Do people not reply to party invites these days??

Logan112

My DD's 5th birthday we eventually had 25 say they were coming - party bags made up, food prepared etc etc. On the day SIX didn't come - only one apology the next day. I was livid.

balancelife

We did the first big party for dd in August when she turned 5. I did it the weekend school finished but knew we might struggle with people going away/forgetting. We hired a hall and were playing games and I had all the good like biscuits and crisps in packets to put out as much as needed etc.
I invited 26 kids, got lots of replies right away verbally in the playground (hard to keep track of!) And then had about 4actually call or text. 2kids told my dd directly lol. I had to Chase 6 people, found them at sports day!most just looked suprised i wanted to know a definite number and said "yeh its on the calendar, looking forward to it". On the day we had 1 call to cancel, 1 who said they were coming not turn up and 1 who said maybe not coming. we also had 4 or 5 siblings arrive. I included them in games etc and had extra party bags with the odd bits left over from what I bought I just made up. I was ok with it as the parents of those kids stayed. 1 parent tried to leave me with their 2 year old and i did say I'm sure dd1 will be fine but if you are going you need to take dd2 as I can't keep an eye on her. I smiled and said she was welcome to stay though if dd2 was desperate to join

Id be v frustrated if it was a pay per child activity with the rsvp stuff. I always reply! Most invites have a rsvp date that we get. I was listening to a parent moan that her younger child hadn't been invited to a soft play of the older kid, and said well I don't have a sitter so I will be taking him along too. I just said "expensive place though and dont firget he won't get food." And she said he could surely squeeze on the end and eat the leftovers!! And this was after checking the sibling wasn't invited!!

I didn't do a big party just for the presents, I just thought if I was hiring a hall she could have more kids there to enjoy it. And they did phew! Plus she was invited to 18 of their parties too over the year. Thinking yr 1 might not bring as many parties, we will see.

go_cat

We did our first party this year doing it at a soft play area - invited 15 children from nursery 6 replied 4 were chased up and got repsonses 5 never got any response although i did party bags incase they did turn up they have now been recycled for next year if i dare do it again

I did spend a very anxious day wondering if they wuld turn up though

I do wonder if it is the cost of presents that parents don't go and like someone said earlier they all seem to come at once.

pimento

I can count the number of parties that my son was invited to on the fingers of one hand. My nephew (same village) had a party almost every week.

I did a couple of parties myself, one for a birthday and the other for halloween. After not being invited back anywhere, I just used to take him and three or four friends out somewhere.

flippin36

Its so frustrating and you are not alone. Could it be that more kids go to their dads at the weekend, so its left up to them to reply and they just forget. If I left party rsvp's up to my OH there is no way he would remember.

Ladyhawk

I've just had my 32nd birthday and 50% of the people who said they were coming cancelled within 48 hours of the party. And half the people didn't even reply. It's no big issue as I had just booked an area in the pub... however... I feel very hurt by it. I always let people know if I am going to attend or if I am running late. It's really not that hard. I don't think I am going to bother next year.

Oh - and by the way be very careful of the "fluffy bunny" marshmallow game and the marshmallows can melt and choke childen. There have been several instances of kids dying playing this game

Spendless

tiamai_d wrote: »

We don't tend to get replies till the week of the party, most folk don't know what they will be doing before that.

I don't understand that. Surely if you've been invited to a birthday party and have no prior engagment then that IS what you are doing? I can understand someone not knowing if they work to a rota and that hasn't come out yet or if they need to check if they can access a car if it's a drive away but other than that?

durham_girl

Ladyhawk wrote: »

Oh - and by the way be very careful of the "fluffy bunny" marshmallow game and the marshmallows can melt and choke childen. There have been several instances of kids dying playing this game

Just had a look on Snopes, they say that while a child in America did die, it was because she choked on the marshmallow rather than it melting and choking her.

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/parental/chubbybunny.asp

minimoneysaver

I've had my fill of birthday parties. Just had my daughter's party at Pizza Express. 12 invited, 2 no thanks, 8 yes please, 2 no response. Yes you've guess it.... the two who didn't reply turned up! Pizza Express had to rearrange the table, which caused chaos. We had to make up another 2 party bags, luckily we had spare bits. Shockingly rude and totally unacceptable. I won't be doing it again. In future it'll be a couple of close friends to do something of my daughter's choice.

Bumpmakesfour

Can't believe how many people have had the same or much worse experiences.Seriously how bloody thoughtless are people these days? :mad: Oh well,you live and learn x