Educate me on 5year old party, please

[tiggergoesbounce]

So first time school friends party. We usually do 2 friends at home with our family. Now hes at school we are doing a party.

We ended up on a soft play to ease us in gently and have them help.

I dont know most of the parents other than a quick hello on passing. He has 3 main mates in school but about 15 on his invite list.

1,) How early do you hand out invites so its not too early they forget but not too close theyve got other plans???

2,) how do you chase replies if you have no whatsaap group or only know a quick nod or hello in playground in passing.

3,) there hasn't been many parties (2 we know of), but the teachers say our DS is well liked in class and plays well with most the class, but hes never been invited to a party..... will kids turn up to his party??? Im worried he will be left disappointed.
Has anyone has lots of kids not turning up ???

4,) i think others have passed the invites into school for teacher to hand out, is that better than passing them over myself

Please, please help with any tips on managing this without being that parent who wants all the people to come but not mithery and desperate 🤣

I wouldn’t ask the teacher to hand out invites if you’re not inviting the whole class. Hand out yourself on the yard before/ after school 2/3 weeks before. Put an rsvp date on and your number and then see how many do. Usually you get a good response in that age group. If they don’t text, presume they’re not coming.

Pass the invites out about 2-3 weeks ahead of time. If you're not inviting the whole class then it's probable the teacher won't distribute them for you.

Write something like please text reply to number by such and such a date so I can confirm final numbers with venue.

If people haven't replied, try to catch them at drop off or pick up. Otherwise assume they're not coming.

I've crossed posts with PP but we're on the same page! 👍😄

If it's a softplay party during a public session make sure you explicitly say on the invitation that parents must stay. I would would have said it was a given but I went to a year 6 old's party in a really busy soft play recently and loads of parents left.

Most people are very happy to have their child invited to a party so I wouldn’t worry about lack of guests. It is difficult to get people to rsvp so just allow enough party bags for anyone who hasn’t replied.