Hellobee Boards

Is this your rule or a rule from the equipment company?

Ok hmm. Is there a way to kind of spedify that in your wording. I could foresee quite a few people ignoring it otherwise and then be stuck with a very upset two something on their hands at the party. I think if the invitation is clear that the rental company will not allow children under three on the equipment people might me more inclined to leave young siblings at home.

IDK I mean most places charge per kid so I wouldnt assume the parent wants to pay for a sibling! I am having a similar issue with our son's bday party which will be in November. Not sure what to say, if anything, about older/younger sibs..........would people just assume they shouldnt bring them if I say nothing?

I wouldn't bring a sibling unless they were an infant, unaware of what they were missing out on. If it was on a weekend, my husband and I would split up- one would stay home with siblings, and the other would go to the party with the 3/4 year old. If my husband had to work that day (he sometimes works on weekends), I'd ask my parents to babysit, if they were unavailable we wouldn't go. It wouldn't feel fair to me to bring a kid who couldn't participate.

I recently did a party at a place where numbers were limited, and just specified on the invite that due to space restrictions we couldn't accommodate siblings. I usually try to avoid bringing siblings anyway, unless it is a family kind of party. If we have childcare issues (like, my daughter was invited to a gymnastics party in the spring when I was out of town) I have asked if I can bring my younger son. I generally don't assume unless its clearly a casual family party.

I would leave the sibling home, but that’s because I would only bring the sibling if they were on the invitation.

In your particular circumstance I would either not invite siblings at all or say “siblings are welcome, however, only children ages 3 & 4 will be allowed on the play equipment per the rental company. It is out of our control and will be strictly enforced, so please plan accordingly.”
If you’re not worried about sounding too strict/direct, that’s what I would do.

But in my opinion, inviting children (siblings) outside of that age range to a party with very tempting play equipment is probably going to be problematic.

Honestly unless we were really close I would skip the party. I have a six year old.

If my husband couldn't watch our older child, I just wouldn't attend. I would feel awful telling a child who isn't 3-4 that they couldn't play on the equipment while the 3-4 year old could.

Do you have other activities that non-3&4 year olds could do?

I’m solo parenting 3 kids on the weekend and have a 4 year old and a 2 year old (and a baby). If I was actually expected to keep my two year old off.... it would be a nightmare and I couldn’t attend.

Oh to answer the question- if I saw that note, I would only bring a sibling if they were the right age to climb on the play stuff, or a non mobile infant. I would never bring a child who couldn’t play on that stuff. Since siblings that close in age aren’t really that common, you might be better off just saying no siblings. With paperless post can’t you specify the name of the invitee? Like it goes to Mom Tigers email address but the invitation says Daniel Tiger?

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: I would consider allowing 2 year olds on the equipment.

I think you're borrowing trouble a little. Like others have said, I generally assume siblings/families are welcome at "house" parties that don't have a price per person (vs. an event at a kids museum or similar). I think most will make that assumption, based on the many parties for this age group I have attended (friends, preschool classmates, neighbor parties) and have hosted myself. For the soft play equipment you showed in a previous post, it shouldn't be an actual problem for 2 year olds to play on it, and older siblings will likely find it boring. If you have alternative activities so parents can redirect kids outside the age range to those activities for safety reasons, I don't see an issue. The rules/exceptions would be what would make me pause about attending, because it makes it sound like you don't recognize that these might be tempting to younger/older siblings or might not be providing alternatives.

We have had a bounce house party at our home for the past 2 years (3rd + 4th birthdays). The rental company has a rule of no one under 2 which all reasonably sane people attending the party seemed to intuit without me having to police it. I always provide other activities (our playroom/toys, chalk, bubbles, a themed coloring activity) for kids who might not want to play on the bounce house. I think if you prepare for that option, you will be fine.

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: everyone will monitor their own children on the equipment! And I think it’s a lot more common to have siblings that are 2 and 4 (I had that pairing for half a year at least).

Assuming you put pretty strict wording on it, I wouldn’t put too much effort towards activities for the older kids.

I think instead of putting the age restrictions of the invite, I’d put a cute little sign in front of equipment that says “ 4 and under only please” or whatever the restriction is. As long as you have other activities for all ages, I think that’s all you need to do.

I just reread and saw that you plan to further restrict the ages beyond what the company recommends. That seems like way too much work. I say 4 and under and let parents decide whether their younger child can use it. Common sense would dictate that someone isn’t going to allow their new walker to get barreled over by a bunch of 3 year olds running through.....

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: sorry, should have clarified. My six year old would be the sibling, so it would be just constantly saying "sorry you can't," which maybe I would do if my husband were there too, but we also have a baby too so it would just be too much to deal with for just me, unless it were a close friend. 3 is sort of young for a friends party but not unheard of. A few of lo1's friends had them at that age. Mostly family and friends parties. We are doing our first one at six and I've even been told that's a little young for one but we don't have a lot of family or friends with kids also six so it is what it is.

Unless it is someone we are very close to we would decline. I have a 5yr old and. 3yr old and always solo parent on the weekends. I wouldn't expect my 5 yr old to go to a party that she can't participate in. It would just be a nightmare.

I’m confused. Do you want siblings to come or not? For this young age group, most parties that I’ve been to have been for the whole family. If I couldn’t bring both my kids, I probably just wouldn’t go to the party at all.

Your wording indicates you are ok with sibs. But your undertone seems to indicate you don’t want them there. Hence my confusion.

Also, I would limit the play gym to under 4 but allow the bounce slide for everyone and talk to all the kids about taking turns before you open it up.

I looked at your other post and you said you’re inviting friends and family with kids 4-9, so that’s about half your invited guests who aren’t able to participate in the main activity. If I were you, and I was set on having this set-up, I would only invite the daycare class. If I got this invitation and my kid fell outside the age range, I probably would decline - a five or six year old is definitely going to want to at least ride the roller coaster (I know this because I have one, and I have 6 and 8 year old Goddaughters who fight over it all the time) and it would be pretty tough to explain that they’re not allowed.