to tell my friend my DD has been invited to the party or will I look like im rubbing her face in it...

[cubedmelon]

My DD (4yo) goes to infant school with a close friends DD. I had to collect DD early from school on Friday but received a text from my friend later that day saying that one of the boys in their class was handing out party invitations but only to the other boys and her DD couldnt understand why it was just boys invited and become a bit upset but my friend had reassured her it was only the boys.

Took DD into school this morning and the teacher had an invitation from the birthday boy for my DD, as she wasn't there on Friday afternoon the class teacher had kept it for her.

DD wants to go and id like her to attend but am concerned about my friends reaction. Am I being unreasonable to just be upfront and say DD has an invite, it will come out anyway im sure or does that look like im rubbing it in? How would you handle it?

My friend is lovely and id hate to upset her but her DD struggles to make friends and shes quite sensitive about DD being invited to things.

You need to tell her, but tell her when your DD isn't there. Whatever you do, DON'T lie to her about it. I had a 'friend' do that - she didn't want to 'hurt' me. Then she looked like a complete and utter numpty when we went to the place on that day ourselves and saw them all there and I felt really hurt that she outright lied to me about going to this party (I need to say that I didn't actually know where or when the party was, or who was invited until I saw them all there - it was pure chance that we ended up going there).

Over the years there will be many parties that your daughter or her daughter are or are not invited to. It really is not worth getting upset about. I really would not bother to bring it up unless your friend mentions it first.

I don't think your friend handled it that well by telling her dd that the party was just for boys, when she didn't know for certain that was true.

If it comes up easily in conversation, I would say that your dd got an invite, but I wouldn't go out of the way to make sure she knows. When you tell her, I'd make a point of saying that your dd does play with this boy quite a lot at school, and that's probably why she got invited. Even if its not true, it might help her understand that people aren't obliged to invite people they aren't particularly friendly with to their parties.

clouds it is true, youre right. My DD is a bit of a tomboy and plays more with the boys and friends DD is quite girly. Chances are if one of the girls at school was having a party my DD wouldnt be invited. I dont tend to get bothered by those sort of things though whereas my friend would.

I would never lie to her, never.

Thank you for the advice, I will be straight and honest if it pops up.

I would never ever lie

So was her daughter the only one in the class not invited? Because if so I would feel the need to mention the unfairness to the party organiser.

If the birthday boy has just invited a few friends including your daughter, def mention it casually to your friend, don't hide it.

I wouldn't bring it up unless she directly asks. But don't lie about it either. If she asks, you didn't have the invite when she first mentioned, so unless it's brought up again then I doubt they'll be any need to explain.

You would be unreasonable to stop your dd from going for that reason.

Her daughter (and her) will need to get used to not going to every party. Even if she goes to half the parties, then there will be several she won't be invited to.
What I got dd1 did was in her head put parties into "Would expect to be invited" (only 1-2 people in this category) "Might be invited" and "Won't expect to be invited". If she got an invite from the second two, she thought of it as a bonus, and if she didn't get an invite then she didn't worry.

Only thing would be if your friend decides to make a little outing for her dd at the time of the party so she doesn't feel left out (I've seen that suggested on here before) and asks your dd, in which case you will have to tell her.

Yes...she'll have to get used to it. Soften the blow a bit by saying something like "But of course, X will get loads of invitations from girls when they have their girls only do's.."

I wouldn't mention it but of course if she asks i would tell the truth. I do think people are very unreasonable to hand out invitations in front of uninvited children. I always give them to the teacher to put in book bags.

No croco I think it's all of the boys and only a couple of the girls, although I haven't really done much digging yet. I wouldnt be comfortable if it was everyone bar 1 or 2. That's a bit mean.

My friend was under the impression it was just the boys as when she was at school on Friday afternoon it was the boys with the invitations. My DD wasn't at school on Friday afternoon so my friend wasn't aware that my DD had, had an invitation.

Puts you in an awkward position and your DD will possibly be classmates for years to come with both children. Had your friend not raised the issue with you, I wouldn't bother mentioning it, but she has. If DD fancies going, she is bound to mention it to her friend so perhaps safest to say to friend's mother, "After what we said the other day can you believe it, DD has been invited, she's such a tomboy," rather than wait for them to find out shortly before or after the event.

Donkeys yes, I think thats a really nice, casual way of mentioning it actually. Almost joking really about DD being a tomboy. My biggest concern with not bringing it up would be if another mum mentioned it to me, when my friend was there, on Monday morning. I'd feel like I had deceived her (over something as daft as a 4yo party) but I know my friend is so sensitive to her DD fitting in.

I have to mention it really, the last thing I want is a wedge between us.

Think I will do it exactly as donkeys suggests. Thank you

I don't see why you have to say anything to the other mother

I like Donkeys idea too. Don't make more out of this than it is.

I do agree with pp's though - there will be occasions when your child will be invited and others not - and vice versa. It's just not feasible for everyone to invite everyone to their parties. I think as long as they are invited to close friends' parties then I try not to worry about the rest (with 3 at primary school my weekends/finances would be a total nightmare if they all got invited to 25+ parties a year for a start!)

I think I'd also mention it.

Imagine how she'd react if she finds out afterwards that your daughter went to the party!

She does seem to be a drama llama, though-why on earth would she be texting you about a party that her daughter wasn't invited to, which she thought was boys only& was therefore likely to be of no interest to you either

If your children are only at nursery school, your friend needs to grow a thicker skin; she'll have years of needless angst ahead if she doesn't.
I doubt her daughters lack of invitation was a calculated insult, and she needs to teach her dd that it doesn't matter rather get them both in a tizz about a party for a child she doesn't even play with (why does she think she should have been invited?)
Your dd's invitation is no reflection on her dd.

I wouldn't see any need to play it down, either, as per Donkeys tomboy suggestion? Your dd was invited because the birthday child wants her there, end of. Your friend will have to suck it up.

I am very sensitive to party invites (DS has SN and is often excluded). I think something like Donkey's suggestion would work well. Not telling her would be very hurtful. And explaining too much (as another DF did to me) would make me even more aware that I am over-sensitive. (I know I am!) Just be bright and breezy and then move on.

However, if her DD is the only one not invited then that is really, really off.

Well, it hasn't gone very well. Saw my friend very briefly this morning (quite by chance at the shops), she bought up the party as she was complaining that it was unfair that just the boys had been invited; what message does that give children etc... I was really breezy and said "you won't believe it but DD has been invited! Proves she's a tomboy at school as well as at home!!" Tried to laugh it off. My friend looked quite angry about it and said "its a joke!" then made her excuses and went off to her car.

I feel bad, I think I had anticipated that this would be her reaction.

We had pre-arranged to meet at another friends at 11 for coffee and a chat and she arrived. She is usually very bubbly and friendly but seemed really flat (she has been arguing with her DH though of late).

She did make a couple of comments which I felt were negative towards me/DD/the situation....

She said maybe DD had been invited in error, DD's name can be shortened to a boys name and there is a boy with that name at school (It would be
like DD being called Danielle, everyone calling her Danny and there being a boy in the other reception group called Danny, ) my friend said maybe birthday boy had meant to invite male Danny rather than DD.

DD get naughty when she is tired and my friend also said "Imagine if your DD gets tired at the party and misbehaves." I said I was sure that even sons got tired and misbehaved but I would deal with it if it happened.

She also said she was pleased her DD wasn't going because she knew the boys mum and she would criticise the presents the other children took.

Im not daft enough to take too Mich notice of any of the above, it smacks of sour grapes but im starting to wonder if I should have just kept quiet and suffered the consequences. Im a bit disappointed by my friends reaction, I've tried hard to be fair and consider her feelings and she's trying to score points now. She is very sensitive over these things though, so I shall make allowances FOR THE TIME BEING!

Just wanted to update you all as you were so kind to offer your advice

Your friend sounds like a PITA quite frankly and is sending her own daughter terrible messages. Is she going to behave like this everytime a child in the class has a party and doesn't invite the entire class? She really needs to grow up and stop acting like a four year old.

If this is her reaction when you are open with her imagine how she would have behaved if she had found out by accident that your DD had gone! I think you are right to ignore. If she takes every perceived slight to her child to heart she is going to have a miserable time during the school years.

I remember being quite hurt the first time my son was excluded from a party as he was a boy and all the other babies in my NCT were girls. It can be painful the first time it happens, I think. But I certainly didn't say anything to anyone! And I learnt quickly!!

Gosh your friend sounds like hard work!
You did the right thing by telling her in a light hearted way. She is now being very childish.
Step back from topic. Nothing more you can do. She will have to have it out with poor Mum of party boy if she has a problem...

Your friend is out of order. She's upset and looking for someone to lash out at, but that's no excuse for trying to say she wasn't invited.
All children misbehave when tired-some more noticably than others.

It may be that she feels that your dd is always invited, and hers never. My observation is some children seem to get on every list-even those they're not friendly with. My dd1 was one of those. It got embarrassing occasionally.

Dd2 was the opposite-she seemed much more sociable than dd1, and didn't get invited from some she'd have considered close friends. That was upsetting for her, but very much treated it as "one of those things" and would never have blamed others for going-even though there was a stage where some of her invites did go to someone of a similar name-I know people I got a few apologies afterwards after the "wrong" child turned up. The "wrong" child's parents never knew, I'm very friendly with them and I'd never tell them.

If she says anything then sympathise that she feels she's being missed out, but don't feel guilty for your dd being invited. That's two separate issues.

Ouch well you tried to avoid hurting anyone's feelings. Perhaps you could have retorted "Imagine if your DD grows up to sulk and whine like her mum every time she doesn't get what she wants."

Hope DD has fun at the party.

yes, your friend sounds like hard work, but i actually think that you handled it badly.
your friend was quite obviously upset that her dd hadn't been invited and you threw it breezily in, oh, look, my dd's so popular with the boys!
i think you should have been nicer about it - maybe even apologised (in a british way, of course)
calmly gone "i'm sorry i don't want you to take this badly, but DD got invited. I didn't know that would happen and assumed it would be boys only, too"