7 person gathering -yes or no?

[UserTwice]

DS is in a friendship group of 7.
His birthday is coming up.
He wants to invite all of them to a "garden gathering".

I am an inveterate rule follower and am really struggling between the rationale of "7 rather than 6 is very little extra risk" and my must-follow-rules inclinations.

Would this bother anyone else? Other than it being "the rules" is there a good reason why we shouldn't have 7 people in the garden?

My daughter had a birthday in September and at the time was in a group of 8. What I did was texted the date to all the parents first just to check if everyone could actually come in the first place. Typically they could so we had four for lunch and four for tea- rest of my family went out during these times/ this was when you could have the rule of six inside.
I think for me I'm very cautious plus I didn't want to put other parents in an awkward position so kept to the rules.

I’d do this without hesitation

My daughter is playing a rugby match on Sunday. There will be 30 girls on the pitch...

I'm in a book group. We're having an outdoor meeting later this week after months on zoom. We'll be sitting apart and not sharing catering in any shape or form, but there may well be 8 of us - depending on who turns up. We're not going to turn anyone away!

I am strict with the rules but I would do this for certain. Kids are very low risk , tell the other parents so they can make their own choice. Maybe do separate snack bowls for them / cupcakes instead of big cake etc so they are not sharing. Let him enjoy it x

Wouldn't worry about one extra person in this scenario with cases so low. Assuming if secondary school age they've all had access to LFT for a term too so should know if they are at risk. Just ask them to test before coming if you are concerned.

FGS this nonsense is getting beyond ridiculous now. Just crack on.