If you invited the whole class...(birthday Q)

Amymichelle925 · February 2013

If you invited the whole class to your DC's birthday party....how many went?

DS is turning 4 and just moved up to a new classroom at daycare so he's not close to any of the kids yet. I do not know any of the parents either. We are going to invite the whole class (12 kids) for bowling. (After reading the other post today I'm a little nervous about this....but already paid my deposit).

Court0026 · February 2013

11 out of 20 came. Only 12 people RSVPed (yes or no)

Littlejen22 · February 2013

We have not invited the whole class but from my experience tops of 5 of 18 to 23 kids. I think people actually feel less inclined to come if the whole class is invited. Or maybe that is just our school. Good luck.

bchippie · February 2013

Invited about 22, all but 8 RSVP'd and none of those showed up. I usually try to give a RSVP date a few days earlier than needed, and then put a reminder in their cubby. In retrospect this year, I think when I did the reminder I should have like put a box for yes and one for no, so they could have just checked it off and put it back in my daughter's cubby. Oh, and we had 9 kids come. If he has friends from his old room or playmates out of school, don't hesitate to invite them either if you think many from school won't come.

WestCoastMommy · February 2013

Would you take your kid to a party on a weekend for someone he barely knew and spend time with parents your don't know? I know I wouldn't. That's the last thing I would want to do on my weekend lol Not to be mean but just being honest. I would keep your DCs party to family and friends with kids or his close friends. That way you don't over plan or over spend and your child doesn't get let down if no one shows.

shopgirl78 · February 2013

We have had 0 to about 4 show up. The four where actually when all girls were invited (it was a diva party). I have invited the whole class several times and never really have a great show up.

DD's birthday is generally before school starts (but her birthday was the first day of school once and we had the party the next weekend, she invited all the girls 4 came out of 10). Usually, she doesn't have a school party tho b/c of her bday.

DS1 invited everyone to his 4th birthday and none came. Glad he wasn't too upset about it. His birthday is in Sept, beginning of the school year plus its when lots of activities start (soccer, flag football). Its hard for people to come. We have had several from his daycare come to a party once tho (3rd).

DS2 hasn't had a school friend party yet. His birthday is during winter break.

We were invited to FOUR parties next weekend. 3 are school friends; 2 from DD's class and one from DS1's and 1 is my friend's kid. I do like at DDs age, I can drop her off. The place is a block away and they have my telephone #. Its harder for me to take DS1 because usually I have to watch younger siblings plus we have a cheerleading/basketball game that day. Its gonna be crazy. At most, we will make it to 3/4. I have RSVPed to my friends earlier this year and just got the invites for the other.

Amymichelle925 · February 2013

WestCoastMommy:
Would you take your kid to a party on a weekend for someone he barely knew and spend time with parents your don't know? I know I wouldn't. That's the last thing I would want to do on my weekend lol Not to be mean but just being honest. I would keep your DCs party to family and friends with kids or his close friends. That way you don't over plan or over spend and your child doesn't get let down if no one shows.

Yes, I would. These will become DS's friends as this will be his class for the next year, possibly 2.

We are not from the area, other wise I would totally just do a family party thing. (And it's also the reason we don't know anyone....I'm actually hopeful that we might get to meet some parents so that we can do playdates and stuff with DS's daycare friends). This is my fear though that noone will show up. I have a handful of co-workers with children his age and I know if I invite them they will show, my only hesitation was that 1) they are not his friends, they are strangers to him and 2) I don't want 25 kids at the party (hoping for 8 or so total). So based on the feedback I think I will go ahead and invite some of my coworkers kids to the party and will invite the class knowing that the majority are likely not to show.

I did talk to DS's daycare director and she said it's common in his new classroom (and the next classroom up) to invite the whole class to parties.

Thank you all for the feedback.

bethelon · February 2013

Ours was different. We invited friends from her school/class from last year and her class at her new school this year. Had 25 school friends show up. Thankfully it was in our back yard with a bounce house and playset, so we didn't have to pay per kid

There was only 1 that couldn't make it.

roxy_jj · February 2013

For DD's 4th birthday party, about half of the class came to her party. At that time, we didn't know too many kids in her class. For her 5th birthday party, we knew most of the kids and parents in her class and about 85% of the kids were at her party.

roxy_jj · February 2013

WestCoastMommy:
Would you take your kid to a party on a weekend for someone he barely knew and spend time with parents your don't know? I know I wouldn't. That's the last thing I would want to do on my weekend lol Not to be mean but just being honest. I would keep your DCs party to family and friends with kids or his close friends. That way you don't over plan or over spend and your child doesn't get let down if no one shows.

I would go too. I know DD would love to go to a party even if I didn't know the parents well. I also think its a great way to meet the parents. In fact, going to birthday parties when I didn't know the parents was how I became good friends with some of the other parents.

DD was invited to a party at the beginning of this school year where all the girls were invited and nobody really knew anyone else. Well, every single girl invited attended the party.

funchicken · February 2013

My DD is in half-day preschool, not DC, so it might be a little different. Since the parents always pick up and drop off at the same time we all say hi and chat. The last two birthday parties that we went to have had about 15 out of 18 kids from DD's class show up.

We go as long as we don't have other plans, and I always RSVP.

shannm · February 2013

Hard to remember exact numbers but I think there were about 15 class invites and about half came. With siblings and parents and a few other nonschool friends and family, it felt like a lot of people.

and I also go to as many of the birthday parties that I can whether I know parents or not. DS loves them.

I will add that we went to a bowling party last year and it had a great turn out and was a lot of fun!

lite-bright · February 2013

Last year: 18 invited (16 from school): 7 came.

This year: 19 invited (16 from school): 10 came.

RSVPs are the suck. Most people only RSVP if they're coming, not if they aren't, and I got a couple of late RSVPs that luckily did not affect the overall party package.

It ended up working out fine both years, but it's kind of stressful.

LoCarb · February 2013

roxy_jj:
WestCoastMommy:
Would you take your kid to a party on a weekend for someone he barely knew and spend time with parents your don't know? I know I wouldn't. That's the last thing I would want to do on my weekend lol Not to be mean but just being honest. I would keep your DCs party to family and friends with kids or his close friends. That way you don't over plan or over spend and your child doesn't get let down if no one shows.
I would go too. I know DD would love to go to a party even if I didn't know the parents well. I also think its a great way to meet the parents. In fact, going to birthday parties when I didn't know the parents was how I became good friends with some of the other parents.

This!!!!

@OP, I didn't invite the class, however, we invited 8 girls and 1 RSVP'd yes. I like the idea of using a ck box on the RSVP and allowing parents to return it to the cubby.

jlw2505 · February 2013

I only invited the whole class (20 kids) once and will never do it again. It was my older DD's 5th birthday and it was a bounce house place so no work for me but way to overwhelming for the kids with so many kids. I think we had around 15 kids show up. I love parties at this age group (PreK - Kindergarten) to be around 10 kids total counting my own. I let my kids invite 13 kids (I have 2 kids so its 15 kids total) and typically end up at 10 give or take. With 12 kids in the class, I don't think inviting the whole class is an issue. It has been mixed with my kids and varied from class to class in regard to how many kids get invited but I would say about 75% typically show up regardless of how many kids are invited. The only time I have seen/heard about less is when the parties are on holiday weekends (and that includes weekends like MLK when my kids are off of school on Friday and Monday. Memorial Day or other bigger holidays will have even more kids not come).

AgrippaRidesAgain · February 2013

We only go to the parties of kids that DS actually talks about/plays with, but he gets easily overwhelmed when surrounded by people he doesn't know well.

The last party we went to, the kid invited everyone in the class of 16 and including DS, there were 4 classmates.

jlw2505 · February 2013

WestCoastMommy:
Would you take your kid to a party on a weekend for someone he barely knew and spend time with parents your don't know? I know I wouldn't. That's the last thing I would want to do on my weekend lol Not to be mean but just being honest. I would keep your DCs party to family and friends with kids or his close friends. That way you don't over plan or over spend and your child doesn't get let down if no one shows.

I look at this totally differently than this. I always loved going to the parties as that is how I got to know the parents and the kids that my child was spending all day every week day with. I loved having that 1-2 hours to chat and meet people. I am still friendly with some of the parents that I met way back when my kids were young and in daycare. I do the same now with the birthday parties - I look at them as a way to build community and get to know the kids that my kids are friends with or just getting to know. If you don't go and get involved, you will never get to know the families.

ncsumommy · February 2013

I always make a great effort to go to parties. We just got an invite today, the whole class was invited. I plan to go. It's a good way to meet the other parents...which helps for activties/playdates, etc. Also, DS is moving up to PreK soon and as Elem gets closer, I'm interested in knowing which kids are going to his Elem school. Parties are a good way to have that conversation - then I'll know who will be with him longer so playdates,etc become a priority there.

We're having DS's bday and inviting the whole class. Granted, it's a large place that doesn't charge extra for additional kids so it's not a big deal. I really have no idea how many will come - I'm hoping for half.

SeasideBride06 · February 2013

We only invited the girls since DD had a princess dress up party. We invited 3 girls and 1 came. The other 2 did not RSVP yes or no. However, one of those two did send a gift for her to school the following week.

harlosc · February 2013

I was wondering the same thing and was glad to see a post on this. We have been invited to about four parties for DD's class just this school year. DD went to two of them and it seemed like all of the kids showed up give or take a few. Her class is about 18 with a few of her friends having transitioned to the older preschool room. I am really hoping that we don't have more than 20 kids but will be prepared for them all to come.

I have found it interesting how many parents have asked to bring siblings to participate in the party. I truly don't mind more kiddos but it seems some of the siblings are quite a few years older and the party location is really geared at children ages 2-4. We will see how that goes! I have had to make extra party favors, etc to accommodate.

hmp1 · February 2013

For his second birthday, we invited his class of 6 and 3 came. We invited 3 of his gymnastics friends and 2 came. We invited 4 of his neighborhood friends and they all came.

TMWarren85 · February 2013

We invited 17, 4 RSVP'd and 6 showed. Her birthday was also in June so I sent invitations before Memorial Day which is when the summer session officially starts and some kids stop coming for summer.

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