straight it is!

You bet! Her specialty is tuna right out of the can, popcorn and soda! maybe a granola bar too!

My kids eat lunch at school at 10:15 am and are home from school by 2 pm so we try to eat between 5 and 6 pm by the latest. If the kids have activities after school they eat between 4:30 and 5 pm. The time you eat dinner is relative to the time you get up, eat lunch, etc. On Saturdays we do eat a little later, but will only eat after 6:30 if we have eaten a late lunch or the kids are outside playing, etc. My neighbors never ever eat before 7 pm because their dad doesn't get home until then. It's all how your family lives and what's right for them.

That is very true! We have always been later eaters just due to activities and work schedules. DD's get home from school around 4:15 and will normally have a snack when they get home. If they are starving, they can always make a sandwich or something before my DH get home.