Am I completely insane if I let ds invite his whole class to his 6th birthday party?

[aloha]

There are 26 of the little blighters, and ds wants to ask them all. I also want to invite maybe three other children, plus of course dd will be there.
The party is at our house - we have a reasonably big sitting room and a smallish London garden (not that wide, about 40ft long). I am having a magician to perform for an hour and don't plan on the party being longer than about two hours. So it would be

Play in garden with buffet (do you play games at a 6th b/day party? If so, which?)
In for show
Back out into garden for possible Pinata bashing and chocolate rice crispy cakes etc while dh sweeps up remains of entertainer.
Cutting of cake, merry chorus of Happy Birthday
Push party bag into sticky ungrateful hands
Slam door
Drink wine

Is this doable or will I end up having a nice long rest while wearing a tight fitting white jacket?

Bit of background, ds has Aspergers, so it's nice if he invites people so he gets a better chance of being invited back through the year. He also says he doesn't know who his best friends are, and just wants everyone there. I don't suppose everyone will come..

I sort of envisaged 10-15 children.

go for it.
worth doing once......

Have done it a couple of times - but only in church halls. I think you will need a stiff drink afterwards, but go for it all the same if it is what your DS wants.

Hm...sounds a bit many for an at-home do, could be tricky if it rained. Or if it was muddy.

That number in a church/village/whatever hall might work better and you can do the same stuff with magician etc. Its also easier for parents to stay which many 6 yos
prefer.

Part games - pass the parcel but with more than one parcel for that many. Musical statues/bumps. When you want to get them quietened down, Sleeping Lions

ideas for games: musical bumps, musical statues, pass the parcel, pin tail on the donkey. I wouldn't open any wine until parents have all gone - that way less likely to hang around!!

I appreciate you posting Kerrymum!!

There will only be me, dh, maybe one of my friends and I might ask another mum to help out.

Good ideas for games.

The party is on 22nd, and tbh, ds is happiest at home, otherwise I'd be desperately googling local halls for a last-minute booking this very minute.
I am a bit daunted.
Last year everyone was invited, but it was the start of reception so only about 15 kids. That was easy tbh.
I think I will take a peek at the children at carpet time to invisage them in my living room. I think most of the furniture will have to go upstairs!

Just remembered our neighbours had an outdoors party (with bouncy slide) on a wet day ... lots of plastic sheeting and a large gazebo helped. You might want something like that as a contingency plan.

outdoors games could include hide&seek (you DONT want that all over the inside of your house!)

If not already, you will be completely insane by the end of the day. That doesn't mean that it is the wrong thing to do though.

Make sure that you have a strong drink of something ready though.

If you have carpets or fabrics then you may want stain-removers for blood and vomit to hand (both present at ds1's 6th birthday).

My dd invites her class plus a few friends, there are 32 in her class.

THere are always a few that can;t come, although we don't do it at home, we hire a church hall. But maybe your house is bigger than mine.

If you decide that all class is too many, then prob best to do all boys. From about 7 on the parties seem to be more single sex anyway as they get into football versus toenail painting, and children see that as fair whereas a selected mixed group of boys and girls wouldnt be.

I've done it with that number a couple of times, but in a gym with lots of equipment, not at home

We did have about 20 at home once, when DS2 was in Y1 - we had just redecorated the dining room, which was empty (except for the table & chairs which went in the kitchen) so we had the whole room for games and then put paper tablecloths on the floor for a picnic.

Best thing was the magic relighting candles - they all blew spit all over the cake but had to take a piece home anyway - and the child who actually fell asleep during dead lions and had to be removed, weeping

No, don't have all boys! Girls are such a civilising influence at parties (if they'll come ) (I'm sure for your DS they will )

hmmm...gazebo....Argos??

Def can't do all boys. Ds is a rather unusual little chap and many of his chums are girls. Including the one in love with him

Hi aloha. I invited all of my ds' class for his 6th birthday and was super glad that I did. About 3/4 of them showed up. I encouraged the parents (and siblings) to come too and served beer and wine. It worked really well. I did a treasure hunt (but I have a big back yard). Could I recommend, if you can squish it in, a bouncy castle. It works really well for the overspill kids who can't stay still for the magician. I have also rented a helium tank (look online for party stores) for not too much money and made the blowing up of the balloons one of the activities (keeps dads happy) and then gave each child a few balloon to take home instead of a party bag.

go for it!!

I think you might as well invite everyone - as you say, it gives him more chance of being invited to more parties himself. Also if it's at home, it doesn't cost you much more, whereas if you were paying per child somewhere it might be a different matter.

I generally count on about 15 children at home for parties.
Don't worry about whether they are wearing shoes - this drove me mad last year, as the kids were in and out of the garden and there was much fussing (from parents) about putting shoes on and off. Cover your carpet with big groundsheet or blankets and encourage bare feet.
Rope in helpers but encourage parents to leave, then you can assume a school-marmish tone if necessary

Do you have a big garden? And do you mind if it is or has been raining and 30 little pairs of feet traispe mud,blackcurrant juice, chocolate and cake all over your carpet? If not fine. If so I would hire a hall somewhere. Music, games (yes 6 yr old so like games), plenty of food, loads of space to tear about, as many balloons as you can manage to blow up - some on the floor and some kept in reserve for when the first lot have been popped. And fancy dress. Admiring each others costumes and whacking each other with plastic swords etc will take up the first ten mins or so.

That's what I did for both my older kids first school birthday parties and it was fine. In fact some of the children still remember DS#1's pirate party now and he's in Yr6 >>

BTW forget the children entertainer. IME half the kids are fidgetting and running around within the first half and hour.

Well worth doing at least once.
sounds like you have the space for it, and with your sons dx, there are other reasons also. I love big birthday parties!

I think you should do it, because, reading between the lines, I think it will give you reassurance that you have done your best for your DS and his school social life. Think of it as a one off, as parties are about to get more selective and brace yourself.

I think the magician is a good idea but I think an hour is too long. Can he do a half hour show? There is no way you will fit all the of your list into the other hour. Also I would cut the cake before you have the pinata, either after the other food or after the show.

I always feel better if there are fewer parents there. Can just get on with things more easily and also in a house setting parents take up a lot of room.

sing and cut cake before they eat so you can have eating time to ram cake into party bags/plate it up ready to eat.

team races are good: balloon passing,dressing up etc, if garden can stand it.

Biscuit decorating, a rich tea with icing, jellydiamonds chocolate sprinkles plus decorating plate for said biscuit to go on keeps the girls busy.

You will need helpers: adults, aunts, granparents, older cousins; but agree get shot of parents where pos.

Lucky ds, it sounds fab and,being september and prob the firstish party of year, you have bagsied your partic entertainer for the rest of the year and everyone else will have to think of someting different!

repeat "....only 1h55min to go....only 1h54 minto go......."

dd is having a bouncy castle and games for her 6 b'day at the weekend with her school friends - invited 19 only 2 have dropped out so far - yikes. Doing themed games (castle theme so sleeping dragons, musical thrones), possibly make a box castle (to take loot home in) and a pinata.