What age for a drop-off b-day party?

WBs_Bride

Would or have you left your child off at birthday party, at someone's house or elsewhere?  I would love to have DD's 5th party at home this year but if I invite all her school friends, it would be way too many people to fit in my house if the parents were there, too. One of my good friends had her DD's 5th at their house and specified drop-off on the invitation. What age do you think is appropriate/would be comfortable leaving your kid for 2 hours?

hikerbeth

My DD is 4 and I'd feel comfortable leaving her with our close friends and a lot of school friends as well (it's a small preschool so everyone knows eachother pretty well).

rebbieW

Around here the custom is to start kid-only parties at 4. I thought it was a little on the young side but DS1's 4th birthday went really well. We kept it short (2.5 hours) and at home. He's been to at least 5-6 parties on his own by now.

MayorMcCheese000

DS is 4 and is at a drop-off party right now! DH dropped him off and tried to hang out for a minute but DS couldn't wait for him to get out of there! These parties are all for kids that are in his daycare class and who we have been familiar with (as well as their parents) for a few years. We always scope it out and stay a little longer at the drop off just to be sure but so far it has been just fine.

Carol*Brady

I just had DD's 6th birthday party here.  There were 14 girls aged 3-6yrs old--it went great & the only Mom that stayed was our neighbor (who had 2 girls that were the only non-classmate).  She left after 15min when she realized that no one else stayed.  The party was short (2hours) & those kids were so incredibly well behaved it was easy.  I knew most of the Moms but some I had only met very casually.  DD is in Montessori school which is why she has classmates as young as barely 3 & she's the oldest this year (just turned 6) since her b-day just missed the school cutoff.

shopgirl78

We haven't been to one yet.   So, I am going to guess 6+

WBs_Bride

Thanks for the feedback. DD has only been to b-day parties for school friends at places where the parents have stayed (bounce houses, mostly). We just went to one with her classmates on Saturday, and I think I'm going to bag the "dropoff" idea. She's one of the oldest girls in her class and some of the girls just turned 4 over the summer, which is still pretty young. I'm not sure if the parents would be OK with it since this would be the first drop-off party (that I know of, anyway) and not sure if I want to deal with issues. Back to the drawing board!