Kid friendly wedding, tastefully?

[Deleted User] · October 2013

I have a 3 year old and she will be 4 when I get married. She is seriously the most important thing ever to me!! I want to designate around $500 (maybe a little more) dollars into having a really fun area for the kids at my reception. There is the space for it at our venue!! My problem is that I am such a believer in formal weddings! Because I'm having it outdoors I already know people are going to show up in jeans (ARG!) and my grandma told me I can't put NO JEANS on the invites

lol not that I would have.

The question is, is there a way to have a formal wedding with a bouncy house outside for the kids?? Or a way to do that where it is still... Classy? A classy face painting station and bouncy house?

LDubHawksFan · October 2013

I really don't think it's necessary. Kids usually cut a rug. To give our nieces and nephews a little more entertainment during the dinner, since they got theirs first, I made some wedding color books and put those with crayons and stickers on their tables.

Jen4948 · October 2013

I think you can do both. You might talk to your venue about how to do this-they might have other good suggestions for you.

HisGirlFriday13 · October 2013

clairekundinger said:

I have a 3 year old and she will be 4 when I get married. She is seriously the most important thing ever to me!! I want to designate around $500 (maybe a little more) dollars into having a really fun area for the kids at my reception. There is the space for it at our venue!! My problem is that I am such a believer in formal weddings! Because I'm having it outdoors I already know people are going to show up in jeans (ARG!) and my grandma told me I can't put NO JEANS on the invites lol not that I would have. The question is, is there a way to have a formal wedding with a bouncy house outside for the kids?? Or a way to do that where it is still... Classy? A classy face painting station and bouncy house?

No, there is not. A bouncy house and a face-painting station both scream street fair/casual/fun -- they don't at all imply a formal, classy, elegant wedding.

What we did was make small goodie bags for the four children at our wedding who were old enough to need/want/enjoy them. We put colouring books, crayons, a Jacob's ladder toy, Goldfish snacks, and stickers in their bags. They played happily and quietly with them throughout the reception, and it allowed their parents time to chat and mingle. It worked really well for us -- the kids were entertained, but they weren't loud and rambunctious.

ETA: I just googled you, and if I were you, I would recommend paging a KG (like @KnotPorscha) to have her change your username to something that's not your real name.

[Deleted User] · October 2013

@iwoehlk I know it's very over the top! I love any excuse to give my kid something grand though! We do have a lot of kids in the family though come wedding time we will have 6 under 6 just in my immediate family that all live 10 miles apart and will be there for sure!

@jen4948. We're renting out a campground. The pavilion is beautiful!!! But the owners are crotchety people and don't seem to care about much

@hisgirlfriday13 i will think about it. I'm not sure if I care if everyone here can google me

I just googled me actually lol and didn't see anything I wouldn't show anyone but I will think about it.

HisGirlFriday13 · October 2013

@clairekundinger -- it doesn't matter to me one way or the other, but do you REALLY want a bunch of internet strangers to be able to see your wedding website, all your personal information on that website, your wedding registry, etc.?

[Deleted User] · October 2013

I couldn't find my current address

so I think that if anyone wants to look at my wedding website they can! I will post it in that forum when I make one anyway. I guess I'm just used to Facebook groups lol so the name thing doesn't weird me out. I do really appreciate your concern though as I never would have thought of that at all and I might change it now that you have opened my eyes to that possibility.

doeydo · October 2013

A bouncy house? Kids can have fun without turning the formal wedding into a casual kids brithday party. Examples:
http://blog.theknot.com/2013/10/20/11-ways-to-keep-kids-busy-at-your-wedding/
http://wedding.theknot.com/wedding-planning/wedding-guests/articles/wedding-guests-with-kids-what-to-do.aspx
http://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/988661/activities-to-entertain-kids-at-a-wedding
Also,kids can have fun dancing, etc. just like the guests do.

LDubHawksFan · October 2013

Yes it's over the top but that wasn't what I was commenting on. If you really want to do it, go for it. But I meant that it probably isn't necessary to keep the kids entertained and there are smaller scale options.

Jen4948 · October 2013

clairekundinger said:

@iwoehlk I know it's very over the top! I love any excuse to give my kid something grand though! We do have a lot of kids in the family though come wedding time we will have 6 under 6 just in my immediate family that all live 10 miles apart and will be there for sure! @jen4948. We're renting out a campground. The pavilion is beautiful!!! But the owners are crotchety people and don't seem to care about much @hisgirlfriday13 i will think about it. I'm not sure if I care if everyone here can google me I just googled me actually lol and didn't see anything I wouldn't show anyone but I will think about it.

Sorry to hear that. Does the campground have any playground equipment?

[Deleted User] · October 2013

It does have playground equipment but it's not close to the pavilion and I don't want my adult guests off watching their kids at the playground instead of enjoying the wedding.

I realize this is also a fear if I have a kids area close to the reception spot, I was thinking of having people there to help watch our little ones.

STARMOON44 · October 2013

The way you indicate to your guests that they should not wear jeans is by the formality of the event you host. An outdoor wedding at a campground with a bouncy castle and facepainting screams-wear jeans! to me. I think you'd be better off getting a separate space and a babysitter if you want a formal event, or embracing the fun of little kids cutting a rug on the dance floor.

mysticl · October 2013

clairekundinger said:

It does have playground equipment but it's not close to the pavilion and I don't want my adult guests off watching their kids at the playground instead of enjoying the wedding. I realize this is also a fear if I have a kids area close to the reception spot, I was thinking of having people there to help watch our little ones.

Ugh, got stuck in the box. A friend of mine had a very beautiful wedding, with a ton of kids. She had a balloon artist during cocktail hour, coloring books on the tables at their places, and prior to the bouquet and garter toss she did a bridal teddy bear toss for the little girls and a football toss for the little boys. Plus the kids had a blast dancing. The bolded might work but I think you will still have people going off to watch their kids.

doeydo · October 2013

mysticl said:

clairekundinger said:

It does have playground equipment but it's not close to the pavilion and I don't want my adult guests off watching their kids at the playground instead of enjoying the wedding. I realize this is also a fear if I have a kids area close to the reception spot, I was thinking of having people there to help watch our little ones.

Ugh, got stuck in the box. A friend of mine had a very beautiful wedding, with a ton of kids. She had a balloon artist during cocktail hour, coloring books on the tables at their places, and prior to the bouquet and garter toss she did a bridal teddy bear toss for the little girls and a football toss for the little boys. Plus the kids had a blast dancing. The bolded might work but I think you will still have people going off to watch their kids.

I agree. I would not want someone I don't know watching my kid so I would be there.

[Deleted User] · October 2013

STARMOON44 said:
The way you indicate to your guests that they should not wear jeans is by the formality of the event you host. An outdoor wedding at a campground with a bouncy castle and facepainting screams-wear jeans! to me. I think you'd be better off getting a separate space and a babysitter if you want a formal event, or embracing the fun of little kids cutting a rug on the dance floor.

This is really true. It's just not in the cards for me! Our whole wedding is a huge compromise because I want my FI to feel like it's our day not my day. We live in such a small town in a small area and there just aren't a lot of formal options to begin with, but the venue were choosing is the only place we haven't already been to 100 events at already!

IMO it's almost (because there is always an exception to every rule) never appropriate to wear jeans to a wedding and idk if it's in a courthouse with a reception at McDonalds lol! I just can't seem to impress that on my friends!

[Deleted User] · October 2013

mysticl said:

clairekundinger .

Ugh, got stuck in the box. A friend of mine had a very beautiful wedding, with a ton of kids. She had a balloon artist during cocktail hour, coloring books on the tables at their places, and prior to the bouquet and garter toss she did a bridal teddy bear toss for the little girls and a football toss for the little boys. Plus the kids had a blast dancing. The bolded might work but I think you will still have people going off to watch their kids.

A teddy bear toss?? Was that adorable?!?!? Cause it sounds so cute!!!

I have time to figure out exactly what I want to do with the kids! I really appreciate all input here because my family and friends are all going to say they love whatever I love

which is nice and I love them for it but not helpful!! My FI is going to choose whatever is cheaper!! Also no helpful!

I think I just really want to do something special and super fun for the kids. We're having a photo booth for the adults

SP29 · October 2013

Interesting idea.

As freaking awesome as bouncy castles are, they do not say "formal wedding". However, the idea of child entertainment is a good one, though not required.

On a wedding show, I saw one couple who had a separate room for the children (a fair number of small children) that had a baby sitter and they were provided with colouring books, crafts, toys and balloons to keep themselves entertained. I thought it was a neat idea.

If you are going to have children in a separate area, then I would hire an experienced sitter who has their CPR certification. Yes, I would still check on my child a few times throughout the night, but I wouldn't feel the need to stand there the whole time and watch my child (as children should be supervised). If you do go the bouncy castle or separate room idea with no sitter, you will either have parents keep their kids away from those areas (and thus not using the bouncy castle) because they want to take part in the reception, or you'll have parents away from the reception supervising their children all night. It might not be the most loved idea if you have a parent who wants to socialize and dance a bit but can't because little Suzie says, "But MOM I wanna go back to the bouncy castle!!".

Some good ideas above for "grab bags" for the kids, that they could use even at the reception table. And the teddy bear and football tosses sound super cute, and kids would be all over that.

At my aunts wedding, my brother and I were pretty young (well him especially, he was just under 3), but some of the funniest moments were my brother "tearing up" the dance floor. I think a bunch of us older kids also went outside at one point and ran around on the grass....

[Deleted User] · October 2013

I have an in with the ladies at the daycare that my kid used to go to, and I think a few of them would do it which makes them qualified and state licensed. We would also do a drop off pick up type thing with different colored wristbands or other precautionary thing. These are my friends and family but don't necessarily know each other which I understand respect. I am super careful about leaving my kid places!

melbelleup · October 2013

mysticl said:

clairekundinger said:

It does have playground equipment but it's not close to the pavilion and I don't want my adult guests off watching their kids at the playground instead of enjoying the wedding. I realize this is also a fear if I have a kids area close to the reception spot, I was thinking of having people there to help watch our little ones.

Ugh, got stuck in the box. A friend of mine had a very beautiful wedding, with a ton of kids. She had a balloon artist during cocktail hour, coloring books on the tables at their places, and prior to the bouquet and garter toss she did a bridal teddy bear toss for the little girls and a football toss for the little boys. Plus the kids had a blast dancing. The bolded might work but I think you will still have people going off to watch their kids.

Omg I love this idea.. too bad I won't have enough kids to do it lol

emmyg65 · October 2013

We got married in my in-laws' yard with lots of kids in attendance. We had lawn Twister, croquet and bocce, but mostly they just had a blast running in the yard and dancing. It was adorable. I really don't think you need to do anything special for kids.

tmclawchick · October 2013

Our 3 year-old will be 4 at our wedding as well. I agree with PPs that a bouncy house =/= formal. We're expecting a good amount of kids at the reception so we're putting little wedding themed activity books with crayons at their places. We're also giving them a cookie and milk at the champagne toast. Other than that, I'm expecting them to dance and run around like kids usually do at receptions

grumbledore · October 2013

clairekundinger said:

I have a 3 year old and she will be 4 when I get married. She is seriously the most important thing ever to me!! I want to designate around $500 (maybe a little more) dollars into having a really fun area for the kids at my reception. There is the space for it at our venue!! My problem is that I am such a believer in formal weddings! Because I'm having it outdoors I already know people are going to show up in jeans (ARG!) and my grandma told me I can't put NO JEANS on the invites lol not that I would have. The question is, is there a way to have a formal wedding with a bouncy house outside for the kids?? Or a way to do that where it is still... Classy? A classy face painting station and bouncy house?

I don't think it would be bothersome to have it as long as it's manned by an adult supervisor. However, in my experience, kids have no trouble having fun dancing and partying the night away at weddings. Keep that in mind.

I would put coloring supplies on the kid table/at the kid seats and call it a day.

RissAnn1970 · October 2013

Actually, as a professional face painter for over 10 years now (who's not soliciting your business as I'm not in the same part of the country as you), I have been engaged to do face painting and temporary tattoos at MANY very formal events - country club dances, weddings, bar & bat mitzvahs, sweet 16s, proms, black tie occasions, adult-only events, and very elaborate christening parties. A good professional will know how to present him or herself. When I'm working at an event like this, I generally wear good black pants and a sparkly or bright blouse. My setup is neat, clean, and professional. That's what you need to seek out.

[Deleted User] · October 2013

I think you can keep it simple. Things where parents can sit around and keep an eye on their kids while still having conversations with other adults. I think you can get away with a table of coloring books, blocks/legos, sidewalk chalk if there is any concrete area the kids can color on, bubbles, or other outdoor kids toys that can be quiet but fun. Heck even hula hoops, the adults might join in the fun on those.

mysticl · October 2013

clairekundinger said:

clairekundinger .

Ugh, got stuck in the box. A friend of mine had a very beautiful wedding, with a ton of kids. She had a balloon artist during cocktail hour, coloring books on the tables at their places, and prior to the bouquet and garter toss she did a bridal teddy bear toss for the little girls and a football toss for the little boys. Plus the kids had a blast dancing. The bolded might work but I think you will still have people going off to watch their kids.

A teddy bear toss?? Was that adorable?!?!? Cause it sounds so cute!!! I have time to figure out exactly what I want to do with the kids! I really appreciate all input here because my family and friends are all going to say they love whatever I love which is nice and I love them for it but not helpful!! My FI is going to choose whatever is cheaper!! Also no helpful! I think I just really want to do something special and super fun for the kids. We're having a photo booth for the adults

It was absolutely adorable. One of the great things about was that since the kids had their own tosses they didn't participate in bouquet and garter toss. That can get kinda awkward if an adult catches one and a child catches the other.

csuave · October 2013

Coloring books are great and more than enough.

I don't know if it will work with your outdoor venue but my niece and nephews had a blast using the photo booth and props at the wedding we went to together. This can also be used as a favor for everyone.

I didn't have anything at my wedding for niece and nephews (they were 3 out of the 4 kids in attendance...the 4th wasn't invited but that is another story that I had totally no issue with letting come). They had a great time ordering shirley temples at the bar, dancing, eating cookies off the cookie table and just hanging out with grandma, grandpa, aunts, uncles, etc.

loca4pook · October 2013

I had kids and all I did was put a little basket of coloring books on their tables, THAT and had a photobooth/dance floor which kept them busy ALL night.

I wuold nix the bouncy house as that definitely un-classes your wedding

[Deleted User] · October 2013

I think I am either going to give in and admit that my wedding is going to be unclassy, which is fine because it will still be well hosted (and certainly not a pot luck!) ooorrr I'm going to have to put my foot down with the FI and have a formal reception in a formal hall with formal things!

Thanks for all the input!

lovesclimbing · October 2013

mysticl said:

clairekundinger said:

clairekundinger .

Ugh, got stuck in the box. A friend of mine had a very beautiful wedding, with a ton of kids. She had a balloon artist during cocktail hour, coloring books on the tables at their places, and prior to the bouquet and garter toss she did a bridal teddy bear toss for the little girls and a football toss for the little boys. Plus the kids had a blast dancing. The bolded might work but I think you will still have people going off to watch their kids.

A teddy bear toss?? Was that adorable?!?!? Cause it sounds so cute!!! I have time to figure out exactly what I want to do with the kids! I really appreciate all input here because my family and friends are all going to say they love whatever I love which is nice and I love them for it but not helpful!! My FI is going to choose whatever is cheaper!! Also no helpful! I think I just really want to do something special and super fun for the kids. We're having a photo booth for the adults

It was absolutely adorable. One of the great things about was that since the kids had their own tosses they didn't participate in bouquet and garter toss. That can get kinda awkward if an adult catches one and a child catches the other.

Why would that be awkward? My 14-year-old brother caught the garter and my adult friend caught the bouquet. Nothing awkward about it.

mysticl · October 2013

lovesclimbing said:

mysticl said:

clairekundinger said:

clairekundinger .

Ugh, got stuck in the box. A friend of mine had a very beautiful wedding, with a ton of kids. She had a balloon artist during cocktail hour, coloring books on the tables at their places, and prior to the bouquet and garter toss she did a bridal teddy bear toss for the little girls and a football toss for the little boys. Plus the kids had a blast dancing. The bolded might work but I think you will still have people going off to watch their kids.

A teddy bear toss?? Was that adorable?!?!? Cause it sounds so cute!!! I have time to figure out exactly what I want to do with the kids! I really appreciate all input here because my family and friends are all going to say they love whatever I love which is nice and I love them for it but not helpful!! My FI is going to choose whatever is cheaper!! Also no helpful! I think I just really want to do something special and super fun for the kids. We're having a photo booth for the adults

It was absolutely adorable. One of the great things about was that since the kids had their own tosses they didn't participate in bouquet and garter toss. That can get kinda awkward if an adult catches one and a child catches the other.

Why would that be awkward? My 14-year-old brother caught the garter and my adult friend caught the bouquet. Nothing awkward about it.

Did your brother put the garter on your friend? That's where it can get awkward. Some DJs will try to get the male to put the garter on the female even though one of them is a child. I was at one wedding where a grown woman caught the bouquet and a boy around 10-12 caught the garter. The DJ had them dance together and you could tell they felt uncomfortable.

kitty8403 · October 2013

clairekundinger said:
I think I am either going to give in and admit that my wedding is going to be unclassy, which is fine because it will still be well hosted (and certainly not a pot luck!) ooorrr I'm going to have to put my foot down with the FI and have a formal reception in a formal hall with formal things!

Thanks for all the input!

We have an indoor/outdoor setup and have considered a bouncy castle. I have about 30 children, just family, to consider. If others show up, we could have dozens. Coloring books will last maybe 10 minutes, then they'll all want to run and scream. I'm still considering it just so they can all play outside without killing one another or terrorizing the neighbors.

I have the number for a photobooth guy and I think we'll hire him instead of videography. Beyond that, I'm not sure what to do. Maybe a lawn game that is not too messy, like bocce ball, would work.
But serious formality is impossible in this area, so it'll be semi formal at best, and probably about church formal for most guests. My guys will be in tuxes, but I expect they'll be about the only ones. People wear Carhartts to church--jeans are the least of my worries.

ETA: I have been to campground weddings before. They were super casual. A campground location would absolutely say "jeans" or even "shorts and tanks" to me unless I had more information.

Kid friendly wedding, tastefully?

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