To wonder if whole class parties are a real 'thing'?

[BaconCabbage]

Where do these happen? How do these happen?

It seems on mumsnet to be the norm for small children to have whole class parties in nursery/reception etc, but I haven't actually experienced this happening. I live in inner London so wonder if that's something to do with it?

I'd love it if this were a 'thing' but my daughter has a summer birthday so I can't try and set a trend or anything.

What is the norm for kids parties at your young kids' nursery or primary?

They are. But for spring/summer kids, where parent put up a gazebo in a park and throw a BBQ.

Up until year 2/3 we didn't have many weekends without whole class parties.

Yes definitely for us. Had a couple in nursery before Covid put a stop to it all. Then in Reception we had one most weeks (sometimes more than one in a weekend) and still have a few in Y1.

Our school requests for R and Y1 parties to be all class if they are having one. Many posters were incredulous when I mentioned it on another thread but it seems completely normal where I am - I have since spoken to a few other parents at after school activities who have mentioned their school does the same.

DD is now 19 but yes, right through nursery and primary every party was for the whole class.

This!

Normal in nursery, reception and year 1 - then it fizzled out pretty fast.

It was the norm here… and cos my kids were youngest in the year by the time their birthdays came around we ‘owed’ everyone a party! Only reception and year 1 thanks god.
we did it jointly though with a couple of kids who has birthdays around the same time.

It was very much the thing at our school to have whole class or whole year parties until this year, P2. Even this year, there are plenty but we are also seeing more of just boys, or just girls. You cannot use school or the playground to give out invitations to parties unless the whole year, whole class, all the boys/girls at our school. If you wanted to invite specific children, you would need to organise that outwith school. It is discouraged as everyone is meant to be inclusive.

It's not a thing at my daughters nursery but it's not one at a school so kids all do different days. I don't live in London but another large UK city

Ds has started reception this year and we've only had 1 party invitation out of a dual-class of 60 between September and Christmas.

So either he's been singled out for some reason (I hope not!!) or maybe post Covid/cost of living crisis is making people want to do something smaller.

Norm at ours too. Well, to invite the whole class anyway. The actual number that turn up always seems to be in the 15-30 bracket.

15-20, even.

Yep whole class parties from nursery age 😱 through to Y2 here. (Zone 2/3 London) Though Covid did affect it of course.

Yes, but we are in affluent part of South East.

Things like hall/entertainers, trampolining, forest school, sports, soft play, pottery painting are pretty standard.

Yes they're common here, inner London. Just in the younger years, though. We hired community centre gardens, went to a soft play once, outdoors in the local park sometimes.

They're not a thing where we live, thankfully. Parties are stressful and expensive enough as it is. My kids have only been invited to a whole class party once and naturally the parents were required to stay, which I found annoying. I wouldn't be happy if I had to spend an afternoon at a kid's party once a week!

Very common here as the local hall is cheap to hire.

Both local primary schools only allow invitations to be given out in school if whole class or all boys/all girls.

Common in reception class here, in London too

My nephew and niece will be 6 this December and it will be their 2nd class party, whereas DD1 will be 3 in December so I asked nursery for the names of the kids she mainly plays with and invited them along with kids of family and friends.
We don't pick up or drop off at the same time as most parents it seems so I've only met 2 or 3 of them, but at school they're all doing the same hours so I think class parties are more standard

Common in reception year here, and then they start to dwindle.

My ds is in a private prep with 20 kids in class. Usually we have joint parties, so 3/4 kids per party. It's then easy to do whole class parties and we choose really nice, different event places each time.

@BaconCabbage
Yep a real thing up here
Usually only when they are younger - in our village the standard seems to be to hire the cricket club (cheap as chips or if you are a member free) and either get an entertainer or do party games. Now DS2 is in year 2 we are starting to get smaller parties but still some whole class ones.
With DS1 we did them for him all the way through primary school as he has a summer birthday and we have a huge garden which is a free venue, probably will do the same for DS2.

Here too. South not London. With DD1 (yr 3) they’ve stopped but with DD2 (yr 2) they seem to be ramping up! I think because of Covid they missed out on reception whole class parties a lot are happening this year. I expect after this it’ll tail off.

Both local primary schools only allow invitations to be given out in school if whole class or all boys/all girls.

that’s very controlling - whole hosts of reasons why someone might want a smaller party

Ds is in nursery, about a third of the kids seem to have whole class parties

Friends with kids in Reception are at Parties every weekend, as a September birthday I'm steeling myself (and saving!) for next year. A soft play party with food is around £200 here for 25 kids.