How many birthday parties has your child been to...

[cloudy]

this school year?

[WestCountryLass]

Well my DS is a preschooler but he has been to 2.

[blueteddy]

2 school friends parties.

[MunchedTooManyMarsLady]

about 8 or 10. We've missed a couple because I forgot

[2starbabes]

this is going to become the bane of our existence. The South African school year starts on 17th January - less than a month later we have been invited to 3 parties in the next month and another 3 verbally the following month. It seems that preschoolers invite the whole class to their parties - thats 18 parties this year - I'll be skint by the time the year finishes in December

[Polgara2]

My reception class dd has been to 2 so far and 4 to come in the next few weeks (I'll be broke!). My year 3 dd hasn't been to any though (although they do get less as they get older).

[maisystar]

ds is pre school (he's 4) and has been to about 7 partys since sept, and invited to another 2 we couldn't get to. tis a bloody expensive do

we have another 4 (i think) in the next month or two, including hula's dd's

[coppertop]

None at all. Ds1 started in Reception in September. He only got 2 invitations during pre-school. Both were from the same child.

[nikkim]

she is three and in preschool, since starting in april I thinks she has been to about six.

[Socci]

Message withdrawn

[Bonkerz]

my ds has been to 5 so far (all girls parties and he has been one of only 3 boys at each!!)
He has another one on saturday and today got another invite for saturday as well! Looks like we will be dashing to first party at 11am then off to another one at 12pm!!! Decided to spend just £5 per child on pressies but thats now adding up to so much!!!!BTW ds is 4

[Hulababy]

DD is 3yo in six weeks (the party maisystar has mentioned ) and goes to nursery 2 days a week. Since September she has been to 3 parties and has been invited to a further 3 we couldn't make.

[spagblog]

My DD (3) was never invited to any from her previous nursery.
I am hoping that she will get a few invites from her new pre school.
She has been to two parties in her life (same little lad) She is a lovely friendly girl so I think that it is more likely that I never met any of the parents, rather than no one liked her...I hope!
Oh, btw this is Lowryn trying out a new name!

[miranda2]

ds is 3.5 - this year (since Sept) he has gone to about 5 parties, and missed a couple too. I know there have been more that he hasn't been invited to, thank goodness!

[JulieF]

Two, but neither of them nursery parties. One was a child we know from NCT coffee mornings and the other was her cousin.

[cloudy]

DS (5,reception, teacher says that he "has a nice circle of friends") has only been invited to 2. Upsets me a lot but don't think I can do anything about it.

[woodpops]

This year (since August) 12. OMG 12 flaming kiddies parties. This is costing me a small fortune!!!! That's just ds who's 3. DD who's 2 has been to 4.

[Bozza]

8 including his own last Sunday. But IIRC there will be a run of them in April/May time. He went to two the weekend DD was born - so might be 3 that weekend next year! Not all of them have been nursery kids though.

[knot]

none, but hes only 8 months

[dinosaur]

Two, but that will probably be about it for the rest of the school year - it just so happens that two of the only three children likely to invite him have already had their birthdays.

[pedilia]

ds1 is at pre-school, been to two so far and another two in the next month.

[KristinaM]

About 8 or 9 this school year. My experience is that it depends on age of child . Often reception age kids and pre schoolers invite the whole class to their parties. By 7 or 8 they just invite a few close friends.
Cloudy - are you concerned that your child has not been invited to many? Or concerned about the cost?

[Marina]

Hmm, cloudy, if it helps any, quite a few children in ds' Reception year did not have "all back to mine" type big dos (we didn't). It is noticeable in Year One that everyone is doing the whole class thingy this year. We have been to a wide variety of hideous, migraine-inducing establishments already and three of those children had no party last year.

[Enid]

my god, dd1 has 'only' been invited to 2 (I think there have only been 2 so far in the class) and that's quite enough thank you very much!

Playdates more important IMO, thats where they really make mates.

[Bozza]

DS has only been unable to go to one because he is the only member of the family with a social life.

[cloudy]

I try to organise playdates. About 40% of the time (based on a a small sample of 10-11 invites, admittedly) the child doesn't show at all, or the parent begs off last minute. Sometimes we get playdate invites back... the kids play nicely when they're here, that's not the problem. I try to invite 4 children at a time, now, so that DS doesn't get disappointed if some don't show, but I really can only do that on weekends or holiday times when DH is around to make sure they're all supervised -- if they do all come...

If only it were the cost! I bought some 5yo boy toys in the July sales thinking DS was starting a new school, would go to parties; oops! That was wasted. I'm flogging them on Ebay, now. I know that lots of parties and playdates are happening. The other mums chat about them. Once DH took DS to an indoor play centre where one of DS's classmates was having a birthday party... we didn't know about it. DH did know many of the other mums there, though.

There is a child (M.) who is in DS's colour group in class, they often eat lunch together & play together. Last week M. came to play (with 2 other boys, plus his big brother, later). They all seemed to have a good time; no fuss or bother at all. M.'s mum sat on the settee chatting to us for a while before he went home.

Today (yesterday now) I found out M. is having a birthday party this weekend. DS, of course, not invited...My neighbour's boy is, though.

I'll try to hope things change like you said, Marina. DS loves other children, party atmospheres. He is missing out so much.