I agree with this; I think that giving your guests a set time to come is probably also a good idea.
Do you do more with them than talk while you’re in their house cleaning?
After all, they are your boss & paying your for the work you perform; would any take that as a subtle hint as a request for a pay rate increase? - you don’t pay me enough, so you should give me a b-day gift?
Are you going to invite your employer over & then tell 'em that they can’t stay because they brought their kid(s) when you work in a service environment where one is easily replaced?
Mention in the invitations that there will be “adult” party favors. Use the scare quotes. No one will bring kids.
Then put AARP and retirement investing advice brochures on the tables.
As the parent of a two-year old, I’d say that depends a lot on the age of the kids. Two-year olds don’t steal stuff. They don’t even understand the concept of stealing. They just pick stuff up they like. And then put it somewhere. Probably in a doorway or the toilet. Or throw it to see what kind of sound it makes when it lands.
Yeah, anyone who gives you guff over should be ignored, and anyone who disregards it should be met with a firm blockade at the door and “I’m so sorry, but this isn’t an occasion for children. Let’s do a picnic with the kids soon!” I absolutely understand the value of kids-free space.
But also, very likely you’d just get one of me or my wife to attend. Not because we’re upset, but because babysitters are expensive.
As parents of two kids (1 and 3) my wife and I are planning on a “no kids” birthday for her 40th. We’re sending ours away with a babysitter so we can enjoy OUR friends, for a change.
Don’t sweat it. Parents are very often happy not to have their kids come along. And of those that are not, you may still get one half of a couple.
Oh my, nobody is going to take it that way. First, I would say “no gifts” just like my wife did at her brunch, though people brought her some gifts anyway. We work for amazing people that want to see us do well. It was our clients that reached out to us and invited us to our first Thanksgiving, first Halloween, first Christmas.
And there is no worry of anyone getting shortchanged on the services we provide. We’ve done this for 18 years. Our clients love us. I even go out of my way to do extras like tightening up things in the house with hand tools, bring tools to clean drains that back up, all on top of cleaning because I want to. Generous people attract generous people.
I’m guessing you mean that you think we can easily be replaced. Most people that hire us have horror stories of the cleaner that stole their DVD collection systematically, took their meds, brought their kids with them, cooked a big Christmas dinner in their kitchen, showed up when they wanted to, etc. If anyone wants to let us go because we’re so easily replaced we can just pick up one of the 20 families on our waiting list. I think we’ll be okay. A good cleaner isn’t easy to find. If they’re good chances are they have a waiting list too.
We’re professionals. We bring our own tools for the job. We spend for quality in our supplies and equipment. We are insured like any real business should be. We bring other skills to the table and communicate well with everyone. We also happen to be super honest, super dependable, and hard workers to the point where our clients tell us to make sure to take time for ourselves. Our clients talk to us and we love it, but it’s them who hold us up with conversation. It’s pretty cool to be able to work for your friends. We tread a unique line and it makes it very rewarding.
We have an annual review process for price changes. We even volunteer to lower prices in times of life changes like our client that just had his kids go off to college. His empty nest won’t take as long to clean.
JAM, congratulations on coming out of the closet. Seems that you have found many beautiful new families! Which is quite an accomplishment. And happy birthday!
Where I live, there is no party without the kids. They are the highlight! But, we don’t have expensive things that could be trashed. It is unfortunate that the possession of expensive toys prevents one from enjoying young people.
Just saying.
Wow. I don’t have expensive things but I don’t want what I do have to get trashed. If you read above you’d know that some of the kids have severe behavioral issues that I’m not going into here.
Don’t act like I don’t enjoy kids because this one time I am nervous to have them around. Did you see above where I went so far as to pick and pay for a venue just to help kids have fun and that I paid and created gift bags for them?
That was one passive aggressive reply.
Just saying.
Just dropping in to say I wish you well with your party. As someone who has spent her life with severe shyness and lack of self confidence and therefore few friends, I really admire the way you are carving out a new life and network for yourself. I hope the party is fantastic!
Thanks! I’ve been quite shy too and battled a lot of social anxiety. When in one day you literally lose almost everyone that you’ve ever known forever to shunning you no longer have many options. For one year we decided to take every invitation and put ourselves out there. We were taught to be afraid of “worldly people” outside the cult which made it hard. We went to parties where we knew one person that invited us and that was it. In the end we made lots of new friends and honestly now we have to turn invitations down because we have too many.
So let me tell you that if we can come out of our shells, hopefully you can too if that’s what you want. We’re both introverts so we still take time for ourselves, but we can get out with friends when we’re up for it.
Heck, I have since started a podcast, then a second podcast where I interview people, and this month I started a YouTube channel with live videos of me. I keep pushing myself and it feels good to do so, over time. With that said I have moments where I ask my wife to go into a store or something because I can’t face it.