Invited the wrong child by mistake

I’d do this. He won’t know anyone from the school

At soft play they all tend to go off in pairs or on their own anyway

oh come on… the cost of a couple of extra kids is “so expensive” ?

I must just be a bitch 🤷

I just saw op originally saying could not possibly afford to add anyone on before and I know I did a party at an indoor ski centre many years ago that ended up with food afterwards etc being about £75/80 a head, and that was a LONG time ago now so with inflation blah blah I dread to think what it would cost these days if it was something similar that op was saying she couldn't afford to add anyone on

What did your message inviting the child say? I'm struggling to imagine how you didn't mention the intended child's name

💯

I cannot fathom all the posts to the contrary, especially the ones suggesting to explain the mix-up but passively suggesting not to attend, ie "whatever works best for him though". 🙄What's wrong with people?

I don't know why some are saying that he'll be the only boy there and to use that as a excuse to uninvite him or tell the mum he might not like to attend for that reason.

There will be another boy there.

As awkward as it makes things for the OP, she can't uninvite this boy, it's so rude and possibly hurtful to the boy.

Agree with this

My daughter once had a party at a bowling alley. She insisted she only wanted to invite girls, so that what we did. Then she went and invited 1 boy (from the year above but still primary school, everyone had a crush on him) and his mum said yes. Then I had to convince DD to invite another boy otherwise it’d be really awkward. Both boys turned up but it was still cringe 😆

As others have said, just be honest with the mum, explain the mix up, he’s more than welcome to come still etc.

The more important thing is finding a way to include your DD’s best friend. If you’re at all able to stretch to include her, you should. If they won’t allow you to add an extra child or you can’t afford it, could you have the best friend over for a birthday sleepover, make a really big deal of it?

This is perfect and I agree 💯

Echoing recent PP’s, I have a DD6 and if she was unexpectedly invited to a party like this, and then the mum explained what had happened, I’d gladly give up her spot, as would she. DD recently went to a birthday party with a similar ratio and I tried to gently get her uninvited for ages beforehand when I realised. It’s not like you’re uninviting one of a close friendship group, or excluding a single child from the entire class party.

Looking at the class list given, it says this number is X’s (girls name) mum, I even put that in my phone, I was so surprised when she replied…X (boys name) would love to come

So you sent her a message inviting Sarah to Emily's party & she replied with "Jack would love to come"?

There’ll be 2 boys there and the boy is someone your DD likes even though not close to.

My DNephew for his recent 8th birthday party it was all boys (he does have girl friends).

This

You can’t uninvite someone that would be beyond rude to both parent and child.

As someone with two boys I really wouldn’t mind and would appreciate a heads up..

Something like..

“Just a quick note. I realised after sending the invites that the class rep had mixed up a couple of numbers on the list she gave me, so your invite went out instead of one of Dd’s usual girl‑group friends. I promise I wasn’t trying to engineer the world’s most awkward gender ratio! It really is only girls apart from him. He’s absolutely welcome and I just didn’t want you turning up and wondering why he’s the lone boy in a sea of birthday chaos. Truly whatever works best for him.”

i havent read all the responses but feel I’ll be going against the grain. I have an 8 year old boy and we would totally understand such a mix up and not be offended at all at being uninvited!!

Then OP could show up to the venue labelled as a CF

If one of the girls can’t make it, invite another boy. But uninviting is awful. Don’t do that.

You absolutely cannot do this imo

Ask the play place if they could include one more child at reduced rate and you will write a really good review for their website.

I’d take a photo of the number list you received with her number next to Chloe’s name and say, so sorry, I thought I was inviting Chloe not Ben. Looks like the teacher has mixed up the numbers? Hopefully the mum will then understand and pull out and somebody else will have the right number so you can invite her friend!

Gosh I would just uninvite, if I was on the receiving end of this I'd totally understand and have a good laugh about it.

The misinvited boy and your childs best friend. Or could there be siblings in the class with the same name as your childs best friend and the rep got names confused.

If I was the mother of the boy, I would appreciate honesty upfront rather than facing the risk of feeling awkward when he was there.
Could you not just message her saying something along the lines of "This is really embarrassing but I was given your phone number in error. Your son is, of course, welcome at X's party but I thought I should let you know he will be the only boy just in case that would make him feel uncomfortable. Please let me know if he would still like to attend"
I agree it would be better to pay for the friend she intended to invite
I sometimes think life was so much easier when we didn't have Whatsapp and had to speak in person