Birthday party for 39 kids?

marigolds

My dd is in half-day kindergarten.  There are 39 kids in her class.  We haven't been invited to any birthday parties this year.  I assume it's because there are just too many kids. 

The rule in dd's class is that if you want the teacher to hand out invitations, you have to invite all of the students.  I don't have a list of parent contact info, I was thinking of emailing the teacher to ask if there was such a list. 

My dd really wants to invite some of the kids in her class to her birthday party next month. 

Should I hope the weather is nice and invite the whole class to a party at the playground?  Or should I try to get a list and invite dd's closest friends to Pump It Up?

surprise3rd

I would ask for an address list, or the addresses for only the students you want to invite.  We always have a really big party because DS and DD have birthdays 3 days apart, and we have a combined party, but 39 kids seems like an awful lot.

r9stedt

I'd need xanex.

mlm1128

Never ever would I invite 39 kids. How many teachers do they have? That is an insane class size.

 

camrude

39 kids in one class? WOW...that is a lot.

I'm torn on this (just posted last night about who to/not to invite)...but 39 kids?! 

I guess I would see if you can get a list with addresses.

Mrs Manners

We invited that many but only because we won the birthday party at this new play center and it includes 24 kids. Ds has 30 in his class and I invited some of our non-school friends. I honestly don't expect more than about 18 to show up though. 

Pare you able to go into her class at all and put in folders or a mailbox (that's what we do in our preschool)? Our school policy prohibited them from making a parent contact sheet but it does allow the parents to create one so we passed around a sheet at the open house and anyone who wanted to be on it wrote down their info and then one mom compiled the list and distributed via email.  

EXL311

That's really tough because that's an insane number of children in one class.  For DD's last party we invited the entire class of 23 and 2 showed up, granted it was labor day weekend.  For DS's birthday we invited all the kids in his class (25ish) and 5 came.  I probably would invite them all if your DD wouldn't really have other friends and family to come to her party.  If you can personally contact some of the parents of your DD's closest friends then that would be ideal.

lollitots

I would check if you could invite only the girls. DD school has the same policy, but they apply it to just meaning you have to invite all the same sex children, not be forced into a coed party.

Leila'sMommy

I wish they'd get rid of this rule. Tough stuff, kids. This is real life. Sometimes you don't get invited to things. This "all or nobody" rule drives me insane.

dpdw

If she only wants to invite some kids, then only invite the kids she wants to invite.  Or as someone else suggested only invite the girls. I once read somewhere that a good rule of thumb is to limit the number of the attendees to the age of the child -- turning 6, invite 6 friends. 

Want to feel better about your 39?  We are thinking about inviting 53 to a play gym type place.  My DS & DD's birthdays are 2 days apart & we've done combined parties so far - which wasn't a problem when they were in a small daycare and a small preschool.  But this year we've moved and their class sizes nearly doubled, plus they have made good friends outside of their school too.   But, now I'm second guessing the idea of inviting everyone from their classes because neither the kids nor my DH & I would be able to really spend time with all of our guests. 

lsufan

I would ask for a list.  Our school's PTA prints an address book with each class having their own page.  Because the book wasn't available yet at the time of my son's party, the teacher was willing to discreetly put the invitations in their folders just before they went home.  We also invited only boys, just to cut down on numbers.  

And 39 kids in one class?  That's huge!  What state are you in? 

jlw2505

I would never do a party with 39 kids - if even half come, that is still a lot of kids.  I would email the teacher and ask for a list.,