Seating for babies and children under 5

[MonkeyPants]

I tried searching to see if this has been posted before but couldn''t find anything, so forgive me if this has been asked already.

My venue allows a max of 150 guests, but children under 5 and vendors don''t count toward the 150. Do babies and toddlers get their own place setting and chair just like the adults? As I''m typing this I feel like it''s such a dumb question but I honestly have no idea how this works...

How are you all doing it (if you''re inviting children)?

Thanks!

 

[Prana]

I really have no idea for sure, but anyone who brings a baby-5 year old to a wedding should expect that that child will be sitting on their lap and sharing their food. I would say for 6 years+ the kid could have their own seat and place setting.

 

[Bella_mezzo]

I would think under 3 you'd be ok with not having a seat for them, but 4 and 5 year olds are kind of big to try and sit on a parent's lap...my venue kids under 5 were free and 5-13 were 1/2 price but we had seats for everyone over 1 year old (highchairs for 1 year olds and some 2 year olds
) and chairs for 2+.

if kids are invited, I would bring my kids and expect that there would be a place for my toddler to sit adn that they would have their own food, even if it was a kids plate (which vendors will often do gratis or for a small charge...think mac n'cheese, carrot sticks, and chix fingers)

We also had crayons and coloring books and some small toys for kids in that age group and they really needed their own place to be able to color, etc..

 

[MonkeyPants]

thanks girlface and bella.

I think having seats for kids over 2 years old is a good plan. Bella did you just consider babies an appendage of their parents? If so, you didn''t do separate place settings, name cards, etc right?

Since service is buffet style, the caterer comps ages 3 and under, and discounts between ages 4 and 12. The venue is just weird in that they cap the number of adults at 150 due to fire hazards, but why would kids 5 and under not be considered in this case? They still take up space.

Anyhow, we don''t have too many kids to worry about, I just didn''t want to offend any parents by not providing a full place setting for their toddler or baby.

 

[Bella_mezzo]

Not sure about the fire issue..I had stations and IMO it''s way easier to deal with kids that way (station/buffet...) b/c they can jsut pick what they want with their parents. Babies we did not do placecards/tablesettings...little kids who we had seats for we did cute little placecards with their names (my mom had kind of enter the brief but intense "momzilla" phase and wanted to use Master John and Miss Jill for kids, but I wasn''t into that so much so we went with John Smith and Jill Smith for kids.

it worked out great and we had TONS for kids at our wedding. I''d highly recommed some "Emergency" sticker or coloring books and a bridesmaid or friend to hand them out if kids are getting into whiny/meltdown territory.

 

[MonkeyPants]

Date: 2/19/2010 3:31:25 PM
Author: Bella_mezzo
Not sure about the fire issue..I had stations and IMO it''s way easier to deal with kids that way (station/buffet...) b/c they can jsut pick what they want with their parents. Babies we did not do placecards/tablesettings...little kids who we had seats for we did cute little placecards with their names (my mom had kind of enter the brief but intense ''momzilla'' phase and wanted to use Master John and Miss Jill for kids, but I wasn''t into that so much so we went with John Smith and Jill Smith for kids.


it worked out great and we had TONS for kids at our wedding. I''d highly recommed some ''Emergency'' sticker or coloring books and a bridesmaid or friend to hand them out if kids are getting into whiny/meltdown territory.

That''s so funny! Thanks soo much for sharing your experience and for the tips!!!