To over invite guests to DD's party?

How did it go in the end?

Such a shame when parties clash. It's my worst nightmare. I've got the date booked for DS' in July and I'm just twitching to get the date into people's diaries.

First q, are you 100% sure the 60 doesn't include all of the adults? That's an awful lot of children!

Given where you stand, doing the paper reminder in the right thing to do, and once the date has passed, yes, go ahead and invite the dance class.

I hope it works out!

I would just do party booking for DS and arrange something different for DD. It sounds like the class are going to other party already? I think 30 would be plenty. £300 sounds like a lot for a room hire.

That's so disappointing. I would go ahead with inviting other children she knows xx

They will probably turn up even though they haven't rsvp'd. Not all but some or even most. This is the annoying thing about kids parties. As pp said I always make sure the key friends are free before setting the date so you at least get some but it's annoying trying to plan, decide who to invite etc!

OP - for future reference 60 is an insane number of children to have running around. Have you got an entertainer coming for the £300 or is that just a hall hire ? I would probably have paid £50- £60 for a church type hall then an entertainer on top. Where I am a lot of parents stay in reception year and then will leave from year one onwards. I’m not sure if you’re anticipating having the parents hanging around or not ? I would probably have invited 30 kids and expect 20 - 22 on a normal weekend. (Of those one will be crying under a table and one will be making a break for the borders). A lot of parents will need chasing for the RSVP so don’t assume that hearing nothing is a no.

Have you been to a lot of other parties? I had for my child and knew for a fact that inviting the whole class (30) I would be lucky if 50% showed up. So I invited the whole class ( didnt want anyone not to have an invitation given to them) plus other children. My venue was capped at 25. I had 20 say they was coming. Two family members and two sliblings invited along. Out of the 37 invited 18 turned up. Some who said they was coming didn't and some who never said they was coming turned up. It was stressful for the first 30 minutes when I had no idea how many would actually turn up.

I certainly will not be booking somewhere again. I knew the whole class wouldn't appear but I was nievely thought if someone hadn't rsvp then that meant they wasn't coming.

Create a WhatsApp group with the parents numbers you have, ask them to add the parents of the other children invited, then send a reminder asking for an RSVP by the end of the week saying you have to confirm numbers by Friday. Send another message on Thursday thanking those who've already responded, which should act as a prompt to those who haven't. Then invite people from the dance class if the numbers are still low.

Although changing the date doesn't work for you, would a time change, which may allow those going to the other party to come to yours too, be a consideration?

For other posters, I assume OP means the bank holiday at the start of May as she's in Scotland, so there's only 3 weeks to get this sorted.

I had this (another party clashing with mine) and managed to shuffle the timing of ours slightly so kids could go to both. Is this an option? Eg 12-2 child A party and 4-6 your party? Or similar - just leave at least 2hrs between.

a reminder is a good idea, im still waiting on rsvps for a party this weekend ! Yes I put an rsvp date on the invite and yes I’ve chased in WhatsApp group and class Facebook group. Some people just don’t bother confirming either way and it’s so annoying!

Does the max60 include you and family op?

I feel for you OP as my daughter's birthday is also during the May Bank holiday/half term and I was worried that no one would be able to come to her party. I got invites out early and picked something not expensive and that could be cancelled/rearranged if needs be for that reason as didnt want her to be heartbroken if her friends couldn't come. She's in the nursery of a private school so small class sizes but I've invited friends from her previous nursery/family friends so she'll have people there even if her schoolfriends were busy which about half are. You absolutely can't univite people should numbers run over but I'd defo invite dance class given your capacity is 60 and there's another party the same day. Bank holiday/half term birthdays are hard!

Even with your reminders and RSVP deadline, people won't RSVP and will rock up on the day. I spent years panicking about attendance rates and everyone turned up each time. rSVPs just don't seem to be done anymore.

Break a leg!!!

If you don’t try and change the date I’d just invite them all now on the basis that you’ve had so few RSVPs so far it’s really unlikely you’re going to get anywhere near 60 accepts.

Agreed, ask about moving the date not cancelling - they can only say no.

@NerrSnerr I always did the same. Where possible I did joint parties with another kid in class and that was even easier. Everybody just came to those and the other mother was at school gates every day so sorted it all.

That's a huge party. It's going to be mayhem.

When booking my children's parties I always contact the parents of their 2-3 best friends to get a date they can go there are always good friends there.

Invite the dance class - dance friends are the best ones in my experience. If any non rsvp kids show up tell them they may not be allowed in - tough luck

Max 60?

Are you including yourselves, your family and parents who 'stay' at the party and potential siblings in that number?

Are you sure non-refundable excludes date changes and not just cancellations? It's worth asking surely?

yes, once rsvp date is passed, invite dance class

I'd go to the school run on Friday and ask as many parents as possible face to face. Let them know you have the dance class friends who might want to come instead so they don't feel bad saying they can't come.

Do you have phone numbers? If you are in contact with a few maybe they can give contact info to others. If you assume the non RSVP people are not coming you could invite that number extra and if they come back later say you assumed they weren't coming (no RSVP), if you then have too many people.