How to politely say "no kids"?

spanglerwedding2012

Our family/friends are popping out babies left and right. But by the time of our wedding, they'll all be 1 yr or younger. While babies are super-cute, we want everyone at the wedding to let loose and have a blast.

My FI's brother and cousin both have newborns and they've even mentioned having them in the ceremony. We'll consider that - but for the reception, I'd rather not have little ones there. We're thinking about lining up a babysitter for them ans saying, "We want this to be a night out for you - let loose, have a blast. We'll take care of a sitter." How do you approach this without being offensive?

ev4149

I just sent invitations to the people who were invited (i.e., Mr. and Mrs. John Smith).  I was asked by several people to bring children, and I said that we were not having children outside of immediate family.  Most people had no problem with that.  One person boycotted my wedding.  One person brought their kid anyway.  There's not much you can do....

jenmac628

I was in a similar situation but I did what Ev said above- I just addressed the invites to the parents. No one asked me about it and no one RSVPed with kids either. To be honest, most of the new parents were looking forward to a night out with adults and lined up sitters long before the invites were sent out!
I did invite kids to the rehearsal dinner and so far, no one is bringing them for the same reason- they want to enjoy the night out!
I am sure some parents feel differently but we were lucky in that we didn't offend anyone (that we know of!) in our crowd...

jenmac628

Also, do you have a wedding website? If you decide to get a sitter (which is very nice and accomodating of you!), I would list that info and mention it in the "accomodations" portion of your wedding invite, if you have one.
I don't think I would mention in the invite that kids aren't welcome but you have a sitter. I would just address the invite to the parents and mention the site for more info somwhere in the invite and they can figure it out from there. Hope this makes sense!

LizandDino

For us, we are having the same issue. Sometimes it had to just assume the guests will know "nokids" based on the addressing of the envelops, so what we did was include it in the RSVP card. Basically I put "We have reserved _____ seats in your honor" and then I will fill out the number for the them. Then I have "____of ____ guests will attend" Hope this helps!