6th birthday party dilemma

mutley74

my little one is almost 6 and in year 1. i am holding a party for him at a childrens soft play and slides etc party venue.

The dilemma is that the 2 classes when he was in reception year are now mixed in year 1 i.e 15 from each class A &B. Hence, my son has some friends in class B and all some new friends and existing in his current class 1A. That would make a total of almost 40+ kids to invite. At a cost of £8 a head its an expensive party.

Do i just invite his friends only or invite them all or just his own class 1A????

Note sure what to do my limit what i can afford is 30 kids......any advice welcome...

Alikay

Even 30 sounds like a VERY big party for a 6 year old!Round our area most kids have about 10-15 friends if its at one of those soft-play places within a restaurant chain (Wacky Warehouse, billy bears playland etc). If its an independent soft play venue and you're hiring it for your own use, couldn't you join forces with another mum who's child has a birthday around the same time and have a joint party?

tsstss7

friends only - anything else is a nightmare - imagine 40 screaming 6 year olds and the're all your responsibility for two hours! I did a party with 15 at age 5 and seriously regretted it, these days I think 10 is generous!

mutley74

the party is in a proper party warehouse which do kids parties i.e. play time, food, and party bag. Expensive - agree! But my little one has really been asking me for ages as he has not had a birthday party with friends for 2 years (another long story).
so you think for a 6th party its friends only??

tsstss7

At 6 parents bring and run so you'll be left looking after them all - so if you do decide to do a big one you'll need reinforcements! The staff at these places are good but not that good!

Scarlett1

for my daughter's 6th I had it at a soft play centre and invited the whole class (one she has been in since reception), it was £9.95 per head and will only do it the once, for other birthdays I will probably just invite a few close friends and do something with them, in you case though I would invite half of his class, and half of the other class

tsstss7

I share party responsibilities with the ex - he never invites more than 8 I never invite more than 10 ....my parties are generally livelier but then I have a boy so it's usually 8 boys and a token 2 girls - he invites who he wants I just limit numbers although I usually invite 2 extra as they dont all come generally !!!!

BillScarab

My son's 5th was held at a soft play centre and I think we had 17 in total. Although 1 was his sister and two were slightly older cousins so we inviter 13 form a class of 28 and didn't invite anyone from the other class in his year. I would just invite his friends, I certainly wouldn't invite 30-40 children. I'd also ask one or two other parents if they could stay and help out.

40something

I had the same problem with my first born but now all I do is ask him who he would like to come to his party or who he plays with at school. Your son probably won't be able to come up with more than 10 -15 and you will relax.

Janepig

40something wrote: »

I had the same problem with my first born but now all I do is ask him who he would like to come to his party or who he plays with at school. Your son probably won't be able to come up with more than 10 -15 and you will relax.

This is what I did with DD for her 4th birthday. She decided who she wanted to invite. There's 30 in her class (another 30 in the other class in her year) so no way was I inviting them all. So we chose the ones that she speaks about the most. Plus I invited 5 children of friends from work. I think there were about 16 altogether. I did feel a bit guilty about not inviting everyone but then there've been plenty of parties she's not been invited to. Next year I'm going to share with another mum whose DD is two days younger than mine so between us we'll be able to invite all the children in her class.

Jxx

PasturesNew

I cannot BELIEVE you'd seriously consider forking out 40 x £8 for a bunch of kids to play for an afternoon.

£320.

I don't know the answer. I was just gobsmacked.

P.S. And this puts a lot of pressure on less well off parents to invite kids who invited theirs... and to do similar expensive stuff