How to not invite kids politely

You can have your own children at the ceremony and dinner without feeling required to invite all children. Just invite people by name on their invites. So, don't do "The Doe family," do "John and Jane Doe." You can also have on your reply cards "We have reserved [insert number] seats in your honor." These things help get the point across that children are not invited. And it's totally, 100% okay to have your own kids there and not invite anyone else's.

Simply address the invites only to those who are invited, ie Mr. and Mrs. Smith instead of The Smiths. If someone adds a child (or anyone else for that matter) simply call them and explain that the invite was only for those that it was addressed to and you cannot accommodate the extra guests.

IMO, it makes zero difference that your kids will be there. If that pisses guests off they need some perspective...

You’re having an adults only / kid free wedding.

Yes some people will be pissed off.

Guess what?

This is your wedding; not theirs.

And if they don’t come because of that, would you really want them there?

Personally I think that you can have an adults only wedding but still have your children in attendance. I mean, they’re your kids and a huge part of your life. You obviously want them included in your wedding. Whoever gets mad at you because your kids are there but you didn’t invite your cousins kids or something is ridiculous. Just include adults only on the invitations and if anyone has an issue, they’ll decline (and hopefully not give you any problems!)
We don’t have kids, but we invited FH niece and nephews because they’re close family. FBIL isn’t even bringing the youngest, because he doesn’t want to be responsible for him all night. No one that we invited had an issue with leaving their kids at home for our wedding.
On another note, you’re having a NYE wedding which a lot of people do spend the holiday with their families. I worked with a girl who threw a fit when she got invited to her cousins NYE wedding and her daughter wasn’t invited. But the NYE wedding we went to last year was kid free except for the bride and grooms newly born niece and nephew which everyone was completely fine with!

You just address your invitations to Mr. and Mrs. So and So. On your RSVP cards say 2 seats have been reserved in your honor.

Hi Jesse! Welcome to the WeddingWire community! I have always loved NYE weddings, what a fun way to start a new year! Agreeing with the above comments, I would just address the invite to the couple or person and not the family as a whole. I found an article that goes into the no kids etiquette a little more, I'll link it below!

Kids and Weddings

I'd address the invites to only the parents, and do the "__ out of ___ are attending" on RSVPs and fill out the second line for the 2 adults. I think people will get the point! My cousin put "This will be an adult's only event" on his invites, and it didn't bother me but I also don't have kids haha

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This is a good point. NYE has always been a family thing for me and if I had kids I'd probably only want to come if it was going to be an amazing, black-tie affair.

Easy, you just state that its not for anyone under 21. You can even fill in the guest count on the RSVP before sending it. We're doing this. My almost grown niece is a junior bridesmaid so we will be there and her 2 younger siblings bc they are in the wedding party and the ring bearer. I have no qualms in denying them access. They are your children so they can't really be mad about that.

Just don't invite kids. You don't need to put on the invite who isn't invited. Address the invite to the parents/couple/whoever you want there and don't mention the children. Your own kids are always an exception.