To have the rage with parents blatantly not rsvping to dds party

[Cluesue]

Dd who will be 4 next week is having a whole class party,party is for 30 children,any extra children who attend have to be paid for above the set price,baring this in mind(there are 30 in class and 6 friends children coming) I put an rsvp date (yesterday)and asked politely if they could let me know by then as I need exact numbers.

4 !! Replies the day the invites went out and none at all til yesterday evening,where I got 3 more,physically went to speak to 3 and outright asked if they'd got the invites,yes they had them,but no bloody mention of if they are coming so I'm just assuming they are.

Well I was so peed off that I got in touch with all the people who had bothered to reply to say they could bring siblings.

As it stands there are 27 children coming,but what the fffing he'll do I do about the other 20 who haven't bothered to reply,if they turn up I'm looking at forking out another £50 plus there won't be enough room or party bags,I'm tempted to tell the staff at the venue that if they show up they either pay themselves or go home again.

First big party I've done and it will certainly be the last

Won't take too long?! One and a half episodes of Thomas The Tank Engine. And the questions are fairly poorly drafted.

I have come to the conclusion that I only have my self to blame for having a whole class party,to be fair my Dd would have been happy with a handful of children she's friends with being at her party.

In my defence,I wanted to invite the children who's parties she had already been invited too,and thoroughly enjoyed.i wanted my friends children there too as the children like each other and we don't get to see each other enough,because this 'offer' I saw enabled me to invite the class for a little more than I would have paid anyway it seemed a nice thing to do.

Things I have learned :-

1.Parents(lots of parents) don't rsvp
2.be explicit on invites,no reply,no party!!!
3.Dont invite a bunch of siblings just because you're peed off at rude people.
4.always budget nearly twice as much as you think it's gonna cost.
5.you don't make sweet cones up layer by layer,you get all the different bags,tubes,packets of sweets you've got and mix them all up in a bowl first and then fill the sweet cones up,it'd be so much easier (just not as uniform and neat)
6.You only invite children who's parents you either know,see to speak to,have their phone number or address and can actually get hold of to track down rsvp's.
7.At the end of the day,hope you don't stress too much and hope Dd has a ball

That's a great summing up post OP and you are right that you are probably to blame but dont worry about it, it's just you were a bit optimistic/naive.

Live and learn hey.

The most important thing is that your DD has a lovely time and even if it ends up with too few or too many kids it shouldn't matter as long as whoever is there has fun.

I hope the party goes brilliantly. Don't forget to enjoy it too.

In the future I would just pick a place that has an unlimited person limit who could (like Chuck-E-Cheese or any other soft play that's free but you have to pay for food and games) and then just buy pizza for that show up. Or... pick a place like a soft play and tell them the ticket price to get in. Buy everyone that shows pizza, let parents pay the way in so you're not missing out. Those that don't, oh well.

Dear god this thread was like groundhog day

The vast majority of people who don't RSVP don't have extenuating circumstances, they just can't be arsed.

It's rude.

Sorry but that survey needs some work. One q didn't have a positive response tick box to it.

I've mostly done all-class parties in the local hall (not used much even though it's close to school). Child 2 has just had their 3rd party of this type (a month after her birthday, due to holidays and her indecision). I find this type easier & less stressful, even though we invited 32 kids and had only 10 replies by the day before. 2 more called me on the day, and 23 turned up, one of the repliers was sick & 2 more got stuck behind an accident so only made it at the end. I expected this, so I make party bags of non-perishables (pencil, eraser, stickers etc) so unused ones can go back in the party box for next year, and by luck we go the catering nearly spot on. No extra entertainers, just traditional games, and a couple of teenagers to assist. There's no space at our house, so I find this the cheapest & easiest alternative.

Well it wasn't at all as bad as I expected,only 3 non RSVPers turned up,2 over hour late,someone did bring a young uncle along with invited child and sibling
And I certainly don't expect presents or money but was also that 3 guests turned up without even a card,they didn't even come over to wish happy birthday