Mary from Savannah, Georgia asked:  “How do you avoid having kids at your wedding reception? And if you can’t avoid having them there, what are some suggestions to occupy them at the reception?”.

This is a great question that many brides always ask! If you have decided to have an adults only reception, my advice would be to address your invitations to only those that you want at the wedding, as well as personalizing your response cards to make it clear who was invited and who was not. For example, the response card could read:

Mr. Godley ____will or ____will not attend
Mrs. Godley ____will or ____will not attend

But if there is no way to avoid inviting children to the reception, I would recommend having different activities to keep the children occupied. My favorite idea would be to have a table just for them, which makes them feel special. Place coloring books, puzzles, games and crafts on their table to keep them busy throughout the reception. I also love the idea of having a candy bar (what child doesn’t like candy?!).

But if you think you will have several children at your wedding, I would highly recommend hiring a babysitter to tend to the children. Hiring a babysitter not only avoids offending guests because you didn’t invite their children in the first place, but it also gives their parents a break, so they can enjoy the night without worrying about what their children are getting into!

For more great ideas and options on how to deal with the kids at weddings debate, here’s a great article from Martha Stewart we posted back in March!  Hope this helps Mary!