Politeness Question

[Tallgrl98]

I was talking with one of my coworkers and she was telling me about a going-away bbq for her friends. She invited a few couples that were all close with the couple moving so that they could all enjoy each other, share a nice meal and send this couple off to their new destination with a happy memory. Well, one of the guests wanted to bring their kids because it would just be easier for them. Not sure of what to say, she talked to another couple to see what they thought and they let her know that they would also like to bring their kids.

So, because she wasn't sure how to politely say no to the kids, now my coworker is having 5 kids over and has to buy additional food because the kids won't eat brats.

Now, my response would have been to say to the first guest that wanted to bring kids, "We were just hoping to have an evening just for the close friends to say good-bye to this couple, would you mind getting a sitter?"

For all of you who have kids - what do you think the best response is? How would you hope someone would approach this situation? Do you find that it feels like most situations are No Kids situations?