So annoyed re: emily's party

Purrrfect433

She doesn't have many friends her age because she's not in preschool yet. My husband got it in his head that she *needed* to have a big-deal birthday party at Pump It Up like Ben had because his last two parties have been at places like that(Pump It Up and Chuck E Cheese). He has been hyping up her birthday for months.

Her party is in 2 weeks and we're uncertain about the majority of the guestlist. Only 4 kids are coming for sure, we're waiting on 11 more to confirm. We have to pay no matter what and I don't want her to be disappointed:( She really understands birthday parties and the concept of "all your friends will come!". I'm frustrated that we're potentially spending so much for so few kids. We could do a nice party for a small group at the park or even Chuck E Cheese for much less.

Should we cancel the Pump It Up party and scale the plans back? She'll be sad that it's not there; probably more upset than she'd be about all her friends not being there. Bahhhhhh. Any ideas?

GettinNervous

For my kids, I have been taking them to a walk-in bounce-type place and just inviting a few friends. It's so much cheaper. Then we have cake at home on their actual b'days.

Jodi&Joe

Hopefully, when she knows "all her friends" she doesn't have a count in her head.  That she will see the people that are there (even if it's just four) and be psyched.  And think "YAY all my friends are here!"  Make sense?

I think changing the venue is going to GUARANTEE heartache for her.  But holding it there and only having four friends....she might not even notice, you know?!

UGH!  I feel for ya though.  I hope she doesn't notice.  And I hope she has a great time!

Hooray2005

I'm with Jodi on this one... if she knows about the planned venue, it will be pretty upsetting to change it this late in the game (can you even get your $$ back at this point?)  Perhaps ask the place if they'd be willing to either cut you a break on cost, or if not, could they throw in some extras since there will be so few children there relative to what they normally would expect (e.g, extra balloons, prizes, a cake, etc.)

I feel your pain on this one - we just celebrated DS#1's birthday (rented a large park shelter), and only half of the children we invited were able to attend - the group was small, but he still seemed to have fun, and definitely wasn't counting how many children were there.

Mickschick

I wouldn't change the venue- especially if she's excited about it.

We just had the twins' party this weekend and Morgan had it in her head that all of her friends would be here too. (They don't go to preschool yet either; just family friends kids and a few friends I met through a Mom's group were invited). She was talking about her friend Kimmy coming to her party for at least a week. I knew that Kimmy probably wasn't going to make it- and I was right; they didn't. Morgan didn't even notice. She still had an awesome time and was thrilled that her friends were there.

I'm sure you guys will have an awesome party either way

Purrrfect433

Ok, good point, Jodi! She'll probably be so excited to bounce around she won't notice all the kids(or lack there of). And, plenty of childish adults(aka my friends w/out kids!) will be there to monopolize her attention anyway:) It will still be fun, even with just a few little ones.

SumnerBride

GettinNervous:

For my kids, I have been taking them to a walk-in bounce-type place and just inviting a few friends. It's so much cheaper. Then we have cake at home on their actual b'days.

This is what a lot of my mom friends do around here.  But, I'm a terrible mom, and haven't had a "real" party with friends for either of my kids yet.  Frankly, I'm too lazy to put that kind of effort in at this age.

EMT

This is totally what happened at m's second. Only like three other kids ended up showing (her b-day is right around thanksgiving and frankly she didn't have a lot of friends yet and she has no cousins). I don't think m noticed...there were tons of kids there. They just weren't there for m's b-day . I wouldn't change venue now although I will say the lack of kids was slightly embarassingly for me .

WifeyLindsay

We rented a bounce house (it had a slide) for Aubrey's party (i'm sure they can set it up at the park?) and it was a lot less than paying Pump It Up. I think that place is better for kids who have friends from school, for sure.

Mama2S-K-M

I'm pretty sure Pump It Up does not allow cancellations without keeping  your deposit.