Party end of August, send invites out or cancel?

[organisedmother]

I know this is not important with what’s going on in the world right now, I just need some guidance, my 30th birthday is end of August and having a large party in central London, I need to send invites out soon so people can organise childcare, hotels etc, so my dilemma do I cancel and be 29 another year and celebrate next year or do I hold off as it could be the party we all need after months of isolation? WWYD?

Not sure that people are going to want to spend money on hotels at such an uncertain time tbh.

Are you having it at a venue? Have you spoken to them if so? If not and it's at home you could send out a save the date type thing and then a formal invite a bit later when we things are a bit clearer. Hopefully end of August would be fine.

How many people? Large gatherings may well still be banned in August, although I would hope day to day lockdown will be less strict or non existent. If you are planning to invite more than 20 people, I would hold off just now.

Are people even able to book hotels at the moment?

Be 29 another year, I wouldn't book anything if you invited me

Cancel. No guarantees that things will be back to normal by then

I don’t mean to sound harsh but your 30th in August isn’t going to be registering on many people’s radar right now

Please don’t send invites out - 4 months notice for a birthday even in normal times is madness

Just wait and see what happens

Many hotels are closed right now - availbility in August, if things get back to normal by then, should be a problem

Hopefully one of the positives of this god awful situation is that people will realise they don’t need 6 months notice to do things - they can just go with the flow

If my friend sends me an invite to a birthday I would not be sorting childcare and hotels out because chances are it won't be going ahead and I wouldn't risk losing my money and to be honest you would just come across as selfish and spoilt. It is only April why not wait a few more weeks and then see what's happening.

Absolutely wait until at least July. If my friend sent out a big party invitation to me now for August I'd be seriously annoyed and it would go in the bin.
I have a million more important things to prioritise and worry about right now. Sorry - but honestly the timing would reflect very badly on you.

Everyone who is invited knows I am having a party in August but not the all the details of location etc, I just didn’t want to spring it upon people a month before or last minute, but I think your all correct I’m just going to have to be 29 another year!

I wouldn't book anything. Just leave it.

In fact if I got an invitation now I'd probably chuck it in the bin!

I probably wouldn't book a hotel for a 30th birthday party at the best of times; never mind these particular times...
And pardon me saying, but it's slightly up your own arse to think your party is what everyone will need after months of lockdown.

I have cancelled my 40th. 41 is the new 40.

So 31 can be the new 30.

It is too soon to tell. Nobody knows what state they will by then financially, physically, mentally.

Sorry have to agree that with loss , uncertainty & money worries Id not be committing to a 30th birthday party right now. I didn’t even think 30ths were a big thing!

It is a perfectly reasonable question, and there will be a moment when people really DO want big events to look forward to.

I work in the events industry in London and I have clients cancelling parties for the entire year, or postponing until early next year. I think august is too soon, even if technically it is allowed by then. The mood of your guests when you need to send invites / further logistics info seems uncomfortable until September earliest.

I wouldn’t be paying out on hotels and worrying out childcare for a party in August, at the current time. Hopefully we’ll be out of lockdown by then, but people are also worried about jobs and finances at the moment.

Maybe wait and send invites out in June, if the situation looks better.

Cancel. I'm curtailing my social life even when lockdown is over until there's a good vaccine.

Thanks for the responses, it’s been booked for a while and some people have already booked hotels, I said to a few of my friends I was thinking of cancelling and they all seem to think I’m over reacting, I think everybody is looking forward to seeing friends and family again but I agree it’s too soon.

So who are the invites for if people have already booked hotels? . When were they invited?

My friend is 40 and I'm 50 soon - we've decided to postpone our celebrations until next year.

@Thisismytimetoshine just an occasion for family and friends to get together, their is no milestone birthdays or weddings this year in my close circle group.

@Thisismytimetoshine I have to told some people buy word of mouth as they have helped me plan the party but haven’t sent letter invites out yet.

Definitely cancel, unfortunately I think the party might be the last thing on some of your guest’s minds right now. It’s too early to assume that life would be back to normal by then, even if we aren’t officially in lockdown there may still be restrictions on travelling and group socialising because we won’t have a vaccine by august.

I can certainly empathise as I had a lockdown birthday which was miles away from planned celebrations, it is really shit

Invitations need to be sent out now despite

Everyone who’s invited knows I’m having a party in August but not all the details of the location

And yet

it’s been booked for a while and some people have already booked hotels

What’s the birthday equivalent of a Bridezilla? 🤔