Kids at baby shower

meandthebirds · December 2014

Hi everyone I haven't written a lot and I couldn't find the baby shower board. I was wondering how you would go about kids at baby showers that can't follow rules. There are a lot of kids in my family but they are not well behaved , if I don't invite the kids most of my family members won't get to attend and I want to share that day with them. How do you keep them from being in the food when you are having a buffet? I apologize if there's some mistakes in the wording English is a second language.

Whitfry · December 2014

Their parents should be monitoring their behavior, it definitely shouldn't be your problem. But you could possibly set up a specific area for them with kid friendly activities or a movie and their own little snack table to keep them out of the way. When I was a kid, we were always sent down to the basement or outside to play during adult functions.

The baby shower board will have better advice. It's under the "specialty" listing. I'd definitely try again to find it and post your question there.

meandthebirds · December 2014

Ok thank you

JCWhitey · December 2014

Ugh, as nice as it would be for parents to actually be responsible for their kids I find that unruly kids usually don't have the most hands-on parents. The best thing to do is create a "kids corner" or space for the kids to go. Have food out for them right away in their area. Kids usually just want to eat when they are hungry and not wait for the appropriate time, so if they see food out in a buffet they will want to eat. Having food ready for them and activities for them to do may help prevent some things.

hetispagetti · December 2014

JCWhitey said:
Ugh, as nice as it would be for parents to actually be responsible for their kids I find that unruly kids usually don't have the most hands-on parents. The best thing to do is create a "kids corner" or space for the kids to go. Have food out for them right away in their area. Kids usually just want to eat when they are hungry and not wait for the appropriate time, so if they see food out in a buffet they will want to eat. Having food ready for them and activities for them to do may help prevent some things.

Agree!!!

ruemorgan · December 2014

You could always just say no kids at the event

colleen4019 · December 2014

etoille said:

thetoms said:
Hi everyone I haven't written a lot and I couldn't find the baby shower board. I was wondering how you would go about kids at baby showers that can't follow rules. There are a lot of kids in my family but they are not well behaved , if I don't invite the kids most of my family members won't get to attend and I want to share that day with them. How do you keep them from being in the food when you are having a buffet? I apologize if there's some mistakes in the wording English is a second language.
Why are you doing the inviting? Are you throwing the shower yourself?

I was wondering that too, she could just be deciding the guest list. Isn't that pretty typical?

JCWhitey · December 2014

colleen4019 said:

Hi everyone I haven't written a lot and I couldn't find the baby shower board. I was wondering how you would go about kids at baby showers that can't follow rules. There are a lot of kids in my family but they are not well behaved , if I don't invite the kids most of my family members won't get to attend and I want to share that day with them. How do you keep them from being in the food when you are having a buffet? I apologize if there's some mistakes in the wording English is a second language.
Why are you doing the inviting? Are you throwing the shower yourself?
I was wondering that too, she could just be deciding the guest list. Isn't that pretty typical?

Not all hosts know all of the friends and family of the guest of honor, let alone all of their addresses. I definitely supplied all of this information to my shower hosts. And alerted my host to some issues I knew may come up with the RSVP process (like, no one in my family will ever RSVP).

JCWhitey · December 2014

Darbie914 said:

aylacbw said:

You could always just say no kids at the event
I think it's kind of weird to say no kids at a baby shower.

See, I have to disagree. A baby shower doesn't equal kid-friendly. Yes, the event is centered around welcoming a new mom into motherhood and there are lots of baby-related gifts but it doesn't mean kids are always welcome and wanted.

Some people want events with no kids. I don't see it as a big deal and enjoy having some adult time while DD stays home with her dad.

::shrugs::

I agree. Showers are actually usually adult events. My cousin brought her 9 year old daughter to my shower as her first "adult" outing. She did great, dressed nicely, sat next to the rest of the guests, played the games, etc. It was cute watching her acting grown up. However my cousin left her four younger kids at home. And we didn't explicitly say "no kids" but no one else brought their kids.

We have family showers where the whole family gets together for a BBQ and hanging out at my cousins house and kids are always there, but that's a different type of thing. At that one it would be weird to say "no kids" but otherwise I see nothing wrong with not inviting kids.

FrecklesInside · December 2014

aylacbw said:

ruemorgan said:
You could always just say no kids at the event
I think it's kind of weird to say no kids at a baby shower.

Why? Because it is about a baby? It is an adult event celebrating the mother to be. I have no issue with kids at showers but many people do adult only (unless you have an infant, that's different) and I would never side eye it. It is ok to have events sometimes just for adults. In fact, it is rather nice. Yes it sucks if some people can't come because they cannot find or afford childcare for the afternoon, but honestly, that's life.

As for OP, I hope you aren't throwing your own shower. If your host wants to make it adult only, go ahead. If you want to allow kids, I agree with PPs to have your host set up kid specific activities and such. Kids *should* be watched by their parents, but sometimes it just doesn't go down like that....

ngolimento · December 2014

I am also a little weirded out by the idea of banning kids from an event designed around motherhood. Kind of like saying "celebrate my motherhood, but screw yours". I second the idea of setting up a kiddie corner.

skatergrl · December 2014

Maybe it's because not too many of my friends have kids yet and this is my first, but I don't think it would occur to me to bring kids to a baby shower. I don't have a problem with it either way but unless someone told me to bring the kids, I'd assume it was adults/women only. We'll see how my perspective changes in the next couple of years though.

meandthebirds · December 2014

My cousin is throwing the shower for me along with my church. We're using the church hall and have space to put the kids up but they aren't the type of kids you leave alone. Their parents do not have the best track record of controlling the kids and it's not just a family event. Thank you for the advice we might have to find a responsible teenager to entertain the kids.

EDWHIP · December 2014

Hire a tween or teen to monitor the kids if you think it will get out of control. Depending on the type of shower, you could also say no kids. I've been to adult showers and more family friendly showers. I am at an age where most of my friends have children and we don't have much time for no-kid events. Family friendly is the norm. 5 years ago it wouldn't have been the norm….up to you!

Aeml1985 · December 2014

I don't have a lot of family/friends wing young kids but if I have a baby shore I hope people leave their mischievous toddlers/preschoolers at home. Breast feeding moms is different.

mermaid1113 · December 2014

I agree with PP about setting up a kids corner- also another PP said to have a teenager monitor the children for the party. If you are going to have kids there those 2 seem like the best option!

lisap0924 · December 2014

I don't want kids at my shower. If you don't want kids at your shower you should say so. As others have stated, it's not your job to find a babysitter for other people's kids.

goofygoff · December 2014

Peledreamsofrain said:

I am also a little weirded out by the idea of banning kids from an event designed around motherhood. Kind of like saying "celebrate my motherhood, but screw yours". I second the idea of setting up a kiddie corner.

There could be reasons other than just not wanting kids at the shower. It could be a capacity issue. Most of my friends live in the city and some have very little space to work with in their homes.

Boycrazymommy · December 2014

It's fascinating to learn about other people's customs. In my circle, baby showers never include children. They are women only, typically formal events. For example, a tea or brunch either at a venue or someone's home. Children would be out of place and really bored with the games and gift opening. No matter the type of event, however, whoever's name is on the invitation is the only person invited. Period.

JenLa21 · December 2014

I went to a shower once where the host had set up a coloring corner where everyone could color in a page with a letter of the alphabet. It would eventually become an alphabet book for the new baby, but it was nice that l the kids hung out and colored for most of the shower. Good luck.

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