What Do You Think ????....birthday Party Questions.....

I would not invite 3 year olds to a pool party, I was invited to one at Keller Point just last week and was uncomfortable in a swimsuit in front of a bunch of School Moms. I would also worry about 9 year old jumping on top of the little ones.

I went to a fun and inexpensive party in a park. You can usually rent a pavilion for $30.00 or less. If you do it soon it won’t be too hot. Play games like musical chairs, duck duck goose, limbo, pin the tail on the donkey and take music. Have fruit and chips and a cake and call it a day! That way you can invite the pre-school class and good times will be had by all :)

Good Luck!
E.

I think the age difference is too great between the kids. Different days would be better. You might consider hiring a lifeguard for parties. For 3 year old, parents must stay.

ok. i think i managed to understand your post. first thing's first, you cannot combine the 9 year olds birthday with the 3 year olds. it's not fair. the three year old gets a smaller birthday bash. 9 year old gets a bigger one. don't celebrate their birthdays months later because of weather. do what you can do within a week or two of their birthdays. i would not invite 3 year olds to 9 year olds birthday.
good luck

I would definitely say no to having more than a couple 3 year olds at a pool party! I'm a little of a freak about the water, so I get nervous. Even the 9 year old, I'd be nervous about. Even when there are many adults around, it doesn't mean they are paying attention. Anyway, I say, if you want to invite some friends of your 3yr. old's that's fine. But, I've heard that the number age your child is, is how many kids should attend the party. So, if your son is 3, 3 kids would be plenty. If your 9 yr. old is ok with combining the party, you can invite a couple friends of 3yr old, make/buy a separate cake for him and call it a party. Even if he's talking about it now, he won't remember his NON birthday party at age 3, when he's 12. Make sure you have plenty of supervision at the party and it could be a fun time! I would also only do this if your 9 year old is ok with it. With kids as young as 3, they are ok with cake and a quick "Happy Birthday" song. It doesn't need to be something spectacular. Make sure you let your 3 yr. old know that next year probably won't be a pool party ( unless this year it's such a success, they all want to do it again). Next March you can do a bday party with family and a few friends around his birthday. I'm only saying this, cuz at some point your older child may not want to combine parties, Good luck and have fun!!

3 is too young for a pool party. With that many kids and people all around it would be too easy for one to slip by and drown.

Updated

3 is too young for a pool party. With that many kids and people all around it would be too easy for one to slip by and drown.

My kids didn't have "friend" parties until they were 4, so if it were me I'd simply tell A that next March he can have his party.

If that's not an option then definitely do 2 separate parties and no pool party for 3 year olds. Just do a little get together at a park or something.

Good luck,
K.

I don't think I would combine a birthday party for a 3 and 9 year old that includes friends. If it was family, yeah that would be fine, but I think they are in two complete separate ages for a combined party with friends. I also wouldn't invite 3 year olds to a pool birthday party, because then you are pretty much obligating a parent to go in too and I'm sure most parents would not like that.
I don't think celebrating the 9 year olds in june for a pool party is a bad idea, so I would stick with that.
Maybe for the 3 year old you could just do something special with him as a family and then tell him that he has to be a little bit older to have a party with friends.

1) No to combining the parties. Your oldest NEEDS to have their own separate identity. He is already no longer "the baby", now you want him to share his birthday too?

2) Poop Parties for 3-year olds... Uh NO! Especially if you are not requiring the parents to stay. Would you leave YOUR 3- year old at someone's house that has a pool? I hope not. Seeing as your 3- year old WANTS a party... give him a small one with a few friends, some cake, and a few games and then call it a day. It does not have to be a huge "blow- out". Trust me, 1/2 hour or even an hour will be PLENTY of time. Most of them will be ready for "melt down" if you go any longer than that.

D.
MOM of three: girl (20), Boy (19), and Girl (6)

It's nice that son A is interested in socializing, but honestly he'll never remember the party so why don't you just wait and do a party for his 4th birthday? I have three children (all girls) and for my older two I waited until their 4th b-days before doing any type of kids party. My youngest turned 3 this past January and all we did was a small family celebration. But she'll get a party for her 4th b-day. I put it in the context that they are just too young and will never remember the event. Did you throw a kids party for your oldest at age 3?

We all suffer some guilt that we think we don't do enough for our kids . . . and often we err on the side of going overboard with everything. I'm certainly guilty of it and have learned my lesson the hard way. Like when my oldest was in 2nd grade and we invited everyone in her class (21 kids) to a Build-A-Bear/Rainforest Cafe party. What the heck was I thinking! It was sooooooo expensive . . . but I felt guilty because she really wanted to invite everyone. But with child #2 I learned to stay within certain guidelines (if she wanted a Build-A-Bear party she could only invite 5 friends, etc.).

www.DFWsno.com is great for pool parties! Price for 25 guests is only $50!

I definitely think they should have separate parties on separate weekends, that way they have their own special birthday celebration.

We just threw a pool party for our 2-year-old and since her closest friends are in our neighborhood they are various ages. We only had 2 other kids besides my 2 (ages 2 & 3). One of the kids, a 5-year-old, jumped into the deep end and was pulled out immediately. If you have young kids around any body of water, the adults need to significantly outnumber the kids and take turns keeping a close watch. Our kids are so small, we were in with them the whole time. It was a little chaotic at times even with just 4 kids, so I would only invite a few friends.

Good luck!

I think they are too far apart in age to share a party--especially a pool party! I think 3 year olds are too young for a pool party unless you set up a small safe kiddie pool just for them.
I think if you want to have a party for the little O., you should do it VERY soon.

I would say not to do a combined party. As a parent of a 3 year old I would suggest not doing a pool party. I think kids at that age are just too young for a pool party, plus a lot of moms might not feel comfortable around other people in their swimsuits. I also think that it wouldn't be fair to your 9 year old to have a bunch of toddlers to have to share the pool with because 9 year olds tend to be a little bit rougher and more capable of active play in a pool than 3 year olds, and the older kids would be stifled in their play because of constantly having to watch out for the younger kids. I hope everything works out for you! I would hate for you to throw two parties in one weekend! I know I would be worn out! Good luck!

Hi!
I would not combine parties- the age difference is too great.
We had a pool party for our daughter's one and two year old parties. Both parties were lots of fun.
However, all parents stayed and swam with the kids. We happen to be close friends with most of our daughter's friend's parents.
I only mention this because not everyone is comfortable in a bathing suit- consider your 3 year old's group of friends before deciding to host a pool party for them. Kids that age have just as much fun playing outside or inside.
I have not been to any other pool parties for kids that young.

I agree with everyone else that they should not share the party. Have a small party for the little one the month of his bday and if the older one is ok with waitting a month for his pool party then have his in June. Not sure how many people your are wanting to invite for the 3 years old party but I would say no more then 4 or 5 kids. We had my son's party at the park last year he turned 2. He had 5 kids besides himself all were 4 or under. I had it at 1030 served snacks and cake. They played 3 games (pinata, pin the tail on the donkey and a bean bag toss) I didn't do goodie bags but I did give small prizes (from dollar store) to every kid that played the games so that everyone won. He has a blast. The best part for him was everyone singing happy birthday. I think total I spent between 50 and 75 dollars. I plan on doing the same thing again this year. Also wanted to add that the time worked out awesome. All the parents were happy that once the party was over they still had a good portion of the day left and for those that still took naps they were home before naptime and I didn't have to spend money on providing them lunch. One more thing by having the parties separate you can have the 9 year old help with the games. I had my 11 year niece at my sons bday party and she loved helping out. Also if you look on the web you can find directions for home made pinatas. I made one for my son and it turned out really cute. Cost of pinata w/ out candy was 3 dollars for supplies.

Good Luck!