To invite the whole class (tips please)

[LordMooey]

Dd2 has just started school, and her birthday is coming up soon. She doesn't know enough names to tell us who to invite, and as we're new to the area we don't have any idea who anyone is either! My solution is to book a supervised bouncy castle party (with tea included) at a local sports centre - it can accommodate up to 30 children, so we can just invite all the everyone in her class. But now I'm wondering if there are any potential pitfalls to my excellent scheme. Has anyone done this and it's been fine? Or not? I will have to write 'sorry no siblings due to limited space' on the invitation - anything else?

That'll be fine. My kids have been to loads of parties like that.

I would definitely write no siblings. We did a lot of whole class parties when mine were in reception.

We've always had whole class parties when they are in reception, it is certainly normal here. I would try and find out the parents' numbers (WhatsApp group?) rather than give invites to the teacher/child in case they get lost. Parents usually would presume it was no siblings but you could just mention on the invite. You may well get a few who can't come anyway so maybe 30 wouldn't actually come in the end.

We're doing the same for our Reception aged child too.

We're also doing a bouncy castle place, and they charge per child & adult so we'll be specifying no siblings and only one parent!

Most KS1 parties are whole class that DD has been to. All of the parties in reception and year 1 were whole class. They all tend to play with everyone at that age.

Thanks everyone - very helpful to know this is probably going to be ok! I woke up in the night and started overthinking... My eldest is in y5 and bizarrely we have managed to get this far without ever encountering a whole-class party (I guess because of the available venues where we used to live).

Whole class parties are the norm here in reception. I'm about DS's part today, he's chosen soft play.

Normal here too in Reception. It will be fine

Make sure you add a RSVP BY date!

Also write on invite please RSVP by xx/xx/yyyy (1 week - 10 days before party)!so i can confirm numbers with venue.

Hall with bouncy castle was the standard party here for everyone the first few years of primary.

My kids get 1 whole-class party and then we whittle it down the following years. DS2’s 5th bday is coming up in a few weeks. We have no class FB group or WhatsApp - I emailed the school and asked for a first-names class list but they weren’t allowed to give it out. Teacher said I could take a pic of their key worker list, so did that. But equally, if you’re doing whole class invites then names are irrelevant really. Teacher can put them in bag/tray or you can try and catch every parent at the gates but at our school it would be very likely you’d miss someone. DS also just ran at people from the other class (nursery friends) shouting ‘do you want to come to my party?????’ So gave some more invited out that way.

We have an entertainer for 35 kids so not sure what happens if siblings show up. About half have RSVPd yes so far, haven’t had any declines yet. I’m assuming those who don’t RSVP won’t show up, but if they do - I’m tempted to not have a party favour and snack box for them as they didn’t tell me they were coming 😄 but I’m not brave enough to be that petty haha.

When my dd was in reception she had an early September birthday.

We chose to have a Halloween party instead of a birthday party so that she had time to work out who her friends were before we needed to send out invitations.

I'm not a fan of whole class parties, it's too much like being at school for me. A birthday party to me is about being able to invite the people you want to spend time with not the people you have to spend time with.