THE -SOCIAL Q'S- TAP : HOST & GUESTS [ A ]

How do I prevent guests from bringing kids to my parties?  [ Q }

AS a host, you are absolutely entitled to create the guest list. for your parties.

But what a shame to let a misunderstanding - or, at worst, an error in judgment by a few parents - so embitter you that you call guests whom you invite into your home your '' so-called friends '' and accuse them of trying to scam their way into some free child care.

We all make mistakes.

I understand that you're annoyed but isn't it more likely that these parents have misconstrued your occasional inclusion of children to be a regular thing?

Or that they simply assumed - incorrectly - that their children were welcome? Both alternatives seem more reasonable to me than expecting guests to remember the language of your prior invitations for comparison.

Try to be more generous. These are people you like, right? 

What's more, you can solve this problem with just a few spoken words. 

To me, that seems preferable to fuming or to adding more language to your invitations.

Simply call the '' small number '' of parents with whom you've had this problem and say : '' I wanted to tell you that the party is for adults only. I hope you can make it.''

They may not : Child care can be expensive and difficult to arrange. But that's their decision to make after you have made the terms of your invitation to them abundantly clear.

!WOW! thanks Philip Galanes.