ADVICE NEEDED ASAP- party venue fully booked after invitations sent, what can I do?

[MommyGoblin]

My child sent invitations home on the last day of school with the location, time and day of the party. The party is on the 20th. I asked my partner to call and reserve a spot at the location. Found out yesterday that he forgot, called the location today to try to reserve a space but unfortunately they’re completely booked until the 28th. I don’t have ANY parents phone numbers(I lost ALL my contacts) and now I can’t host party at the location listed on invite. What can I do? I’m completely at a loss, but I don’t want to let my child down. Especially because this will be their last bday party with friends in our hometown as we are moving out of state soon.
Does anybody have any ideas or advice on what I can possibly do to make this party happen??

Book the date you're able to book and send out more invites explaining

I don’t have any way to get them to people. I don’t know phone numbers, mailing addresses or any other contact info

You'll have to wait until they rsvp then tell them the change of date, if you don't have their details or addresses I can't think of another way

Don’t you see the parents at school? Are you not in a class WhatsApp group? Surely you have one persons details? Ask them to send you as many as possible

You need to get the numbers of everyone and say:

Hi All, sorry, bit of a cock-up regarding Jack’s party on the 20th. The venue has double booked so we are now holding it at our house at 2pm on 20th. Our address is XYZ. Thanks for understanding, looking forward to seeing all the boys. X

Aren’t they messaging you RSVPing to the invitation?

You sent invites to a party that you hadn’t yet booked?!

How did you send out the invites out in the first place?

I assume she reasonably expected that by asking a grown man to do something as simple as boom a venue he would be capable of doing so.

OP seems to be in America - from my knowledge, WhatsApp group chats are not really a thing in many parts of the US. How about the RSVP to the party, OP?

Do you know anyone connected to the school or to a parent of a child - siblings, sports or arts activities, church, local community, a friend of a teacher etc? If you explain the situation they may take pity on you and facilitate a number or two for the parents - obviously not the full list due to data protection.

I’m assuming driving is involved, to get to the original planned location. Are you very far from the venue? If all else fails, I’d be tempted to go to the venue on the day at the planned time, and as children arrive, direct the families to your house. “Change of plans, I didn’t manage to get in touch with people so let’s all head out to our place now. Address is XYZ”. Bit cheeky if it’s not close by, but the alternative is organising a picnic in their parking lot!

OK but wouldn’t you wait for confirmation from your partner that it was booked? Sending out invites before confirming the venue is stupid.

You'll have to book somewhere nearby then have the idiot husband stand outside the original venue and redirect people to the new venue.

Book somewhere else as near as possible and show up at the original place on the day to redirect people?

Or, rather, that sounds like dh's job!!

If I asked my DH to book somewhere I would assume that he had done so unless he told me otherwise.

The problem here is the OP’s DH, so I don’t think it’s fair to blame the OP for this.

I love this idea! Stand there at the correct time and place and re-direct people to your house or somewhere else. Maybe have a banner 😀 Also tell the venue what happened. They may have a cancellation on the day and/or take pity on you

You need to book a different venue for the same date&time, nearby. You then post DH outside the originally intended venue with a big sign saying "(ChildsName)'s* Party" and he can direct each party guest to the new venue.

Also tell the staff at the original venue and ask them to give your phone number to anyone who turns up asking for your DC name's party

How did you get the original invites out?

It says in the OP she sent them home from school on the last day of school.

No sensible person turns up to a party they haven’t RSVPed to. When they RSVP, you tell them about the change. I’d keep the date and time and choose a different venue. No one will care. They’ll make a note and turn up at the right place. If they try turning up without ever rsvping, well, they’re a moron and it serves them right.

Well yes but I was pointing out that she could send out a new invite or note in the same way.

A lack of any contact details didn’t stop the original
invites going out

She can’t wait until the start of a new term though, the party will be over.

But she can’t because it was the last day of school. She can’t send them out that way if school is now shut?

Style it out and have a party bus waiting when they arrive. Surprise!!

What does your 'd'p suggest that he does about it?

Oh my life that’s on me 😳. I was sure I’d read it carefully but I missed that part!