I have a group of mum friends from our NCT days. We aren’t just play-date friends, we are a group in our own right and a lot of the times we get together is without the kids. As the children are all school age now, and attend various different schools, we naturally see less of each other.
I don’t want to do a big party this year and have booked an activity party (think laser tag type of thing) at the request of my child. It’s expensive, and limited to a group of 10. We have invited cousins and some school friends. He has asked for one of the children from the NCT group, a boy he is particularly friendly with and attended pre-school with, to come, but not the others. When I said “what about XYZ” listing the others he said “meh” and even “who??” about one of them.
I don’t have space left to invite all of the kids in the group, plus I do just want to follow my son’s lead and invite the real friends he wants to have at his birthday party. But I feel so awkward (and kinda sneaky!) just inviting one of them. Plus I’m worried the mums will turn on me and feel like their kid has been excluded.
For context, in previous years we’ve had big parties where the kids run around and are kept happy by an entertainer or bouncy castles while the parents stand around chatting drinking Prosecco. But I just don’t have it in me for organising that this year and also I think they’ve outgrown that now.
I’m already breaking the cardinal rule of not inviting all 25 kids in the class (which I don’t really care about!) and I do just want to give my child the birthday bash they’ve asked for, but I’m worried about backlash from my mum group if I invite one and not all of them.