Party time poll

[MidnightCommando]

Would you rather attend a small, intimate birthday party in the evening on a weekday or on a weekend? The party will last about 2 hours and food will be served.

Thanks

edited to add: Children invited will be 4-5 years old and no-one lives more than 10 minutes away. We are having a tea party at a local art gallery where the girls (5 total including DD) will be painting ceramic tea cups to take home as a memento.

[Alyantavid]

Totally depends.

I always have my kids' parties on their actual bday. But this is normally just a family party. If we do have a kid party, it's on the weekend.

And if I have to drive very far, I'd rather do it on a weekend.

[phathui5]

Weekends here. We seem to have a lot going on in the evenings and weekends are easier for us.

[GardenStream]

Our weekends are generally booked up at least a month in advance. DS hasn't been able to attend any parties on weekends, but our week nights are usually free.

[AllisonR]

Sorry, too many variables to vote. Age of kids? Distance to travel?

Right now my kids are young, nearly 4 and 6, so those times would put me right at kids bedtime (we go up 7-7:30, asleep before 8). So I would not come, unless you were a good friend. If my kids were older, this would change.

Also, 2 hours is really short imo. Barely time to arrive, rush through food and cake and then leaving again. So if you were down the street, for sure we would come. But if we had to drive 20-30min for only 2 hours, only to drive back again, I might also skip.

[seagull]

Originally Posted by AllisonR

Sorry, too many variables to vote. Age of kids? Distance to travel?

Right now my kids are young, nearly 4 and 6, so those times would put me right at kids bedtime (we go up 7-7:30, asleep before 8). So I would not come, unless you were a good friend. If my kids were older, this would change.

Also, 2 hours is really short imo. Barely time to arrive, rush through food and cake and then leaving again. So if you were down the street, for sure we would come. But if we had to drive 20-30min for only 2 hours, only to drive back again, I might also skip.

[Drummer's Wife]

Weekends would work best for us, for sure.

[ecoteat]

DD still naps every afternoon, so we generally just don't even try doing afternoon things. But evening things are great! Even during the week is fine with me--one less weeknight dinner I have to make.

[beanma]

I think 2 hours is perfect and generally seems to be the agreed upon time in our area for birthday parties. If there is a time set it's something like 10-12 or 2-4 or if they're serving lunch food 11-1. If the party is at a park or somewhere like that then, of course, the invitees can stay as long as they like, but 2 hours is spot on IME.

Also, weekends, definitely. My kids have been through the b-day party thing many times and unless your child expresses a preference I'd definitely do an afternoon party on a weekend day.

My dd2 says she really wants her b-day party on her b-day which does not fall on a weekend this year so I'm going to have to see if she's really set on that or if her mind can be changed.

I think you're much more likely to run into conflicts with school-age kids on a weekday. If both parents work the kids are probably in an afterschool program which can last up until 5:30. Many kids have activities after school and in the evening— Tae Kwan Do, dance, soccer, etc. Even if this is for a younger child, the friends they'd like to invite may have an older sib, etc.

In general I thinkn weekends work better, but I think if this is a small party with just a few good friends there's nothing wrong with feeling them out first, especially the closest friends. I often do this. Even if we're inviting the whole class I want to make sure that my kids' bestest friends can come so I'll talk to them about a couple of times and see which works best for them and then the rest of the invitees can come if they can and I know my kid will be happy with her closest friends there. So, I'd ask the actual invitees instead of MDC>

[LynnS6]

Well, which version of my child would you like?

The touchy, screaming one who can't seem to get the paint right or the energetic cheerful one?

Evenings are guaranteed to bring out the former. Weekends are more likely to get you the cheerful energetic one. For 8-9 year olds, I could see an evening party. But most 4-5 year olds I know are really not doing well by 5:30 pm.

[Peony]

Weekends hands down. There is no way in heck I would attend a weekday evening party, weekdays are way too crazy at my house.

[ChetMC]

Weekend

In general, I'd prefer the weekend. Depending on the kid and the day the weeknight party could be okay, but Saturday 2pm to 4pm, or 1pm to 3pm, is solidly good for us.

[meemee]

i have an 8 year old. wild energetic really partying kind

while i would be there if you were my close friend i would not like it during the weekend. if we left your house at 8 and got home at 8:10 it would still take dd till 10 to go to bed. she needs a lot of time to unwind.

and yeah for a intimate party 2 hours may be too little. our playgroups are usually 4 to 5 hour long.

[IntuitiveJamie]

Originally Posted by AllisonR

Also, 2 hours is really short imo. Barely time to arrive, rush through food and cake and then leaving again. So if you were down the street, for sure we would come. But if we had to drive 20-30min for only 2 hours, only to drive back again, I might also skip.

Wow, I didn't realize two hours is considered short for a party! That is the norm in our area. Actually more like 1 to 1.5 hours. That's for 5 and under I would say. Don't know about after that. In fact, the Dads are all relieved to know that it's only a couple of hours of their time taken up during Football season.

Really though, it's pretty much a guarantee that a party won't go longer then 1.5 hours, 2 at the max for sure.

[reezley]

In your situation, with a small group of girls doing a classy tea party (sounds nice) - sounds like evening during the week would be ok, as well as weekend. But for me, with boys that just run around and get hyped up at parties most likely, and need to settle down before bedtime, I would not want to take them to the typical birthday party in an evening during the week.

[Llyra]

Two hours sounds about right for a children's party for me. But weekdays, for us, would be a big disruption. We do manage to do evening things sometimes during the week, but it always means my kids being a little off-kilter and overtired the next day. They go to bed very early, and are almost always sound asleep by 7:30, and we have a routine that gets us there and interrupting it always seems to invite trouble. So I would vastly prefer weekends.

[reezley]

Originally Posted by LynnS6

Well, which version of my child would you like?

The touchy, screaming one who can't seem to get the paint right or the energetic cheerful one?

Evenings are guaranteed to bring out the former. Weekends are more likely to get you the cheerful energetic one. For 8-9 year olds, I could see an evening party. But most 4-5 year olds I know are really not doing well by 5:30 pm.

Yes, that!

[MidnightCommando]

Thanks for the input. I did not realize how many children that age go to bed early. Both DD and her best friend are in bed 9-10 p.m. but it seems like that is not the norm.

I am going to try a noon tea party on the weekend so we can do lunch.

[meemee]

till dd started first grade she never went to bed anytime earlier than midnight. once she started first grade and school started at 8 am we had to be in bed early to give her down time to be able to go to sleep.

she is 8 and falls asleep around 9:30/10 pm but she has to be in bed reading, or doing whatever she wants in bed. she needs her downtime.