DD1 will be 5 in a couple of weeks. She's in reception. She wants a princess party - fine. Last year, I invited about 15 kids mainly from her nursery and a few old family friends to her party and hired an entertainer.
She's had a bit of a hard time making friends at school, largely because she wasn't in the nursery like most of them but also because she's a stubborn and shy child who's taken against a lot of the children for not particularly brilliant reasons eg "I don't like X because ahe eats messily"
Her only friend is a Somali girl and her mother's already told me she wont' attend the party because the family don't do that kind of thing . I am friendly with some of the mums and would happily invite their dds over but when I mention the names to dd she says she doesn't want x, y and z "because she wouldn't let me go first on the swing" or whatever
Given this, I'm tempted to forget about school and just invite a couple of dd's old friends from nursery and limit numbers to around five. OTOH, maybe a party would be a good way for dd1 to become more friendly with some of these girls she professes to dislike, because I suspect it's more about shyness and this is her way of putting a brave face on it.
I know this isn't a world shattering problem but any advice for wiser mnetters than me welcome