Party Etiquette 101: When Your Child Is Attending a Children’s Party

 

By: Mylene Dela Cen

 

If you have more than one kid and all of them are already attending school and have several playmates in the neighborhood, then expect to receive a couple of birthday invitations within the year. Birthday celebrations for kids are one of the highlights of their growing up years. While it can be overwhelming for a child and his/her parents to be invited on a children’s party, there are some important etiquette that needs to be followed if you are the attendee and they are as follows:

 

Amount of your gift- when we talk about gift giving, we often hear “It’s not the thing but the thought that counts”. It’s okay to be frugal once in a while especially if you are on a tight budget. As the parent of the attendee, it is important to let your child know your allotted budget for gift giving. Most of the time, hand-made gifts are much appreciated by the birthday celebrant because of what we call “labor of love”.

 

Who should choose the gift the parents or the invited child/children?- it will be easy to look for a gift if you’ll know what the celebrant’s interests are. In this case, your child might have the brightest idea of what to give to his/her friend or classmate. Be open to your child’s opinion. However, if your kid is still young or has an attitude of seeing all things as his/her own, better buy a gift on your own, and have it wrapped before you hand it to your child. This will spare you from having a hard time over your child and his/her gift.

Siblings’ tagging along to the party- this happens to parents having more than one child. While it is expected that the parent or a nanny may be staying during the party to look over small children, it is important to give the host a head’s up if you intend to bring one or two more children. In this way, the host can arrange additional seating and even additional meal for the other children. You just need to be careful in asking if it’s okay (they may even say “Why don’t you bring the whole family?!) But do not be hurt if the host says no (perhaps it would constrain their budget or the party is for girls or boys only, something like that).

Do you still need to give a gift even if your child can’t make it to the party?- the answer is NO. Unlike in weddings where you are somewhat obliged to give gift even if you can be at the wedding, it’s pretty different to children’s party. You can opt to give a gift even if your child can’t be at the party if the celebrant is a close friend or someone who gave gift to your child in the past.

Children’s parties are not all about cakes, balloons, and candies. Proper etiquette are also important to ensure harmonious celebrations between the host and the guests.

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