Birthday party questions

ras26

I'm planning a very small 1st birthday party for DD at our house; just my parents and a few of our friends (maybe 12 people total) and only 1 other kid (1.5 yrs old).  To accommodate the kids' naps, I was planning to start at 3pm and have cake and finger foods.  All the invitees are our close friends, so I don't really care how long they stay, but do I put an end time of like 6pm if I'm not intending to serve a full dinner? 

When do I send out the invites?  It's not like we're planning a wedding here, but I do want to give people adequate notice. 

Last, is this like a baby/wedding shower where you send out courtesy invites to people you know can't come (like my siblings who live across the country)?  I don't want anyone to have their feelings hurt, but I've also never received an invite for my nephews, so it doesn't seem necessary. 

TIA!

Megcheer2

I think if you're doing something small, you don't even have to send out invites, maybe just an evite or emails. Or even phone calls. We had 20-25 people for DD's 2nd birthday party and I sent an evite.

I don't think its necessary to put an end time. If I were invited to a kids birthday party that started at 3pm, I would not expect a full meal. Since you said you don't care how long people stay, I wouldn't bother putting an end time.

Regarding when to send the invites, I would do it now since you're under a month til her birthday. And no, I don't think you need to send courtesy invites unless you have uptight people who live across the country that would be offended. I have never invited my sister to DD's birthdays because I know she wouldn't be able to take time off work to drive up from NC and so I let her know that she's always welcome but I get that she can't come and I'm ok with it.

SarahKate31

For a party like that with just family and close friends, I don't think you need to specify an end time, nor do you need to send invites to out-of-towners that you're sure won't come (unless you think they might be offended, which they really shouldn't be). I'd send invites about a month ahead. I like paper invites, but I'm old school like that.

mars37810

I just sent out our invites today and the party is Oct 21st but we are also having a much larger party due to the size of our families, my immediate family = 8 people alone.  DH did make an event post for it on facebook a few weeks ago because some friends and family members were asking us about it.  I didn't set an end time and we figured we would just get some hamburgers and hot dogs in case people stayed later since they are things that we can just throw in the freezer if they don't get used.

We didn't send out any courtesy invites to those we knew wouldn't attend. 

madladybride

We had 15-20 people (mostly friends of our and only one other child) for DD's 1st birthday. We sent invites via facebook and called those who weren't on FB. If you aren't serving dinner, you should specify it in the invite, i.e. we're having cake and appetizers. I don't think you need to courtesy invites - we didn't.

ras26

Thanks, everyone. I was actually making the invitations and I just sent them to print today, so I missed the 1-month prior window, but I think we'll be ok. I know paper invites aren't necessary, but I kind of wanted to for her first.  I had fun designing them.  I'm still debating on whether to make the cake or not.  The prices at Cake Korner look pretty tempting, but how hard could it be to make and place some little fondant pumpkins on a simple cake??  Right?  :-)