Children welcome evening reception?

[sadie123]

Hi, I''m planning on having an evening reception and I would love to include the children in thefamily because they mean a lot to us. Is this a bad idea? Although most of them can hang until all hours, I''m worried about a few of the little ones getting tired and their parents having to leave early because of this. What do you all think?

Thanks!

P.S. Sorry I ask so many questions! I can''t wait until I can actually contribute to these conversations!

 

[KimberlyH]

Sadie,

I think it''s your wedding and your call. If I were in your shoes I would consider a venue with a small room at the reception site that can be designated for kids, then hiring a sitter for the kids so they have a place to hang out, perhaps crash in front of a movie or something, if and when they get worn out, and that way their parents can stay and enjoy.

Good luck with your decision, it''s a tough one!

 

[Tacori E-ring]

We are having 5 kids (ages 5-12). They are at their own table and our wedding planner is making coloring pages and stuff for them. I think they will have a blast!

 

[JCJD]

We had a 7pm Friday wedding and invited the children of all our guests. However, not many of the guests brought their kids. The youngest was 3 (step-nephew), and several parents brought the kids to the wedding but didn''t come to the reception. We had a casual wedding and reception, and had a room off to the side of our main reception locale that had a table set up with coloring pages (wedding themed of course!), crayons, and a couple board games. I''d say we had only 3 or 4 kids at the actual reception (total about 100 guests), a few more at the ceremony. Also, we had hors d''oeuvres and dessert only at our reception, so feeding the kids wasn''t a problem, but many caterers will do a free or discounted kids meal (chicken fingers or spaghetti, that kind of thing) for you if you''re having a dinner.

 

[tanyak]

I think it depends on how little the little ones are and what time your reception is starting. Kids ages 5 or 6 and older would probably be OK, but the wee ones most likely will get cranky and sleepy. You probably will have some parents leave early because of it. Most kids go to bed pretty early, and staying up "late" to them might be just 9 or 10 p.m. or so.

A lot of couples do hire sitters, clowns and other entertainers to keep kids occupied. If it's in your budget, I think that's great, although I don't the couples should be expected to do that.

I'm also having an evening reception that I was planning to keep adults-only, then I found out last week that my two cousins are bringing their three kids, ages, 4, 3 and 2 (plus an estranged husband, but that's another post!) Anyway, with three weeks to go, there's not much I can do about it. I'm preparing for a kid meltdown around 9 p.m. that evening.

I don't think I was much help!

 

[ChargerGrrl]

As the others have noted, this is a VERY personal decision. Scroll down to the "Wedding Pet Peeve" thread, and you''ll see many different POV''s.

FI and I have chosen to keep our wedding "adults only" (we really don''t care for kids)

Just do what''s best for you, and your situation!

 

[sadie123]

Hmmm. Thanks for the input. Some of the parents may get a sitter for their kids for the reception, but bring them to the ceremony. It''s not going to be a late, late one, 5-10. There are only a couple that will be under 4, most will be 6 and over. If all of the parents bring their kids there could be a total of 8 of them. Which is not too bad. I''ve been at parties with these kids before, at the last one my 5 year old cousin Tyler outlasted me! Ha!

 

[AndyRosse]

The only child at our wedding was my flowergirl. She was five and actually made it to midnight! Of course, at that point she was definitely tired and whiny, but she did great overall. She had a blast dancing with everyone

 

[ladykemma]

i like the idea of a private room with two teenage babysitters, tv/vcr, disney movies, blankies and pillows.

 

[flopkins]

I had kids at our reception, it was from 5-10. We didn''t have that many though, 1 baby, and 4 or 5 kids under 10. I wanted to do the coloring books but didn''t have time. I think the families w/kids did leave a bit earlier, but whatever, at that point it was just dancing and drinking. I think it''s a purely personal decision, DH and I love kids, we couldn''t imagine it w/o them, so it wasn''t even a question in our minds.

 

[diamondfan]

When I got married, I was one of the first if not the first in our circle of friends...no one had kids so it was not an issue. Now, if I were in the situation, I would try to have a separate room with one or two sitters, activites planned and a buffet and or snacks. I would let the parents know to bring blankies, pajamas for the younger ones in case they fall asleep. Honestly, if it were me, and I could check on my kid or kids and saw they were fine, I would still plan to stay longer rather shorter, but that is just me...if you can swing it, I think it is quite a lovely thing to do! Good luck to you...

 

[aussiegirl23]

Sadie,

I was at a wedding recently where there were a LOT of kids (like maybe 10+)? ranging from 2-10 or so. The bride & groom were a tad worried about how things would go, so they hired 2 baby-sitters and got one of their out-of-town guests (I think the bride''s cousin?) to agree to have their room used as "Kid Central."

The kids stuck around for maybe an hour at the reception, then headed to the hotel room upstairs with the sitters. I went up at one point to "deliver" a friend''s daughter, and they were all having a great time. Some sleeping, some playing CandyLand, some watching IceAge... The sitters thought it was a great idea... They were given the same dinner as the wedding guests, and the 5 hour job was pretty painless.

I think they ended up spending like 100 bucks to pay the 2 sitters, and the room was already paid for. Games/DVDs, etc... were collected beforehand.

Just thought I''d share a success story : ) It IS possible to include the kids for a bit, without all h*ll breaking loose : ) Just takes planning!

Aussiegirl : p