To think no one will come to 16 yo bday party

[Florence19791]

DD will be turning 16, she does have any friends but wants to invite some people from school (small class of 5) and from her dance class. We’ve had a look and one place (party boat) does 30 and we could invite the entire dance school and class and hopefully some will come or another place does 10 (trampolining) and we could invite class plus 5 dance friends but would be obvious if no one turns up. WWYD? Any other party ideas welcome. She’s young for her age but wants to fit in too

Guide her down the small and intimate route op

otherwise could well be tumbleweed

In all honesty, I don't think a trampoline party will make the friend making process any easier for her. That is a very very young activity for a 16 year old. I was clubbing in the city by then.

Can you not just invite some girls to the house and let them get a pizza and a film or something if she's still in a young mindset?

Does or doesn’t have any friends?

Unless it was a best friend or immediate friend group where they made the plan themselves I don’t see any 16yo wanting to go trampolining with a bunch of acquaintances really…

Could you bulk out the party boat with some family member invites?

Is there a reason she doesn't have any friends? Is she shy/new to the school or something? I like the idea someone suggested of inviting some girls over for pizza and movies. My 13 year old invited some girls to pizza express and then back to ours. I dropped them all off so they went in alone, I dropped some favour bags and balloons off earlier in the day and the staff kindly put them on the table for their arrival. They had a great time and it was nice and small.

I'd go for bowling and a meal. Or cinema and a meal. Or sleepover.

When mine were that age they went out for a meal at a restaurant with a few friends more grown up thing to do.

Sorry she does or doesn't have friends? Why is she in such a small school?

I agree trampolining is a bit young mine did that at 10/11.

If you're worried no one will turn up I'd rethink.

i think we can presume the daughter doesn’t have “any” friends or doesn’t have “many” friends

Sorry meant to say she doesn’t have any friends but she really wants some but struggles (ND)
We invited 3 girls from class for Halloween who initially said they’d come then one by one they dropped out so worried pizza n movie might end the same way

what the heck??!

she doesn’t have a single friend and you are seriously considering a 30 capacity boat party

good grief Op. no words

That's really hard. Is there a particular aspect of being a friend she struggles with?

she’s invited 3 people
not one turned up
presume the same for her 16th
and arrange a family celebration otherwise this is going to be nothing short of awful

Sorry OP this is a bit different… if 3 people have very recently all just pulled out I wouldn’t be pushing out invites again so soon.

Agree with PP’s organise something with cousins and family maybe?

16 is far too old for a trampolining party, besides don't most children have one in the back garden anyway these days ?

Keep it small. 1 or 2 friends max. Desirable activity, pamper party at a salon or something. Or just have a family thing.

This is a nightmare scenario. I would definitely keep it family only.

16 is too old for trampolining unless all attendees have a very very young mindset.
Party boat is more age appropriate but if you invite the dance school and none of those people are her friends they might either not come or they will hang out in their own friendship groups. Your own party isn’t really a place to make new friends.
Much better to do a family celebration and invite any cousins or kids of family friends. If she works on friendships now she’ll be able to have a great time on her 18th

I agree, a family celebration will be much better, plus you can all relax and enjoy it without worrying that it won't work out. My son is 16, he just wanted to go for a family meal. I think he might have done something with friends on another day but it was very low key, I can't remember now! At that age there aren't many organised celebrations, at least not any that my children went to. 16 year olds don't like to do trampolining usually, but even if you did bowling or something, you will probably find that your daughter just takes her turn and doesn't engage, if she already finds it difficult. We did our first escape room on one of my sons significant birthdays, just the four of us with a meal after and it was great fun.

This sounds hard OP. I'd maybe stick with family, if the recent party hasn't worked. Have you tried building friendships by eg inviting others over when there's less pressure?

How about an escape room? My daughter did that with 2 friends for her 16th. An afternoon shopping, escape room and then dinner. You can accommodate up to 5 or 6 people in an escape room and, as it is booked out no matter if it is 2 or 6 people, you can book for 3 and then add others if they come on the day.

Don’t invite people she doesn’t know just so she can have a party. She’ll either end up feeling lonely in her own party or, worse, hardy anyone will come and she’ll feel really shit about herself.

It’s OK to not have many mates. If she does something with her actual close mates then she’ll have a much better time and it’ll be memorable for the right reasons.

There are only five people in her class at school??? No wonder she has struggled to make friends.

Oh OP this is really sad but holding a big 30 person party isn't the way to magically make friends.
Do you have a sense of why she struggles with friendships? Is she a bit intense, has unusual special interests maybe? Does she perhaps have a few behaviours that put other kids off?
I think first and foremost you need to talk to school about supporting some social skills and friendships, they might be able to guide you as to which school peers are more comfortable with her, who is a good person to invite over to hang out maybe? Needs to be very chilled, low pressure scenario?

Also this.... Is she at a special school OP hence the small class?