Kids birthday party 4yo

[MondayYogurt]

I have booked a venue that does entertainment but has a strict limit of 20 kids.
Of course, there are 21 in the pre-school class 😑

A) when you’ve sent out invites to preschoolers, what is the attendance rate, and is it affected by how late you send them?
B) when should I send them if we’d really prefer a couple of declines?

My biggest nightmare would be everyone saying yes. (This is for late Sept so they won’t know all know each other well.)

For my sons 3rd birthday at nursery we invited 22 and had 14 attend.
When my daughter was in reception it seemed most whole class parties got 1/2 to 2/3 of the class attend.

The likelihood of you getting all 21 showing up is slim. I'd speak to the venue and ask what their policy would be for there potentially being 21, at DC last party there was a limit of 25 and there are 26 in her class but the venue said they'd be fine to accommodate one extra in the activity (the main issues arise when there are multiple extra children). As it was, three couldn't come.

For my DD's 4th birthday we invited 24 and had 21 attendees. 2 declined the invite and 1 was ill on the day. We sent the invites out about a month ahead because she has a December birthday so we know it gets busy.

We always had a few declines. Maybe send 10-15 invites first, wait a week or so and then the rest?

But be aware at this age parents also sometimes tend to bring younger siblings (unannounced 😬)

At that age it would have been at least a few decline.
I recently invited 18 to my daughters 10th thinking half would make it. They almost all accepted.

Op is under no obligation to entertain this.

Thanks all, when should I send the invites?

I think the attendance rate depends on when it is!
DS party 24 invited 23 accepted but it was end of January compared to the summer born birthdays in his class which generally has about a 3rd decline due to holidays/trips/visits etc

A lot of the time parents have no choice! Have never done it unannounced though and not if I have had a choice of his brother staying at home! Usually DS1 goes to softplay parties so I just pay for DS2 to get in and buy him lunch

Send them whenever you fancy but put on the invite unfortunately siblings can't be accommodated due to numbers at the venue. This fact alone may cause some drop-outs. I'd eat my hat if all 21 show up.

Good idea!