Birthday party for August baby

[Prometheus]

I need advice about what to do for my DS's 4th birthday in August.

He goes to nursery full time and is a popular boy. He has been invited to 3 birthday parties in the past year. He leaves nursery this summer to start primary school. We only moved back to the UK a year ago and so far have made no friends locally. This is disappointing but we work full time, have 2 kids and I have family nearby so don't really get the opportunity or know how to make friends now we have kids and aren't going out getting drunk every weekend.

This means that if we have a party and none of his nursery friends can attend, we cannot hide this fact by having friends with their kids over...guaranteed attendees IYSWIM. So we potentially have no-one or just 1 or 2 people turn up. This would utterly break my heart and I think DS would be confused and upset too.

I think I would prefer to not have a party and do a family day out but have a feeling that DS might ask for a party (having been to 3 this year). I say hello to a few parents at nursery but everyone picks their kids up at different times so I can't chase/remind parents or canvas availability. Help!!!!

I think a family day out is fine, given the situation. Maybe next year when he ha school friends you can arrange a party.

I agree, do a special day out and a party when he is 5. You can get invites out in July and send a text reminder the week before the party

My DS is 4 in a couple of weeks. He would love a party but I don't know any of the parents of his pre-school friends. We are going to do a family day out at a water park (Coral Reef) because I know he will love it.

On his actual birthday I will decorate our lounge and make a cake, I will make it feel like a party in our house. I will put loads of balloons out and make a big fuss - as we all do. Of course there will be the presents too. I know that all this excitement and special treatment will make up for the fact that he is not having a party.

I do think big parties are lovely but much better when they are older and can really appreciate it. I know he's not missing out on anything. It's highly unlikely that he will be in the same infant school class as the children he plays with a lot now and will make new friends, so next year I will feel more confident about holding a party for him.

I think you should go ahead with a great family fun day and not worry about the party thing. He will be excited and have a great time because you will be there and will make him feel special - not because he's in a room with a bunch of kids.

Can you not get the family over for a party? At four, a family tea party is fine.
My son's birthday is in August and he has only ever had a couple of parties in his ,nearly 11 years.we are usually on holiday on his birthday and we do a special day for him there.

This year, because he is about to leave primary, we are doing a party for him but at the end of July.

My August boy went to quite a few birthday parties in his nursery year but we didn't do a party for him, we did it in his Reception year instead and invited the whole class. We did it in July but another August born boy had his party in Septmeber - the first weekend after school started. Most of the kids from nursery went to the same school (which made life easier) and we just put sent invites for the teacher to put in all the kid's trays/homework books.
I would leave it for this year and talk about a bit party for him next year when he's at school. He'll be staying with those kids for several years and get more out of it.

Thanks for the advice - I think I'll stick to a family day out and making the day itself special. Hope this gets easier as he gets older and starts school.....

I have an August boy. We have always done parties around his birthday, getting the invitations out before th end of term. Have always had surprisingly high attendance as I assumed most people would be on holiday!

I have a friend with the same problem who does sort of save the date cards - sends invitations with date and time on them with RSVP by text by certain date and she texts later with party details. You could possibly do that kind of thing without telling him, then see how many replies you get and tailor the party accordingly. Then no surprise non repliers will turn up because they won't know where party is!

We always had DD1s party in Sept, because no one was ever around mid-August. It was a nice get together in the first week of school, after several weeks of not seeing each other much. Though she always got at least one card for one year older than she was!

My birthday is August and I have an August child too.
I had parties from about 5 or 6 onwards, usually just with friends who lived locally.
Until then it was tea parties or days out with the family, I'll do the same with DS.