Birthday Party WWYD

[mrsnec]

My DC have moved back to the UK from abroad and have only been in thier new school for one term. They've got on well but haven't formed any close friendships yet.

They've gone back to the country we moved from for most of the summer holidays so won't have had any time over the summer to get to know anyone better.

Dd moves into a new class in September with only 4 other children from her previous class.

Her birthday is the 26th September.
I am separated from her dad but we are amicable and can just about afford a party for her. And invite all her class.

It seems the town we live in is fairly short of venues. Our local leisure centre does parties but DS went to one and didn't really enjoy it. If I went a bit further out I'd have more options.

Also the weekend of her birthday is the school summer fete so I can't do it on the Saturday. I thought about the weekend before but worried that's not enough notice. (They go back 7th September)

We've booked a weekend away locally the weekend after and I noticed locals use some of the facilities for birthdays so this may be an option. But there are a couple of other towns nearby that have slightly better leisure facilities.

What I'd like to know is, how much notice do you need for your DC if they have a party invite and how far would you travel for a party does it matter if its a child they don't know very well?

Could you offer something like a family theme park visit that is the equivalent cost wise but doesn't involve having to invite people. She's old enough to understand that both is too much and if she isn't even that close to people at school might prefer it.
If not hire a village hall and a entertainer. There's all sort of themes covered and they will keep the class busy for a couple of hours. Get invites out in the first week and it will be fine.

I think go for it and just invite the whole class. This will be a great way to make friends. If you hired a community centre you could.get a bouncy castle or something plus some games. I would be happy to drive to something that had been organised. Good Luck with all this! I find parties very stressful!

I will ask DD about the other 4 kids. There's a club at the cinema on a Saturday morning I'd happily do that but I was concerned about DD sticking with this 4 and not making other friends outside of that.

I don't really have a village hall but there is another venue I could potentially use but it's only available on Saturdays. They would help me organise activities and entertainment though.

Very relieved the consensus is 8 is too old for soft play!

Logistics is a strange one here. The rural kids are very rural (Dartmoor)so they'd probably be OK with the activities at the holiday park the other towns with bowling etc are in the other direction towards the coast so even further for the rural ones so I'm in the middle.