Fancy dress party at 13

[freezethat]

It’s going to be DDs 13th birthday in a few weeks.

We moved at the start of the year and she still hasn’t really made any proper friends. She gets on with and is friendly with lots of people though.

We are going to do a big party and invite all the people she’s friendly with ( probably about 50/60 kids)

She wants it to be a disco / 70s theme fancy dress.

Dsd (15) has said it’s a terrible idea and that she’s too old for fancy dress, either nobody will come or they won’t dress up and she will get laughed at.

AIBU to throw a fancy dress party for 13 year olds? Would your kids not want to go or think that was embarrassing?

if that amount of people do turn up it will be a nightmare to supervise. Because she is new and doesn’t have close friends, kids might feel free to cause absolute chaos (as don’t care). She may also feel a bit lonely if all the others group together with their besties/ close friend group?

Firstly, no to the fancy dress. Parents do not want to shell out for that. You could do a theme but not the 70’s. I too think this is the wrong year for a big party.

This isn’t a great way to try to develop friendships that don’t yet exist. More frequent smaller, lower key attempts are what she needs. At this age, ideally, most of them should be about going somewhere with others as equals, not hosting or being the guest, or failing that, low key invites - pizza night, afternoon at home, go into town together, etc.