Who will look after the kids at the wedding?

DanGlee

OK, I'm not looking for somebody on here to look after the kids... but...

We planniing on getting married 2011 and after looking at the list, there could be easily about 10 to 12 kids from 2 to 11 years old (including our own who'll be 2 - I know, we living in sin!) :eek:

The thing is, the parents are going to want to drink and enjoy the party, but the kids will be wrecked by 9pm. Although thet prob all be staying in the hotel just upstairs, we don't want to just lock to door and forget about them. Is there any kind of baby sitting service that we could get? Do hotels offer this out?

Thanks.

dollybird2

Some of the hotels we looked had a seperate room where kids can watch dvd's and play games while supervised. Most had a service where they would provide babysitters inroom. Check with your hotel firstly and see what they recommend.

DanGlee

Thanks Dollybird (cool name by the way )

We looked at a hotel, but never thought to ask and after doing the list out last night we realized that there (could) be a good handful of kids, and can't really ask people not to bring them as we have our own and his cousin as pageboy / girl.

Might drop the hotel an email and see what they say about it!

Thanks,
DG.

How Strange

IMO, you bring your kids then you look after them.

On one hand it's lovely to have kids at the wedding but on the other adults are drinking and once people start getting drunk then it's not a suitable environment for little ones running around unsupervised.

A few friends asked me if they could bring their kids to our wedding and I said of course as long as you look after them and don't consider it a free creche.

My neices are coming to our civil ceremony and dinner and I've made it clear to my brother the hotel's policy on children; they're welcome as long as they behave. My brother has arranged for someone to bring them home and baby sit them from early evening.

Definitely find out what the hotel's policy is and communicate it to all the parents.

DreamC

Usually hotels have a list of local baby-sitters. We just asked for this service when we were booking a room - a nice lady came and she was minding our child in our room while we were at the party. The price was very reasonable, they charged per hour.

hunnymonster

DreamC wrote: »

Usually hotels have a list of local baby-sitters. We just asked for this service when we were booking a room - a nice lady came and she was minding our child in our room while we were at the party. The price was very reasonable, they charged per hour.

I've hired some babysitters for kids for our wedding but the parents are saying they won't leave their kids with someone they don't know.

smelltheglove

I hired the local babysitter through the hotel, I had my 2 and my sister inlaws 3, my 10 yr old brother went up for a while whilst my sister brought her own babysitter and my brother had his kids collected. I left the sitter in my room with the kids as it had its own seperate sitting room and was the largest of all rooms there. She stayed until around 2 or so, we brought some dvds for the kids to watch and all were happy.

I also had the hotel set up a little play area in the function room during the meal, they had a few toys which they would normally have fot their sunday carvery times and a couple of small tables with colouring books etc. The kids ate their dinner and were then able to go over and play together while the grown ups enjoyed themselves.

There is a crowd that specifically deal with looking after kids at weddings providing entertainment etc, I've covered weddings also where they have had magicians and clowns and face painters etc. At the time of my wedding I couldnt find any but there are some out there.

OS119

hunnymonster wrote: »

I've hired some babysitters for kids for our wedding but the parents are saying they won't leave their kids with someone they don't know.

thats their problem, not yours. assuming the BS is known to the hotel staff - and particularly if they have a childminding qualification - then you have done all that is reasonable in providing/facilitating care and entertainment for the kids. if they choose to be pickier than that they can sort out their own arrangements.

not an 'anti-kids' post by the way - were i invited to a wedding sans my kids i wouldn't bother going. its not an ideological thing, merely that people know i have kids, people know how difficult it can be to get someone to look after them for the best part of two days (particularly if its a family/close friends wedding and anyone who i'd normally ask to look after my kids is going to the wedding anyway), so if they invite me on the understanding that i don't bring my kids they can't be overly surprised/offended if i don't turn up...

personally i wouldn't be paying for babysitters, its not your problem, merely let people with kids know that the hotel/babysitters has a capability and that if they want to take advantage they should contact the hotel/babysitters directly.

hunnymonster

Thanks for the parent p.o.v. OS119. I don't have kids so don't understand but as you say, I didn't think it was fair to invite parents without kids even though I would have preferred an adult only affair so we asked them. Actually looking forward to having them there now.