to expect people to reply when invited to a birthday party?

[thecaptaincrocfamily]

My dds 5th birthday is this saturday and the invites were sent out before the school closed in the last week of term. I have had less than half the parents respond .
I know it is a busy time but surely a phone call?

It's a right pain inviting people who you can't chase directly as the nursery can't give you contact details.

YANBU but so many people don't reply - I am always amazed at the lack of manners

YANBU
This is why I always do joint bday parties - I can't cope with the stress on my own!

YANBU it doesnt take 2 minutes to text someone say yes/no so and so will/will not be able to attend.

Thanks all for your tea and sympathy
The problem I have is that I rarely see people in the playground as I work full time so my nanny drops off and collects dd. I haven't got any email addresses or phone numbers because dd has only been at school since September.
I have managed to phone one mum because my friends daughter went to pre-school with her daughter so my friend had her number. She said 'Oh sorry I was going to tell you on Weds that we can't come because there is another party on Saturday that she has been invited to, 2 days before you gave your invite.' 'Didn't you know?' obviously I didn't or I would have made the party for next week not this week as dds birthday is mid week . I'm now just feeling really sad because I know dd will be really upset if hardly anyone comes.

PinkElephants I posted RSVP into the pre-school postbox along with Christmas cards - didn't give it to DD to deliver, she's only two so would never work

YANBU don't know why people do this.

Does your DD have any friends from outside school you could invite? We had an invite just before Xmas saying sorry for short notice etc. Fairly obvious my DD was making up numbers, but we didn't mind at all and she loved the party.

At my DD's recent party, a couple of her better friends were away for the weekend so couldn't come. So I invited a little crowd from her pre-school at shorter notice and she was delighted to catch up with them.

Good luck for Saturday. Think sometimes people have it in their mind to reply but don't do so until it's a bit more imminent.

YANBU - I think its very rude for people not to respond.

I got a response the day before my DD's party. I assumed the child wasn't going to attend.

My son was invited to 3 parties once and left them all in his draw at school, by the time I got them the parties had been and gone! I felt so bad but not one of the parents came up to me about it lol

I do think it's rude not to let you know:)

I have redone the invites and will ask my nanny to resend on weds when they go back as a reminder. I have been trying to boost numbers but unfortunately the club policy for parties is no under 5's if not supervised. Think I will invite a few though and just ask mums to stay.

Captain, round us most parents would stay with an under 5 - hope it all goes well. xx

I think it is rude not to RSVP promptly.

Parties at these softplay centres can be £15-20 per head, which is normally not refundable. I got lucky and most people did respond, but it snowed heavily on the day of the party and I thought she'd be on her own. Most people did show up and I filled the missing places with the siblings of some of my DD's friends, it worked out ok in the end.

Well, that was interesting. At the party today some turned up who hadn't replied but the numbers were ok. The main problem was that we were double booked and had to wait 1 hr to get in! I had to ask parents to come back which fortunately they did. She had a lovely time though