Travel and Babysitter

eshee8198

So, we are attending my cousin's wedding in Pittsburgh in June...neither my cousin nor his finacee live in Pittsburgh, but that's where the bride is originally from. We are assuming that children are not invited, but we are planning to travel with DD anyway, as DH doesn't want to leave her behind. That means we need to find a babysitter for her while we're at the wedding on Saturday night. My other cousin, the groom's sister, has a 9 month old who will also need a babysitter, so we were thinking we'd put the kiddos together.

What would you do about finding a babysitter? Use Care.com or something like that? Try to find an inn or hotel with babysitting services (does that even exist)? Hope the bride knows someone that she loves but doesn't love enough to invite to the wedding? How do you make sure that your babysitters aren't toddler-stealing weirdos? Background checks? Reference checks? Anything I am forgetting?

I'm also stressing slightly about the hotel situation. We usually rent a house...but apparently that's not possible in Pittsburgh. The thought of getting DD to nap while we're in the room with her is dreadful. I'm picturing DH and I sitting outside the door, sharing a bottle of minifridge wine in a hotel hallway for 3.5 hours.

AKB090609

Does the bride have family in the area? I would start there and see if any of her relitives have a babysitter they use. As far as the hotel, can you get a suite? If not we put DD's pack n play in the bathroom when we were in Hawaii, it worked well for us.

eshee8198

Good call on the suite...I need to see what's available...

Holly_1007

When we got married keagan was 20 months. We hired one of my brothers female friends (17 yrs old) to help with the kids that day. Keagan didn't sit through the ceremony, and none of our family wanted to miss it. I left the reception to put him to bed, and then she hung out in the sitting room (we had a suite) while I went back to the reception.

hmp1

Is the wedding at her family church? I would see if they have a nursery teacher that you can contact. Bonus if she could open the nursery during the ceremony and then come to the hotel to end the night. Otherwise, I would use a service that does background checks.

hmp1

Is the wedding at her family church? I would see if they have a nursery teacher that you can contact. Bonus if she could open the nursery during the ceremony and then come to the hotel to end the night. Otherwise, I would use a service that does background checks.

AKB090609

hmp1 said:

Is the wedding at her family church? I would see if they have a nursery teacher that you can contact. Bonus if she could open the nursery during the ceremony and then come to the hotel to end the night. Otherwise, I would use a service that does background checks.

That is a great idea, if that doesn't work perhaps someone from the church could give you a recomendation.

melody921

Is there someone who could travel with you to be the babysitter? That's what we did when my brother got married. I paid for a friend's room, and she took DS back to the room after the ceremony. Otherwise, I'd check with the bride to see if she knows someone reliable she could recommend.

kelbel527

Ditto to having someone travel with you, if it's possible.  Also ditto to the suite.  It's the only way we travel these days.  

Make sure when you're looking at suites that they have a door separating the two rooms.  We found a lot of hotels that call it a suite, but it's an open doorway.  There's no way our kids would sleep well if they can still see us.

When we went to NYC to a no-kids allowed wedding, we brought my sister.  She stayed with us and watched DS1 when we went to the wedding.  Plus it was nice to have another set of hands during the vacation.

MarisaKathleen

I second seeing if you can bring someone with that she knows.  If Penny's anything like Nancy, Nancy would have a complete fit if we left her with a stranger.  She takes a little while to warm up.  If you're travelling with someone that she already knows, it will probably ease frustration for all of you. 

Good luck!!

eshee8198

Thanks, ladies. We talked about bringing my MIL, but I can't afford the plane ticket at the moment. I DID make sure that we got a suite with a door to the bedroom though - no question on that one.

So, DH is really freaking out about leaving Penny with someone we don't know. I think the bride will have a few babysitters lined up since there are four one to two year olds that need babysitting, so I'm hoping that DH will be okay with that. Our other option at this point is to leave her at home, which *I* really don't want to do.

Holly_1007

Does your MiL have any frequent flier miles she can cash in on? If you do leave her behind, it will be a fun little mini vaca with your H!

eshee8198

I wish! She's not exactly a frequent traveler...