Childrens Birthday Party - questions & ideas (merged)

Mark7799

Any reason why the OP can't ring round and ask for indications using the excuse that she doesn't want to have too little food available/too much food going to waste?

jockettuk

get used to people not telling you they coming..it happened all the way up to my daughters 11th party this year.. only time i actually knew was whenshe had a ice skating party and i needed a definate number..

im quite lucky a i live in a town with a recycling company called restore and the school is a member.. ive never had to pay for a party bag or stuff to put in it ive got it all from restore. they are a recycling company and we lucky as in our town we have a lot of magazine companys and all the extra freebies toys cd's etc that are left over get sent to restore. All my daughters friends think its great lol.. ive made up a few bags of stuff for when she leaves primary school this july as we also moving towns..

square_bear

This is a bit of a tricky one that some of you will understand.

It is my sons birthday soon, he will be Five.

We have always had a birthday party for him, with a few friends of his.

This year is the first one at Primary school.

Do I invite more or less the whole class if he wants me to?

Just a few, even if I dont know them or the parents?

None, only the ones I know?

Any help would be great. Thanks.

gixxerchick_2

I'd ask your son which of his friends from his class does he want to invite to his party.

across

it all depends on where your planning to have it and how much per child it wil cost and how much your budget is for the party, if given the chance he will want the whole class but that doesnt mean you have to invite them all you are the boss even though it is his birthday i would ask the teacher for an idea as to who he is close to if you dont know (i did this last year at nursery for my daughter's 4th bday having a ball pit party) and then decide from there how many you can afford we had about 14 in the ball pit and that was enough!! glad when its all over eh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! all the best!!!!!!!!!plus youll find half of them dont even reply and they dont all bother with parties themselves so just do what is affordable! have fun!

Miss_Cinnabon

Hi we only started doing partys when our kids went to school, the max we have had is 12 and that was a handful! also make sure if you are going out for a party that there are enough adults to look after all the kids - we had 4 adults last time.

We have gone to the cinema, which was a favourite as the kids are engrossed in the film and we have also done train rides which all the kids loved, this was on a steam train and had the party onboard the train with food and cake made for us, it was brill :j

mummysaver

Hi there! If you do decide to invite the whole class, make sure that you hire a hall and an entertainer, else your home and you will be wrecked! If you only want a few children get your son to choose his best friends, you may need to intervene and guide a bit, as at this age friends can change weekly, and then have a small party at home, or arrange a small bowling party - the expense is a good reason for keeping it small! You could also give your son the choice of doing something special with his best friend, but don't be too surprised if he wants a big party, they soon cotton on to the fact that the more people they invite the more pressies they get!

Edit: Forgot to say: on the bright side big parties tend to tail off by the time they get to 7 or 8, and they seem to like to do something like go to the cinema with a couple of friends! Much easier on the nerves and wallet!

Lady_E

I know exatly where you are coming from . DS1 was 5 last year and it wsa his first birthday party at big school. In the end we worked out how many parties he had gone to , invited the child, and then if there was any other children he really wanted to come. In the end we had 12 kids that we took to a local farm/adventure play area and they had a ball. The farm provided food and seating and we just turned up with the kids and a cake.I have a funny feeling that we will be going back there again this year ,simply because it was such a popular choice and the price (£120) was good value for no frayed nerves and no wrecked house.

modgit

We've just had our sons 5th birthday party, and decided on a clown at our church hall, so obviously as it's one fee it doesn't matter how many come. He started school in January and although he'd been to nursery at the school I didn't really know many of the moms, so it was a bit of a double attack!

We invited all 30 from his class and around 23 came, so with outside school friends we had about 30. It was a lovely number, and it gave me opportunity to see how he works with his new school pals, and for me to get to know the moms.

It worked for us, not particularly money saving, but our eldest is nearly 8 and only wants a few friends to go out for his birthday, so the expensive years don't last too long!

HTH

Counting_Pennies_2

If your child decides he would like to go for the whole class, you could always see if another mum (or two!) want to join up and have a joint birthday party.

That way you could share the costs and get to know another mum.

You could hire the local soft play centre, most leisure centres offer something like this.