Party invites few replies

[kittysaysmeow]

Invited whole class for the first time - Year 1 soft play party.

Sent paper invites out last Monday. Party is Feb 3rd. Teacher gave them out at the door after class.

Out of 28 kids only 5 have confirmed attendance.

Do I assume the rest aren't coming?. I did put RSVP on the invites.

I have other groups of kids I could invite from clubs as I'm worried about the numbers as I've booked the soft play for 30 kids.

But equally I'm worried I'll invite more kids and then get RSVPs in.

When I get invites I reply that day or the day after. But is it common for people to take a while to reply?

I'm just not sure what to do. There's no class WhatsApp so I can't message and I don't know the parents.

Should I just wait or invite others? What is the best thing to do here?

Very common not to receive RSVPs quickly - though it's not something I did. I imagine you'll get a good turn for soft play in February

I had exactly the same for my child's birthday party. Invited 22 and got a tiny number of RSVPs in the first few days. I got more within the week of the party and 2 the day before! We got 14 in total and never heard from the others. 12 came and 2 declined.
One thing a friend said to me after was I should have written RSVP by X date (which I didn't do).
I'd wait another week to hear from people and then invite some extras (maybe saving a couple of spots for late replies).

Wait for your RSVP date to pass.

Totally normal for parents to RSVP in dribs and dabs. Some don't even bother responding at all, which is rude of course.

Once the RSVP date has passed, send in another note and chase (this is why whatsapp groups are useful!) or talk to the parents in the playground and ask them.

We had a party recently and I was so shocked at how rude people are about party invites. I had a few replied straight away but most were a good couple of weeks later. Some never replied at all which I thought was the rudest. And there was one who didn't reply or engage at all about it even though there's a group chat, and she just rocked up on the day without saying a word.

I've vowed to never do a class party again

Do you have a class what's app group? Maybe ask if people have received the invite in there?

I always reply as soon as we get an invite. We've always sent invites via phone message as some parents don't check bags or invites tend to just disappear!

Class parties are like this. Busy parents read the invite, plan to go and forget to tell you. It’s rude but in my experience it’s what happens. This is the main benefit of having a class whatsapp.

If I were you, I’d grab people in the playground and ask.

Wait until after RSVP date until you invite others

We had to chase up a few people in the past. My DH messaged one parent to ask if her child was coming and she replied yes, of course!

She had thrown the invite away and added the party to her calendar but didn't think to let us know she was coming! 😳

Yep, this is what happens. DD1 has a summer birthday and that's worse because people wait to see what the weather is like on the day to see if they want to make other plans. Someone told me to always leave a critical piece of info off the invite so that people need to text you to find it out- then you know if they're coming or not. DD2 is very timid so hoping we can avoid whole class parties 😬

Did you put an rsvp date.

I usually left it until then before I replied as never sure what else we had on. It’s still a few weeks off

Do you have a class what's app group?

Read the OP!

Thanks everyone for your advice. I do have an RSVP date so I'll just wait for that and then invite more widely. I was worried that they might not RSVP and then turn up when I've invited others!

It's such a logistical nightmare. It's put me off doing another.

I've asked a few mums in the playground and they say they'll be coming but haven't had time to RSVP so ... maybe more will reply over the next few days. I really hope I don't invite others after the RSVP date and people turn up who didn't respond and don't have a place!

Did you say when you needed the rsvp by? This is my top tip!

Do you have a class WhatsApp? As you've kindly sent invites to the whole class I would message whole class saying

'Hi all, everyone in the class was invited to Billy's party at soft play (please get in touch if your invite was lost!) thanks to those who have RSVPed, please let me know if you're coming by x date as I need to confirm numbers with the venue'
And after x date, invite the other friends. 5 in a soft play is still a great party!

No we don't have a class WhatsApp! None of us actually communicate with each other. There's no preschool or nursery attached and so none of us know each other. It would be helpful to set one up. At the moment we are all pretending we are on our phones and looking at our feet at drop off and collection!