| Once kids are in school and start having kid parties most of the parents don't need to hang out. Now, if they went to Chuck E Cheese, I'm not leaving...that place is a mad house. But the bowling alley or even Hyperspace, when it was an option, I would leave them.
The main deciding factor is did they invite my one child because ir was a kid from his class or did they invite the whole family. If the other children in the family weren't invited, then it's not appropriate to bring them, which usually means the parents won't be hanging out either.
The last party I held was in my house for a 7 year old. I told the parents they were welcome to stay or go as they pleased. The ones who stayed were either close friends of the family or friends of those friends and they all sat around the kitchen table eating the snacks while the kids were outside playing party games....if they weren't my friends, I'd have been pissed, but since they were my friends and were only there to socialize with each other, I didn't care. |