party invite dilemma

[panickymum]

Help, my 7yr ds has party coming up. Theres only 10 places including him and so i have asked him to put down 9 names. which he has done. One close friends son will not be invited and am finding this very uncomfortable. Nobody will be surprised by him not being invited (and i dont think he will be that bothered) but his mum is quite emotional and will feel very hurt. Its my sons party and so want to go with what he wants. Should i a) say nothing and quietly pass invites (seems bit cowardly as i like to be quite honest) b) be up front and say something or c) leave it until she says something. I hate offending anyone but at the end of the day its a kids party!!!

B. but I presume he's not the only boy left out? I'd just say 'limitednbers this year and I'm afraid he wasn't on DS list'. Just because she's your good friend doesn't mean she has to be your DSs. Make sure you invite them round soon so you can show it's not personal.

Good point. Thank you.

My DD was not invited to a party I would have expected her to be and we were both hurt by this.
This was a house party where space was not so limited, in a situation like yours I would have been much more understanding.
At the end of the day no one can question out loud not being invited to something. Our friendships continued and despite me making a mental note not to invite them to my DDs party, she wanted her to be invited so she was!

Are the invited children DS's friends from school? And is your friend's son not in the class/not a particular friend of your son's or a friend of your son's only because his Mum is your friend? (not sure if that's very clear!)

I've been in that situation in the past and have had friend and her DCs round for play and tea, but that might not work for you.