Child's party ettiquette

[cjt110]

DS is 5 in August and his party is the day before at a soft play centre.

First time we've held a party for him so am a bit unsure of some rules and wanted to ask whats the norm.

DS is able to invite 10 friends. he has already verbally said who he would like to come and I sent out the feelers to friends about 2 months ago. Some have already said yes for definite and others have said no or maybe.

We have 3 definites at present. 2 of which are both his friends but also siblings.

So my questions are:

As he breaks up for school 19/07 when would you send invites out?

What if the invited child has siblings? We can't afford to pay for additional party goers but i also wouldn't want invited child not to attend because there's no invite for sibling.

Some are away for his birthday - DS would have loved these 2 friends to come - could i set a playdate up beforehand?

When is the latest to invite people? Am thinking if there are spaces nearer the time he could invite other friends but don't want to leave it too late

I think it's always a problem with birthdays that fall during hte summer holiday. With my DD we always had her party early before they broke up as so many of her friends would be on holiday during hte break.

I would send out invites at least a couple of weeks before the end of term. Most people will have booked holidays by then if they are going to.

I wouldn't invite siblings , unless they are actually friends of the family. If it's soft play, the parent can always bring them along and pay for separate entry.

The problem you may have is people forgetting to come along in the middle of hte holiday. Try and get phone numbers for everyone so that you can send a reminder a day or so before the event.

August parties are really difficult as lots of people are away or people end up forgetting.

We are holding our ds party in July would that be possible for you?

In terms of August birthday parties we have only attended 2. 1 was a last minute invite as they weren’t previously planning a party and changed their minds. It was a group WhatsApp on the Monday for the Saturday. The other one invites went out start of July with a follow up reminder text a couple of days before

Party is already booked and deposit made. Unable to move.

Have made an electronic invite for whatsapp... would it be OTT to give out actual paper invites. More so my son enjoys giving them to his friends?

If your son wants to do paper invites as well would be fine. My children’s friends like a physical invite despite me messaging the key friends parents in advance.

Definitely do a paper invite too. We put ours on the fridge and they’re a good reminder.

We’ve already received a party invite for early August from one of DC’s school friends. It’s a yes for now, but that may change if our travel plans alter over the summer, as I don’t know for sure what will come up

Giving out paper invitations can be problematic if you’re not giving them out to the whole class.

You can certainly arrange to meet up with friends who can’t come another time.

Don’t invite siblings. Parents can pay for siblings at soft play if they have to.

Give the invitation out a couple of weeks before the end of term.

My ds is August, I used to invite the whole class knowing that at least a third would be away.

I would send out invites before they break up for the summer and make sure you have phone numbers as people might forget during the summer holidays. I would also be prepared to have back up friends invited as people might be away - make plans at the last minute and not be able to come.