Is it normal to get few replies for a class party?

[Mumsince2021x]

I’m a big over thinker (probably social anxiety if i’m being honest) and it was a big thing to do a huge class party for my child. Handed the invites out early last week and have had just under third of the class rsvp.
Is this normal to get quite a few over the coming weeks. Or should I expect many to not reply whether they do or don’t then up on the day. I knew it was quite notorious people not replying but thought it would be more like a third didn’t, 2 thirds did. The party is 5 weeks away so there is a bit of time. I always reply the day of or following day after receiving an invite so I just can’t understand this. Plus why would you want to annoy parents who you are going to be with for 7 years of primary school.

Put it on WhatsApp

My only. Can you tell 😅

I think the teacher hands them out right before they leave the classroom so they come
out holding them.

So how many class parties have you been invited to?!

Look…. It’s 5 weeks away. Many will be likely have plans for half term and that will be at the forefront. Plus some of the kids will barely know your son so maybe they’re not even sure yet they want to go.

Just chill. And if some don’t reply… no need to hold a grudge for the next 7 years about it 😆

Some will have shoved in pocket,
some will have shoved in bag and still there as parent hasn’t yet emptied
Some Will have shoved it in to their parents hands along with various bits of craft and school bag etc and it may just have been lost /
dropped / whatever

We’ve had 4 invites so far for parties throughout October and early November.

Never expected everyone to come so I think my post was more guaging if it was normal to chase or for invites to be slow initially.

Yes I probably would be a little annoyed if people ignore the invite but i’ll get over it i’m sure. 🤪

Thanks all. It’s put my mind at rest that it’s relatively normal to chase, not receive replies, have replies much nearer the time etc etc which is what I wanted to know.

I will likely to a whatsapp reminder soon!

I wouldn’t assume they did personally but 🤷‍♀️ that’s me. 15 years in to school aged kids

Yes it’s very normal. My DD party is next weekend and I still have loads of parents not replied. Sent a text today and then they all did 🤣

Ok this is why I wanted to post 😅 This makes me feel better and I will try and stop worrying!!

Thank you all.

MN is so miserable about parties. And then the next thread is ‘I have no friends!’

Anyway Op, don’t stress. Most people like parties and I’m sure most if not all will come.

People used to manage to reply to any kind of invitation, and it's not unreasonable that in these days, you could expect a reply that takes literally seconds to type. But there's a lot more rude parents now-all the mums who have a big age gap between their kids say people are more flakey. Used to be rare for people not to reply, or fail to turn up.
You could maybe ask at drop off or pick up (I know if you and your partner use afterschool that's easier said than done)

That would be really unusual where I am. Invitations are almost always at least a month in advance and fairly frequently 6-8 weeks ahead. I've got 2 children currently in primary. Agree with a pp that putting it on the WhatsApp group is the way to go - you'll probably get an immediate flurry of replies.

I think with these you need to be quite pushy for the rsvps and send reminders on WhatsApp, then also a “See you tomorrow at x time x place for little Johnny’s 6th birthday party” last minute reminder.

And for heaven’s sake, don’t get annoyed with someone for the next 7 years if they don’t reply, because you really can’t be sure that it was because they couldn’t be arsed to.

6 weeks notice is a lot for a kids birthday party. People will look at it, think they have lots of time to reply and then forget about it because it's so far away. Send a reminder text 2 weeks in advance.

Yeah there is no way that 70% of the children got those invites or handed them to a parent. Use Whatsapp!

Hey op.

I’m just going through this now.

I would say 6 weeks is a bit too much in advance for party invitations. Maybe try 3-4 weeks next time.

I got a few people rsvp straight away and then gradually they have been coming in it bit by bit.

Our party is this weekend and I have to say, we have a very ‘diverse’ school and there is definitely a pattern of some cultures just not rsvping at all. I did corner one mum at pick up who told me she couldn’t make it and it was very clear she was never going to let me know.

We have about a third of the class that i haven’t heard from at all.

My friend in the same class had a party earlier this year and one person rsvpd the day before the party and my friend said no, too late.

Another friend of mine had someone turn up who had never rsvpd.

The party I threw at nursery was more of a success. One bit of insight i did get from that was that some kids have parents who are split up and if the dad is due to have the kid that weekend, they are less likely to rsvp.

I had paper invites given out as we don’t have a class whatsapp. We have a year whatsapp with 3 classes in it.

I then put a reminder in the year whatsapp and got no new rsvps on the back of it.

This! I missed a party invite once, as it was at the bottom of DCs school bag, and I didn’t see it! So pls do a reminder to RSVP on WhatsApp nearer the time, as some parents may not have seen the invite.

So true!!

Jeez I just think it’s madness but I defintely take everyone’s points about lost, in bags, parents split etc etc. I think i’m just surprised it’s the majority rather than minority.

But still a long time away to hopefully a few more trickle in and i’ll do a reminder.

Thank you all.

I think it’s totally normal but just to warn you, in my experience there are quite a few people who interpret RSVP as “reply if you’d like to come, feel free to ignore if not” rather than “please reply to let me know whether or not you would like to come”.

Also, timing for these things can be really tricky. 5 weeks is fine and perfectly normal where I live. I have a DC with a January birthday and we have found we have to do invites in November or Christmas takes over and people forget to reply.

I think if everyone does a class party, and you are not known, people hold back. With 30 in a class, people don’t want 30 parties and 30 presents every year. It’s inevitable some parents are busy. We never did more than half the class. I didn’t feel I needed to know 29 other parents.

You will probably get more replies but by this time next year your dc will have a better idea of who they like. It’s far less stress to just have a few!

I think it’s a good point re people’s interpretations on what rsvp means. Although I just couldn’t imagine ever ignoring an invite even if I couldn’t go. But I know people are different.