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I have not been to any 5yo dropoff parties but i would totally do it if I knew the parents! And there was no pool ... that makes me super nervous as kids get older and will want pool parties. That said my 5yo would always want me to stay.

I am ALL for drop offs, but I have come to realize a few things:
-if it is in someone's house and I haven't met them, I do a drive-by and will talk to the parents on the phone first, and let my gut tell me. Not perfect, but gives me an idea more than just a blind decision
-if there is a pool, no drop. Period.
-if it is at a play place/activity centre, I don't have a problem dropping off.
That being said a local art centre just had a staff member charged with offences against children during their programming, so clearly I could be more cautious, but we can't police everything....
Oh my kids are 5 and 7

Honestly, at drop off places, I have seen kids wander away from the parties and you just never know if some shady person is around and nabs your kid.

That's a nope for me. Too young in my opinion.

I wasn't ready myself, but then I went to several 5 year old birthday parties and apparently, they made it clear that it is ok to drop off. Many parents stayed and there were also a few that headed out in each of these parties.

So far I dropped my DS (5+ yo) off once at a children's gym place. We had another birthday at the same franchise before and it is an enclosed area with no way out. It is also bright and well attended, so I believe kids won't be lost. I was solo-parenting that weekend and I really needed that one hour to run to the grocery store so I have enough time to run the rest of the activities for the rest of the weekend. I talked to DS extensively to make sure it was OK for me to drop him off for an hour, and I let the host know before I dashed out and did my errands as fast as I could. It was all OK. I came back as soon as I was done and they were eating cake.

I think it is OK at this age as long as you trust the environment and your child, and you talk to your child prior to the event to make sure it is OK.

My almost 4 year old has been to 3 drop off parties this summer. My husband has stayed for an hour or so, and then my daughter tells him to go. They are all daycare friends at their houses. The ones that have not been drop offs have been in public places.

At my 6 year olds birthday party, I had only one grandmother who asked if it was okay to drop off her grandson. I was fine with it and just paid extra attention to him since he didn't have a grown up. Two months later at a classmate's birthday party, about half the guests were dropped off. It was definitely more work on the hosts since they wanted to make sure all of the kids had plenty of food and general needs taken care of. They did a great job.

Since my kids have food allergies, I hesitate to leave them at anyone's house for a party, especially with food involved and not knowing the family as well. DH dropped him off at a party last year, but DH stayed in the parking lot the whole time. Haha. It was also for our neighbor who lives across the street, and we know them pretty well.

By school age, I think kids are ready if you trust the environment. 5 year olds don't need an adult by their side any longer. However most parties in my circle are house parties, which is much easier/safer to supervise. If the party was at a more public/unpredictable environment I might hang around. I am a clingier parent then most of my friends though, I know they would drop and run

Our son is 5 in October. A few months ago I would have been on team no-drop-off, but a friend from preschool had a drop-off party at a kid's gym, and it was amazing. I was actually disappointed that the next school friend birthday party wasn't a drop-off! For our son's 5th birthday party, I'm thinking of doing it as an optional drop off (feel free to drop off your kid, or you can hang out with us).

@JoyfulKiwi: For our son's friend's party, they said "Drop off 5:00pm, pick up 6:30pm". For our party in a few months, I might say something on the invitation like "Drop-offs are welcome, or feel free to stay and hang out with us".

If I know the parents, I typically know it's a family party, and we stay, plus siblings too. If it's a school party, there all typically drop off parties, I stayed the first time without even thinking and it was kinda awkward! My DD1 is bad with goodbyes so I definitely don't rush out and then exhange cell's with the host parent and feel comfortable leaving her, all of those have been outside of the home parties.

@JoyfulKiwi: All the parents of our invitees are close friends of mine so I just texted them "yo, I'm having DD's party from 5-8 on this date, just plan to drop the kids off and enjoy a night off". So it was really casual. But they are also all the type of friends that walk in my house without knocking so they all know that if they WANT to stay and watch Princess Elena do dance lessons with the kids rather than leave they are welcome to Honestly, I really don't think you can not at least gives parents the option to stay if they want to. I would be very uncomfortable if someone told me that my child was invited to their home but I was not allowed to stay if I wanted to. If you are uncomfortable with certain parents in your home, I think you should leave those children off the invite list.

For me it would depend on how close we are to the family who will be watching my kids. My kids have severe food allergies, so I'm currently not comfortable dropping them off except with people I know are extremely conscientious of their allergies (daycare and my parents). Xander is 4 and is aware of his allergies, but I think he'd still trust an adult who gave him food and wouldn't question whether the food was actually safe for him. Maybe when he's 5, he'll have a better handle of his own allergies, but we're not there yet.

I had my daughter's 5th birthday party this past Saturday. While it wasn't officially a "drop off" party, about half of the parents asked if they could. I said if your child felt comfortable, it was fine by me. At this age, and with most of the children having been friends for 2-3 years, I feel comfortable with drop off. I think it depends on the child.

One of my very good friends had a drop off party for her 5 yo daughter and made it clear that it was a drop off party. It was held at the park district. DS1 had just turned 4 so I wasn't sure how he would handle it. I trust my friend but stayed for a little bit until my son was comfortable as he didn't know 95% of the kids there. It ended up being totally fine and I went home for about an hour. But I don't think I would be comfortable with a drop off party with someone I didn't know well for a few more years

@snowjewelz: Yes! I had an innocent at G's 1st bday with kids running away and their parents were there!!!!! Nope!