Sibling invites

[Mumo12]

Just looking to see what the general rule of thumb is we're planning ds 5th birthday party and intending to invite everyone in his class, were planning to have it at a place you pay per child who attends,my partner seems to think people will just turn up with siblings of the children as well, I on the other hand wouldn't dream of taking my child's siblings if only he was invited, we're just worried we could end up paying double what we're planning to spend on the party as I'm a soft a@#£ and wouldn't have the guts to turn anyone away tyia

Yes people will bring siblings. However you can put something on the invite that if they want to bring siblings they must pay for themselves and are not part of the party.

you can give the venue a list of invited children and they can check them off when they issue the armband or whatever they use to show they paid. Not on the list, you pay your own entry.

'Sorry, we can't accommodate siblings due to numbers.'

"We hope you can come. Please let us know by X date. If you would like to bring a sibling under X (the age the venue goes up to) please book them in and pay for them on the day."
Having said that in 8 years of parties, I've only once had a sibling turn up, and mum was very willing to keep him at the side, but in fact someone else was ill on the day and he was able to take their spot.

I recently did a party for my 6 year old. Siblings turned up and parents who hadn't rsvp'd turned up too. It's best to write it explicitly on the party invitation.

Yes people will bring siblings. You need to write it on the invite very clearly.

Also make clear about only catering for the class.

Yep, we've just done a party (not soft play but similar) where we had unexpected siblings. In this case it was fine, but in a pay per head place it would have been a pita

If it's a soft play, you just need the people checking off names to tell any CF parents bringing siblings "oh ok we can see little Johnny on the list but cecilia and frank aren't. Would you be paying for them or are you just dropping off Johnny"

This.

If you say they need to pay for sibling then loads will come and that gets awkward with food and party bags. Someone will probably bring them but at least there’s no expectation to be able to join in.

Thank you all for your input it's been really helpful 😊