What am I doing wrong here? Reception party

[ReceptionParty]

DS started in Reception in September, and really wanted a party this year - we haven’t been able to have one for the past two years as his birthday has fallen during lockdown. So, we hired a party room at the leisure centre, and invited his nursery friends and about half of his class about a week ago.

All of the nursery friends have accepted. Literally not a single response from the school friends. No refusals, no acceptances, literally not a word. Yes my contact details were on the invitations, and they were definitely handed out. Party is on 20th.

What the fuck is up with that? It is going to be so upsetting for DS if nobody from school comes. I don’t know many of the parents and haven’t really organised any play dates due to covid, which I assume is the problem. There’s a class Whatsapp but not many people on it - the whole school seems much more standoffish than nursery was. Is this normal for school parties?

We didn't any school replies for my sons either. If you have a watsapp or school group message on there. I did and they messaged back.

@Rizzoli123

We didn't any school replies for my sons either. If you have a watsapp or school group message on there. I did and they messaged back.

RTFT.

Besides - even if there was a group WhatsApp, it’s really bad form to message on that if only some of the kids are invited.

You will get people turning up without replying plus siblings.

@toomuchlaundry

It’s probably still early for parents to respond

I would respond on the day i get the invite - you know whether you're free or not so why would it take a week to respond?

My son is in private school. He only has 14 in his class so they were all invited. Besides it has a name next to a message to you could private message also

@HoneyItIsntGoodLuck

@Rizzoli123

My son is in private school. He only has 14 in his class so they were all invited. Besides it has a name next to a message to you could private message also

Relevance to the OP?

My dc left primary school nearly a decade ago before WhatsApp and I remember it being a nightmare. Also remember being collared by a furious mother about whether my child was coming to her dc's party - I'd never seen an invite and had no idea it was happening. On the day of my dcs' parties people would always show, they're just rude. Try to start an individual WhatsApp group for the party and list names you don't have numbers for on that.

My youngest is in reception and all class parties aren't a thing here at all.

I'd try to message a few of your sons closest friends parents if you can and see if they are planning to come - try to pin down a couple. People are fickle with rsvp'ing. I tend to go for the more personal approach to make sure my kids have a few close friends their