Babysitter for wedding in the Hudson Valley?

[fortnightlily]

I've never used Sittercity or Care.com before, have people had good experiences? Bad?

DH's nephew is getting married at the end of August at the Bear Mountain Inn but it's adults only, so we need to find a babysitter for two kids in the hotel room, ages 4 and 7.

Or if anyone has any personal recommendations for a sitter I'm all ears!

[gastro]

I would ask the hotel or are any of the guests locals that could recommend someone?

I have used care.com for hiring babysitters…I’ve hired one great and a few mediocre sitters. No “bad” experiences.

[fortnightlily]

Jul 19, 2021 9:48:40 GMT -5 gastro said:

I would ask the hotel or are any of the guests locals that could recommend someone?

I have used care.com for hiring babysitters…I’ve hired one great and a few mediocre sitters. No “bad” experiences.

I've emailed the hotel, hopefully I hear back.  No, the only people local to the venue that we know are the bride and groom, who are childless and thus far not helping to find arrangements. DH's family all live about an hour away, but they'll all be at the wedding

[cricketwife]

I have the worst luck with sitters so take my advice with a grain of salt, but would it be easier to leave the kids with a sitter in the city where you live and travel without them? I feel like watching kids in a hotel room is hard and it might be harder to find someone who wants to do that.

[fortnightlily]

Jul 19, 2021 10:40:19 GMT -5 cricketwife said:

I have the worst luck with sitters so take my advice with a grain of salt, but would it be easier to leave the kids with a sitter in the city where you live and travel without them? I feel like watching kids in a hotel room is hard and it might be harder to find someone who wants to do that.

It's an option for us, yes, because my parents can take him for the weekend. But his 4 year old cousin doesn't really have anyone at home they can leave them with. So either one parent stays behind and the other attends the wedding, or they both come and find a sitter. And if they do bring him and have someone he doesn't know watching him it would be easier on him if my son was also there.

[dale]

Stony Point, NY is close to there and there's several active FB pages. North Rockland Community is one of them. You might be able to find someone there. My go-to sitter just graduated college and is off to grad school so I'm no help with a personal suggestion.

[CloudBee]

I would suggest finding a Peekskill parent group, and ask if anyone has a college aged child looking for a late night sitting job.

You might also consider reaching out to West Point. Most colleges have departments that assist students in finding employment. There's often a bulletin board with job listings, and students looking for babysitting jobs. Maybe they could recommend someone, or snap a picture of the bulletin board. (If there is one.)

[momof2]

I just want to provide assurance that getting a babysitter in a one off place through care can work out just fine. The suggestions for Facebook group and school recommendations are also good ones.

We travel with a special needs kid and always need help. I’ve used a recommended sitter in NYC. A care sitter for the beach. A sitter service at Disney, etc. They have all ranged anywhere from fine to fantastic. But a few recommendations. Have an actual phone call with the person. Get two references and call those references. Lots of people crap out about sending references, which i see as a big red flag. If possible, have them hang for a few hours while you are there. So if you really want them for Saturday night, pay them to come Friday night for a couple of hours while you are there or can pop in and out.

[waverly]

It looks like people have had luck with sitters. Sometimes I can't even feel like I can find someone in my own hometown.

I would probably leave my kid at home for the weekend.

Or if you have both kids there, I would plan on each person taking an hour and rotating. Assuming, there are 4 parents involved then you would only have to rotate every 3-4 hours.

[al dente]

You could also google local nanny agencies. They are a little more money, but when we were planning a vacation it's what I felt most comfortable with. Through the agency the nanny should be fully background checked, have a backup if something happens, and I'd assume no issues if the agency is still employing them.

People in my area are so flakey so I haven't had good luck with care.com just because of that, but I only very sporadically need sitters so I haven't spent a ton of time looking for one.