Can we have 7 people at our house for DD’s birthday?

[Honeyhoneyy]

I know technically we can’t, but DD is about to turn 7 and has invited 4 friends for dinner after school on her birthday. They are all in the same bubble at school. She has been really looking forward to it, as have her friends. The trouble is, including her younger sibling and me, that would bring the number to 7. I thought about asking a friend to have DD2 but she would be devastated to miss her sisters birthday tea so the only option I’m left with is for DD to uninvite someone which seems so cruel.

It’s frustrating because she is with these children all day Monday to Friday anyway. I would ensure the house is deep cleaned before hand and after. My husband is a soldier and the kids have just found out he’s deploying in a couple of weeks so he will miss DD’s birthday, and now this limit of 6 has really got DD down in the dumps. She really struggles when her dad is away so I really wanted to make her birthday as good as I possibly can for her.

I totally appreciate there are many far worse situations that other families are in just now and this is trivial in the grand scheme of things but I know to DD, it means a lot.

They mix every day at school! I would do that without a second thought to be honest as long as the other parents were ok with it.

I honestly don't understand why some people don't get it.Not saying if I agree or don't agree with the new laws but it's really very simple if you can count!

Well as they are in the same bubble at school I would just go ahead tbh as long as you convey worries to parents and they are all ok. If i was one of the parents I would be ok with this.

After all the government had suggested it is ok to break the law in a “limited and specific way”

Seems a bit daft not to since all the children are in school together but I probably wouldn’t. I would be more concerned about your dh catching Covid before/once he is deployed 😬

You would be breaking the law, but you could argue you were doing it in a limited and specific way. The Govt seem to think that works for them 😉

Ah that's such a shame. Could she have two birthday teas with two friends over each time?

I think if you are in England you need to stick to it, imagine if a child contracted Covid you would need to let public health know who was at the party. Also what if your younger child or you were found to be positive and infected all the party attendees. I would stick to the rules and probably cancel the entire party or have my younger child go on a play date elsewhere.

Also regardless of numbers no blowing out candles on the cake, we take the candle out and away from the cake or use a cupcake for blowing out. Increase hygiene measures and encourage hand sanitiser use

how can people not see the insanity of this?

2pm: all 5 kids are in a class together: SAFE

4pm: all 5 kids who have been together all day are not allowed to be in a house together (along with child 1's dm and ds): NOT SAFE

Yet

6pm: the dm gets on a bus and train to go to Birmingham, meet 5 friends each coming from Bolton, Oldham, Rochdale and Manchester, and go to 3 pubs and a restaurant: SAFE

Legally you can’t if you live in England, inside or outside.... but you know that (though it seems some people on here don’t).

Would I do it in your circumstances? Probably, yes.

Just do it. They are all at school together anyway!

Crack on.
Everyone else seems to be

😂

Like everyone else in the country, no! Cancel your plans.

My 30th was in full lock down!! Guess what? I survived.

If we're all here and well next year then maybe I'll do something then.

Could you do a special tea for both your DD's and then send DD2 to a family members so DD1 can have her friends round.

It won't be legal. Whether it makes sense or not is another matter.

@fruitpastille

Realistically nobody is going to fine you in this situation! You could possibly put dd2 in a different room watching tv so she's not part of the gathering. Take her party food/ cake as a treat.

OP would will have more than six. It’s not per room

The law from Monday is six unless a family of six is a support bubble for a single person. They couldn’t have made it much clearer, six people regardless of it being a birthday or not.

Smaller gatherings will make SD easier too, they still have to SD regardless of school bubbles etc.

Is 7 still more than 6? Then no. What’s hard?

England, no. But quite frankly who cares at this point when they're 'bubbled' with 30+ kids.

@Juststopswimming

I see your point, but the alternatives are either have no rules at all (which I know some people would love, but would end in disaster in my opinion), or have the more complicated and confusing rules that people loved to moan about, and which ultimately become impossible to apply. There’s no perfect way of doing this, and whereas arguably there are alternatives to the “rule of six” that may be superior, there is easy answer.

Ultimately, with rules, there are always inconsistencies that can be made to make all sorts of rules appear ridiculous.

For instance, if I drive at 31 mph along my wide and clear suburban road with excellent line of sight, it’s illegal! Yet if I drive at 59 mph along a narrow single track road with poor lines of sight, it’s legal! Where’s the sense in that!

If I drank 2 bottles of whisky and 80 cigarettes in a day, legal! If I had a puff of someone’s spliff, illegal!

It’s easy to tear these things apart... much harder to give an alternative that actually works better.

“there is no easy answer” (referring to my omission in my last post)

Can you have two birthday teas? 3 at each!

Sadly no, I wouldn’t go ahead with the current plan. It only takes another parent/person to get wind and report.
I’d ask someone to have the sibling. They can have cake and see presents being opened later, whereas it would be difficult to uninvite a friend.
Let your DD have her friends as planned, keeping it to 6.

No wonder we're in the state we're in... half the dimwits on the thread don't understand that 7 is more than 6, and the ones that can count assume it's body count per fucking room, not household.
What is wrong with you?!!

Yes I take your point they need to draw the line somewhere and not have crazy complex laws (although I think they couldve excluded children under 12 like in scotland to accommodate this sort of scenario) but I am just outlying the insanity of the rule in this instance. And for this, I would weigh up the risks and would chose to break the law and I'm not ashamed to admit that! Just like sometimes I choose to drive at 61mph.

I know people talk about the madness of being in school in a bubble of 30 (or more) and then can't meet in groups but these measures are to try and keep schools open. Everyone knows how important it is for children to go to school, not just for education but for their mental health and to try and keep vulnerable children safe. This means we need to make sacrifices elsewhere.

The reason the rule is now just 6 people in our out of the home is because everyone said it was confusing so they can't start saying you can have more than 6 if in the same bubble or if people are different ages or it'll be too complicated again!

Just have the party! Any sane person would. There will be 6 people at the party. You will just happen to be hovering around the party table!