kids birthday partys when at school, the dreaded who to invite!!!!!!

zoesmummy_2006

dd started school last sept, when shen started there were only bout 15 in the class, after xmas the next lot started so now theres around 30.

its dd's 5th birthday in a few weeks and im starting to plan a party for her, but as cheap as i can cos im on my own and cant imagine daddy will contribute as he'll most likely do something for her at his. have got a hall booked in town, £20 for 2 hrs:), it's just the who to invite. she's very good friends with all the kids she started with, cant say that ive really noticed her being that friendly with some of the new starts, she has her favourite girls lol and thats it.

my cousin had suggested that if i was gonna do a party with the whole class invited then maybe i should have a little tea party or something at home for my friends and their kids. thing is, that just seems sooooo much effort, plsu the reason i wanna do it elsewhere is so my house aint a bombsite when partys over and everyones gone lol!!!
have decided that i wanna just invite the ones she started with back in sept and then invite my friends with their kids, there will be around 20 including couple 1yr olds, which is more than enough lol. does that seem unfair to the rest of the class tho??? god i wish her birthday had been before xmas lol!!!

dont even get me started on 'entertainers' for the party-she went to one on sat and i looked up the wizard entertainer they had-£120 for 2 hrs!!!!! blimey im in the wrong business!!!!!!! me and my cousin can dance to steps and macarena and saturday night etc etc, gonna get some music on and some disco lights and show the girlies how to do it!! dd loves that, she had me teaching her the steps ready the other night!!

Apricot

Just check with teacher re: giving out invites in school. In my little sister's school you can only give out invites in school if the whole class are invited. I don't think it's unfair that you don't want to invite the ones who have only been there a few months though although next year may be a different matter.

zoesmummy_2006

thats a good point, thanks for that!!! the party she went to other day was from school, dont think they invited everyone but think they gave the invites out in class. i dont mind too much if not giving them out in class, i know the mums of the kids being invited so can pass them on outside of school etc.
dont even wanna THINK bout next year yet lol!!!

DUKE

It all sounds great to me - why pay for entertainment when you can be it Seriously you'll probably have a much better time knowing that you've done it all yourself. As for who to invite, you have to do what's best for you & what you can afford to do. In an ideal world I suppose we'd invite everyone as I'd hate to leave anyone out plus your child could feel left out at a later date if certain people don't invite her to their parties. But if you & DD are happy then nothing else really matters. Have a great time!

Bloomin_Freezing2

I wouldn't worry too much. My dd who's 5 has just been invited to a party (her mum handed out invites in the playground at home time) and I know it's a 'girls only' party. Sometimes the kids come out of school with invites so they've been handed out at home time, other times they're given out in the playground. When it as her party,she handed out invites in class to the 10 friends I said could come. If there has ever been a party where she wasn't invited she's not been too bothered. Just do what you can manage, it's too easy comparing your party to others attended. Originally last year i'd hired the hall and thought we'd invite the whole class, then as it grew closer I purchased a 6 metre long 'party tent'/gazebo and invited 10 friends to have a garden party. They were only 5 years old and after i'd been stressing about activities and games and when to eat they actually spent a lot of time playing hide and seek in the garden! Your daughter is young, so long as there's music and friends they'll have fun.

We did go to a party with an entertainer, clown/magician and the kids spent more time sat on their bums watching him. I wasn't overly impressed, 2hrs on their bums isn't much fun. He got them (and us) to do plate spinning, well that killed twenty minutes for him so made his 200 quid even easier to earn!!

zoesmummy_2006

lol horrible as it sounds i wouldnt mind her being left out of a party invite!! since starting school shes been invited to 4 and came home with her 5th invite yesterday!!!! im bying a disco light of some form off ebay for the party as then i have one for the future parties etc (def moneysaving there lol).
I do feel guilty about not inviting all the kids, buti just dont see the point in inviting kids she doesnt play with!!

Krystaltips

My daughter is 7 in just under 2 weeks... We looked at all the party options we have at the moment and after weighing up the cost/effort decided to just go for a small party at home, she has invited 10 children (7 girls, 3 boys!) handed out the invites at school yesterday with no fuss...

I'm totally stealing the disco ball idea, we're going to be putting Just Dance on the wii for them to kill a bit of time, and do a pass the parcel, food will be in little boxes (like a healthy happy meal) served on a picnic blanket on the floor so hopefully not as messy as a help yourself buffet...

People think I'm nuts doing the party at home (especially since I just had a baby) but it was the normal thing when we were children so it can't be that difficult can it?!

Becles

zoesmummy_2006 wrote: »

me and my cousin can dance to steps and macarena and saturday night etc etc, gonna get some music on and some disco lights and show the girlies how to do it!! dd loves that, she had me teaching her the steps ready the other night!!

That'll go down really well. They go to so many "manufactured" parties these days at soft play/bowling/swimming etc., where the entertainment is all supplied, that the children think it's a huge novelty when someone's Mam does the party.

I did traditional parties for my boys when they were little and they were really popular. At one a disabled girl from school came and we were playing pass the parcel with forfeits on the wrapping layers. The poor girl opened it and it said run round the circle as fast as you can - ooops So I lifted her up on my back and ran round the circle with her. She was giggling her head off and the bairns all thought it was absolutely hilarious His friends still mention it and it was years ago!

Don't worry about only inviting a select few from school. It happens as you can't always invite everyone. I can understand people getting upset when one or two get left out of a class, but when you're just inviting a number of close friends, parents understand.

zoesmummy_2006

Lol i sooo cant wait, been practising my 'moves' while cooking kids tea in kitchen. Dd heard 5,6,7,8 and shouted "mum i know what youre doing!". She came running in to watch tho bless her! The other mums will think im nuts when they see me dancing im sure, but i dont care, its all good fun n long as my girls happy im happy

[Deleted User]

Think back to what you had when you were 5, i think most of the party pressure is trying to keep up. S~D everyone else, its your budget, your child, YOU do what you want and how you want. Most people will understand you have to draw the line and those who don't aren't your true friends.

If you do something too huge at 5, what will you be asked to do for 6,7,8 etc.

I favour the keep it simple approach and am personally quite glad that we don't get bombarded with party invites as it would be a real hassle for our budget if my children got invited to lots of classmates parties, esp when i know they don't really play with them. I'd rather they just go to 2-4 a year with those they really like.

olibrofiz

For dd's 5th birthday we hired a room at a local leisure centre (DJ was included) and invited the whole class to a disco - 36 kids, and they all came :eek:. They had a whale of a time for two hours, the girls mostly danced in the middle and the boys ran at great speed around the room. It was a great success, there was dancing competitions and 'dead fishes', and my mum made the buffet. We also got chicken pox out of the way as one brought it with them to the party :rotfl:

Birthdays after that, when she'd made a group of friends, tended to be small parties at home till she reached 10 or so.