Would you serve alcohol?

dglvrk2 · June 2014

We are having DD1's third birthday at a neighborhood park this Sunday, in the early afternoon. We had to purchase hazard insurance for the event. It does not cover accidents involving alcohol. The park management said we can serve alcohol, but at our own risk. Of course, we don't expect anyone to get drunk, but a lot of our adult guests like beer and we want to provide some. Would you provide beer or wine this situation? No insurance coverage; yet what could - within reason - happen?

welly01 · June 2014

We're not big drinkers and we're really cheap, so we wouldn't. If you want to provide it and you know your guests will enjoy it, I don't see any problem serving it. Insurance wouldn't factor into the decision for me.

VOR · June 2014

Yes, we would.

chloebeth930 · June 2014

I wouldn't provide it. I think it is kind of odd to serve alcohol at a child's birthday party. If people want to drink in a public park during a 3 year olds bday party that is their choice, but I would make it BYOB.

ccam · June 2014

Yes, we would. We wouldn't be rolling out the kegs, but we'd have coolers of beer or whatever.

cecilyandgautam · June 2014

I think it depends on your social circle. I have heard of beer & wine at toddler/preschool birthday parties but I've never been to one, so not the norm in my group (and not allowed at parks in my area). Normally there's some all natural, watered down juice for the kids and a more sophisticated set of sparkling waters and Italian soda for the adults.

jellybean529 · June 2014

I don't think it's the worst idea. It's the afternoon, people generally don't drink to excess that early in the day (I hope?) and it's child's birthday party so I'd hope friends and family would be wise enough to use their best judgment on how much to drink.

mlee116 · June 2014

welly01 said:

We're not big drinkers and we're really cheap, so we wouldn't. If you want to provide it and you know your guests will enjoy it, I don't see any problem serving it. Insurance wouldn't factor into the decision for me.

This and what @cecilyandgautam said. Very few of our friends/family drink, so I just don't think there'd be much point in serving it. But if my guests did like it, I might serve some beer or wine or something. I don't think people are going to get wasted at a kids party in the afternoon. I wouldn't worry about the insurance.

Leap08 · June 2014

I think it would depend on they type of party we were having. If it was just going to be our close friends and family, I would have beer and wine available. If the party was going to include a bunch of kids from my daughter's preschool class, I probably wouldn't serve alcohol. I don't know most of those parents very well and I wouldn't want anyone to feel uncomfortable.

MommyAtty · June 2014

If we had a party without alcohol, everyone would (1) assume I was pregnant again, and (2) be all Judgy McPruneface about it. Lol. And I drink maybe one drink every 3 months. I just have family and friends who think every social occasion needs beer and wine.

jlaOK · June 2014

We serve beer/wine at all of our parties (including kid's birthday parties), so yes we would. I wouldn't be concerned about the liability knowing that all my friends and family would act responsibly.

[Deleted User] · June 2014

My friends are mature and responsible. Our days of keg stands and daytime debauchery are long gone. A beer or two is no big deal. My only problem with day drinking is that I am old and now require a nap after two beers mid-day.

As long as alcohol is allowed, a cooler with some beers is no big deal.

Slb22 · June 2014

I would serve beer unless you knew of a guest that would cause trouble. If nothing stands out, then I don't see anything wrong with it.

Virgo17 · June 2014

I'm not a big fan of alcohol at kids birthday parties so I probably wouldn't. Family members have brought their own coolers to our kids parties and were discreet about it so I didn't care about that. I just would not be the one to provide it for them.

mb314 · June 2014

Yes, I would serve beer, maybe wine (but nothing harder). I'm of the opinion that it's nice to offer adults an adult beverage at gatherings. We served wine and beer at DS' 1st birthday, and will do the same for his 2nd (at our house). Someone would have to have a real drinking problem to cause an alcohol issue at a kids' birthday party. Unless you have knowledge of a problem drinker, I would assume most adults would drink responsibly!

sugarbear0524 · June 2014

If it's early afternoon, I wouldn't serve it. I always have a certain amount budgeted for the party, and I probably wouldn't use part of that money on alcohol when I could use it for something for the kids. IMO, the party is not about the adults. It's about the kids.

outnumbered · June 2014

I would serve beer. Wine might be a pain because I am lazy and would not want to provide glasses for it. Beer is easier. Throw it in a cooler. Tie a bottle open to the cooler and voila self serve beverages.

ricekez · June 2014

Yes. Yes, I would serve alcohol.

Everyone knows that little kids' parties are really just another excuse for parents to socialize and drink (or is that just the crowd I run with?)

ricekez · June 2014

I should add, in my alcohol-saturated Wisconsin town, drinking in city parks is pretty normal. So I personally see no issues with this.

*sparky* · June 2014

I guess it depends on the park. There is a park near us with a pavilion you can rent for parties. But the pavilion is right between a walking trail and a huge playground, so drinking beer/wine there would just seem inappropriate to me. There is another park where you can reserve pavilions and it is much more spread out. So when you have a party you have your own space and in that venue I would serve beer/wine.

As a PP suggested, serving wine is more of a hassle because of having to provide cups, etc. and I am not a huge fan of drinking wine out of plastic cups so I would probably just stick with beer.

[Deleted User] · June 2014

Just check on if your park allows glass bottles.

Allison546 · June 2014

Agree, depends on your guests, but we definitely would provide beer/wine.

anchalmasako · June 2014

TBH, unless you have a family like "My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding", I think you're okay to serve alcohol without much chance of a related incident that would benefit from insurance.

dglvrk2 · June 2014

OP here. Thanks, everyone. This is reassuring ;-) we are serving beer. I think I bought enough for most adults to have two drinks. Several will not drink. However, a lot of my friends expect to have some adult beverage at a function. I have wine, but - as a pp mentioned - we may not serve it because we have to deal with cups too.

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