[excited2adoptsoon]

I know you can bring friends or family to share the special moment. But I don't want to go overboard. For those of you who've had a court finalization, how many people did you invite for court?

[fostapeepz]

I've never invited anyone - but my inlaws did come anyway (which was nice). This time we will probably invite them to come - but no one else. I don't care to celebrate in a courtroom. We will have a finalization party where we will invite our family and friends to celebrate with us. But that's just us (and we have a tiny little rural courtroom and a lot of extended family - so it's practical on our part).

[Mummy_Big_Bird]

We haven’t had court yet, but will be in the next few months. I am expecting at least 20 people to come! These are just my family, my neighbors who are like family, social workers and a few of my closest friends.

I am expecting about 100 people for the adoption party!

What we are doing is sending out an invitation for all of the week’s events. The adoption party will be the Saturday after court, and “baby” dedication at church the following day. Everyone will be able to pick and choose which events they would like to attend.

After all the paperwork and hoops we have had to go through for this adoption, I just want to shout from the mountain tops and celebrate!!!

[excited2adoptsoon]

Originally Posted by Mummy_Big_Bird

We haven’t had court yet, but will be in the next few months. I am expecting at least 20 people to come! These are just my family, my neighbors who are like family, social workers and a few of my closest friends.

I am expecting about 100 people for the adoption party!

What we are doing is sending out an invitation for all of the week’s events. The adoption party will be the Saturday after court, and “baby” dedication at church the following day. Everyone will be able to pick and choose which events they would like to attend.

After all the paperwork and hoops we have had to go through for this adoption, I just want to shout from the mountain tops and celebrate!!!

Mummy, that brings me to another question. Should I really be inviting the social workers that were heavily involved? Is it possible they will invite themselves?

Personally I am hoping to have a small intimate group for the court finalization. Just 8 of my closest family members. I am likely to be super emotional that day and I think it's best for all of us just to have a smaller group.

But for the party....that's another story!!! I hope to invite about 50 plus. I'm hoping it's close to her 1st birthday so it may be a adoption/1st birthday party. can't wait!!!

[EandDmom]

Well if we ever get to a point like that we would invite my MIL, SIL her 3 girls (doubt they could come because of work and school) and my 2 children. My sister lives too far away and my parents are dead. Maybe the CASA depending on how close they are to the children and how big of an interest they took in their case.

[shaylynn]

For my kids, I had about 10 people there. The court process only was about 5 minutes long. We had a party afterwards for more people to come to. At another adoption of some friends, they had about 8 in the courtroom, again it only took about 5 minutes. I don't know how many they had for a party afterwards. It is up to you if you want to adopt the social worker, but usually with their case loads, they are too busy even if they would like to be there.

[irelady10]

I invited my sister and her three kids (it was fun to see my nieces and nephew SO excited about the adoption!!). I also invited my AS's CASA worker.

I will be having an adoption party soon and am expecting about 50 people.

Congrats on your finalization!

[shy_bear]

We have adopted 3x and we have never invited anyone to the courthouse with us. It is our moment! We have a party following finalization which we invite friends and family. We are going to start on adoption number 4 and will plan on doing it the same way.

[professor89]

we did not invite anyone to court. The family met later on that night and we all went to dinner to celebrate.

[vegaschristina]

We invited everyone to the finalization! It was the moment my family was "born" and I wanted everyone to be there. At the first finalization, about 14 people came, and at the 2nd finalization, about 8 did. We didn't have a party, but we did go out to dinner that night to celebrate.

[Withay]

When I finalize my son's adoption I am inviting the following: his atty & asst (both have been involved but aren't adoption atty), both of his cw's (former and current), my certifier, my parents, all 4 of my sibs, my neighbors (my son's Godparents), my pastor who has encouraged me and a few special friends.

To the adoption party: my entire family - primary and extended, my church family, friends, pediatrician, cw's, certifier, neighbors and anyone else I have forgotten here but want to invite.

[takingtheplunge]

Sorry for the long post, but if you haven't finalized yet, this post is worth reading.

We invited lots and they all showed up! I made little invitations noting the date, address and time.

Backstory: SW said we can invite people and offered to be the video taper if we had a camera. The SW said that my DD would will go through a period when old when she wants to watch it over and over.

So, I planned just to invite our parents on both side and sisters in town plus their kids. It's family court, and kids are welcome. Then, DH said we should invite the close friends who wrote us our letters of referral for foster/adopt and who have been there for us. I somewhat hestitated but did anyway. I also invited both her and my SW
Of the two, only my SW showed. The other appreciated the invite.

I thought some of the people I invited would not show b/c it was a work day. I was wrong. It's a little court house, but we had 11+ people there! I felt somewhat embarrassed b/c others adopting that day only had 0 to 3 other people with them.

Oh well. It was our first baby and I had a last minute baby shower so this made up for it. It was so special -- more priceless than my wedding vows. I am now glad those close to us were there to witness it just like a wedding. The judge was great and had everyone witnessing sign in and I got a copy of it.

We held a reception at a close family-oriented restaurant, and I arranged to have a cake there. The cake had her name on it, and I topped it with a star wishing wand. I paid for everything just like a wedding. The cost of the lunches weren't that bad.

While waiting for dinner, I brought cut up 6 x 6 scrap book paper and thin sharpies and asked everyone to write her a note or a funny prediction on it (if they wanted). I kept them for her scrap book.

Even a week later, my family and friends kept commenting how special that was and thanked me for making them a part of it.

Again, it is really like wedding vows but more committal. They said, do you XYZ promise to blah balh blah, giving them all rights of inheritance. And do you, And do you . . . And do you . It was really more "Do You's" than traditional wedding vows. It makes a person realize what a special commitment it is to be a parent! I wish everyone who has a baby would make vows in front of a judge!

[c.a]

We adopted on National Adoption Day. We invited about 20 family and friends. I also often work in the Courthouse where we adopted so everyone who could came in. We had about 40 people in the Courtroom. The Judge was very (happily) surprised and made me introduce everyone, which was no mean feat because I was nervous and emotional.

Big or small - the only right way to do this is whatever feels right for you.

Good luck!

[Mummy_Big_Bird]

[quote=excited2adoptsoon]Mummy, that brings me to another question. Should I really be inviting the social workers that were heavily involved? Is it possible they will invite themselves?
QUOTE]
Our workers basically invited themselves, but I was going to invite them anyways. Our adoption worker, ongoing worker, and my resorce worker are all planning to arrange their work days so they can come.

[mommytoEli]

our first was just our parents....our second was our parents and one friend....by the time we got to the fifth child, we invited our parents our siblings, multiple friends, and their children. it was a full house....made me wonder why i didn't do that all along. it was a great big celebration...the court/judge did not seem to mind.