Whatever happened to social etiquette? B'day Party.

[Plucker001]

This is a new one for us.... We received a 1st birthday party invitation for our friends' son in the MAIL several months ago. My husband took our 2 daughters to the restaurant where the party was supposed to be yesterday ( I had to work) and there was no one there! He called our friends and apparently they changed the location of the party but only posted it on Facebook! What the....?

The new location was over 45 minutes away so needless to say, my husband didn't go.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

It boggles my mind that parents will drop their kids at a party with complete strangers and not give it a second thought. Who does that??? It seems like once the kids are about 5 it becomes the norm to just leave them. Doesn't matter what the party venue is, how many (or few) adults are there, etc. Who do they plan to blame if their child disappears or is injured?

 

[sasywtch]

I want to point out that not all parties may interest all kids and parents. We always make sure we do something fun (and budget friendly) when we invite friends from cub scouts or school to our sons birthday party. I shop around different ideas and use coupons. I have girlfriends who insist it's too expensive to have a party out somewhere and always have the party at home. But really- after you buy all that food, decorations, drinks, cups, plates, etc......AND cleaning up? Sometimes it has to be a draw.

Which party do you think the kids want to attend? Rock Climbing at the Doylestown Rock Gym or sitting and watching a movie at Billy's house- something that they could do at home?

I'm guessing alot of these complaints are for parties at home.

Wow.......I am so glad my kids are 32-21 and I don't have to go through any of this. Trying to one up another is not my idea of fun. If one of my kids ever came home and said "Little johnnie only had cake and ice cream at home and we just played a couple of games", my child would get a talking to. I'd tell them they were lucky they were invited, some people like to do things a little more simplier than others and it's the friends that matter.

I never understood this, invite the whole class thing. My kids had a few close friends in class, a couple around the neighborhood that they played with and the relatives. Cake, ice cream, few games and kids went outside on the trampoline or whatever they played with. No one I knew back then gave out these treat bags. Life was so much simplier then and probably less stressful for the parents and less dissapointment for the kids when some didn't show up. In some respects, by inviting those who aren't very close, inviting tons of kids, paying $$$$ maybe setting kids up for the dissapointment.

My DIL was happy to just have relatives over and some close friends in the neighborhood for my grandson's parties the last 6 years but new neighbor's moved in, they are having parties at parks with rides, eating and now she's talking about what she needs to plan for next year. It's almost like a keep up with the Jone's type stuff. My son is a teacher and got a pink slip, their house is upside down...hello? they can't afford it but it will happen.

 

[TheRatPack]

I don't believe it's just about house parties. We've never had a house party (DH is not fond of having lots of kids over). We've always rented a location. We started with a park, then moved on to a lodge, and have now moved on to a bouce house location. At the park and lodge we had a bounce house, ponies, characters etc. The parties cost about $1500 each. Now, with the bounce house location the kids have lot of slides and bounces to play with. The costs have gone significantly down for us to about $750 per party.

All in all, we still have a hard time get any RSVPs. So, I don't think it's about where you are having it or as another poster mentioned how much money you spend.

WOWOWOWOWOW and here I complain about tossing out 150.00 for a party with 5.00 pizzas LOL You're going to be on that MTV show "sweet 16 party" one day aren't you LOL

 

[stazmatic]

I just had two parties over the weekend. The first for ds11. He invited 12 kids total. 3 couldn't come, 5 could come and 4 never called at all. DS wanted us to call the kids that never called to see if they were coming - UMMMM NOOOOO!!!!!!

The second party was for DS2. All of the usual family members came and we had a great time.
DS's godmother and I are on shaky ground over a money issue that happened over a year ago. She didn't come or call to his first birthday party last year. Now this year we have been on speaking terms but not back to the way things were. A couple months ago I went to her new baby's baptism and gave her a gift. No thank you card, although my mom got a thank you card. Now this party, no call to say she couldn't make it and she posted on Facebook that she was on her way to a burger tasting event. The only acknowledgement she ever did for either birthdays was send me a text message. If I can send her an invitation is it too much to ask her to make a phone call or send a card?

 

[acomasdiaz]

WOWOWOWOWOW and here I complain about tossing out 150.00 for a party with 5.00 pizzas LOL You're going to be on that MTV show "sweet 16 party" one day aren't you LOL

LOL...that's what my DH says he's afraid of. Btw, that's one of my favorite shows.

 

[bhoffman]

I just did a limo scavenger hunt for my daughter today. You don't RSVP you don't get picked up!