Kids at Reception - Need Advice

ojan0010

We mailed our invites a week ago and someone came back asking if our reception is going to be kid friendly. Only a few people on our guest list has kids (little ones at least, like 6 and under) and so we don't anticipate many will be attending. With that said, I have given zero thought to accomodating kids. Aside from food, is there anything else I need to be thinking about??

Kids are certainly welcome to our reception. Are there any questions I need to be asking our venue or is there anything I need to have pre-arranged??

I'm clueless on this one, can anyone chime in?

eas1223

Some of this depends on your venue for both the ceremony and reception and the number of kids. I had an outdoor ceremony, cocktail hour and plated reception and there were about 20 kids. I set up a "kid's activity table" right inside the doors of where the outdoor ceremony was so parents that had rowdy kids could take them in there and not disrupt the ceremony. On the table, I had stickers, coloring books, etc. I ordered kids meals for the reception dinner and they were brought out at the same time that the adults had their salads brought out. That way the kids had something to eat right away. I also put together kids bags that had fruit snacks, ring pops, bride/groom paper doll things, etc in them. This kept the kids busy during the dinner. I only did this because I had a large number of kids coming and we were in a fairly formal venue. If I had a buffet or were in a more casual venue, I don't know that I would have put much effort into it other than the kid's meals.  I also have a 3 year old of my own though so some of it was just to make sure he was taken care of as well. Good luck!

kasasr1024

I agree with eas1223, I think that including them in some way would be nice, whether it be some dollar store coloring books at a table, customized wedding coloring pages or a little kids type goody bag with some candy or whatever.  The idea of having them eat right away (if you're doing a multiple course sit down dinner) is a good idea too.  Other than that, I don't think there's anything that would specifically need to be done.  You can always ask your venue if they have any suggestions of ways to better accommodate kids according to what they've seen.

E+R2014_23123649

You can usually get half price food for them during the reception. I was at a wedding that had a table of bags with their names on them. The bag had a coloring book and other activities. You can also go pinterest and have a picture scavenger hunt. You give them each a disposable camera and a list of things to take pictures of such as "someone with cool shoes", "someone stuffing their mouth with food", etc. If you have a dance of some sort, that usually keeps some of them busy! Depending on the timing of your reception and how you want things to go, you can also consider bringing in a babysitter for the later hours to give their parents a break. But it depends on the kids, what they like, how easily entertained they are, and how out of control they are... But I wouldn't worry too much!