LifeLovePassion Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 For family only (if that matters) all local guests. How early would you expect guests? What is reasonable? What is rude/thoughtless? Just curious. Eta...party started at 3pm. Early guests did not come to help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 What time was the party? I wouldn't expect anyone to be more than 15 minutes early unless it was someone who had already volunteered to come early and help me set up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 Do you mean before the official start of the party? I'd expect people would probably start showing up no more than half an hour before I had it scheduled. I would also put them to work on helping to set up. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LifeLovePassion Posted June 16, 2014 Author Share Posted June 16, 2014 Party started at 3pm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlmiraGulch Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 I wouldn't be surprised if people showed up 30 minutes early through 30 minutes late, although it would annoy me a bit, if I'm being honest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T'smom Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 I wouldn't think people would show up more than half an hour early, but if they did and they were family, I would just put them to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 In my family? I would expect the earliest one to be about thirty minutes late. ;-) Really though, I would be irritated if people were more than 15 minutes early. ETA - Not like holding a grudge irritated, but more like rolling my eyes in my imagination irritated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flowing Brook Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 I think ten minutes before or after 3:00 would be considered rude. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 If the party starts at 3pm, I would expect my family members to show up between 3:00pm and 3:10pm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthwestMom Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 Unless I specifically asked, I would not expect people to show up early at all. That was considered rude in the way I was brought up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 Hmm.. is it better to be early or late? I am always a little late to a party because I don't want to be one of the first ones there. I still think 30 minutes before and after 3:00pm is perfectly acceptable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonfirmath Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 Depends on the family. I had family show up to our birthday party over an hour early. But they were coming from 2.5 hours away so I didn't mind one bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiMi 4under3 Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 If a party at my house "officially" started at 3:00, half of my family would be over at noon. :lol: Not to help, (although some would) but to spend time together. The rest would show up around 3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 Mine tends to show up early. They would call and ask what else we need though so they could help buy on their way over. For example getting more ice or disposable utensils or napkins. An hour early would be normal, more than an hour early means the guests came early to help babysit the host's kids. Any earlier to gossip and they would bring food to feed themselves and usually beer too. ETA: I grew up in a traffic heavy city where traffic jams are expected and public transport can be faster than driving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmtzc2009 Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 Wow, I can not imagine guests showing up 30 minutes early! Close family may show up 15 minutes early which would irk me but I'd put them to work and they'd gladly help out. As far as being late I'd say 15 minutes is reasonable. If a party has a designated start time people should respect that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 15 minutes on either side would be acceptable for me, unless family was traveling more than an hour to get here. That last half hour before a party is when there are many last minute things that need to be done- I'm in no mood to entertain early guests at that point. And the first half hour of a party is pretty low key while waiting for people to get acquainted, kids get used to the venue, etc., so a bit late is no big deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachel Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 I would expect them to be on time or a few minutes late. If they had to drive across town and traffic was high variable I would be ok with 10 minutes early. 30 minutes early is way too early! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amira Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 I wouldn't be too surprised if family showed up early, even quite early, but I'd either put them to work or ignore them. I wouldn't feel any obligation to entertain them if they showed up early, and I don't think they'd expect me to entertain or feed them before the appointed time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarbecueMom Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 For a family only party? Whenever. I really wouldn't care. When my two oldest were toddlers, we'd try to show up about 10-15 minutes early to family gatherings to give them time to adjust to a growing crowd rather than a bunch of grabby strange relatives all at once. But we corralled them and kept them out of the way and offered to help if we could (although we usually had our hands full). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 For family parties, we always come about 20 mins after the start. I see the time given as the earliest time to get there. I really dislike when we have church parties at our home and parents drop their kids here early. There's one family that consistently drops their child 30 minutes early. It's like they can't wait to get rid of the kid. But I digress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LifeLovePassion Posted June 16, 2014 Author Share Posted June 16, 2014 For our family parties, it is just our parents and siblings. One sibling is engaged, and none have kids so it is just my 2 kids and 10 adults. They (We'll call them the B's) came 40 minutes early this time (dd1's party). Not prearranged to help, didn't offer once they were here. I think they were trying to get there before the other grandparents. It is out of character for how things used to be to show up that early, but lately things have been tense in the relationship and like I said, I think they just wanted to get there first and get "dibs" on the girls. Backstory: The other grandparents (the A's)were here before them at dd2's party in March. It was prearranged, they had offered to help as DH had to work the morning of dd2's party. The B's arrived in the 20-30 minute early range for the party in March (again too early IMO given no history of parties turning into all day events and the distance they come). Well, the A's were here, so I am guessing that is why they doubled the lead on their arrival time. The A's were there much earlier as they were helping since the week was so busy and DH was maybe going to have to work again. DH's working was cancelled late in the week, but I still accepted the help as Grandma A is much more helpful than DH at party prep :lol: Glad to see I am not out of line thinking it was much too early. Since the situation is tense to begin with, judgement is more easily clouded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 For family parties, we always come about 20 mins after the start. I see the time given as the earliest time to get there. I really dislike when we have church parties at our home and parents drop their kids here early. There's one family that consistently drops their child 30 minutes early. It's like they can't wait to get rid of the kid. But I digress. :iagree: If we have a long drive to get to a party, we try to leave early in case there's a lot of traffic, but if we end up getting there early, we wouldn't even think about showing up before the start time. We would stop for coffee or something, so we could arrive on time or even a few minutes late. It seems intrusive to show up early. Maybe it's because when I have a party. I'm always getting things ready right up until the last minute and I don't like earlybirds! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.