Children's Party Dilemma No. 3458760

[wessexgirl]

Dd1 starts Reception in September; her fifth birthday is early in October.

Her Reception class will contain about 10 children that she knows from pre-school, and 20 others. The class is divided into 2 halves for the first fortnight of term, so she potentially won't meet several of her classmates until very shortly before her birthday.

Large children's parties in sports halls give me the screaming abdabs, but will I be condemning her to social Siberia if I don't invite everyone?

Or can I get away with having a smaller party for her 'old' friends at the local soft play area? Will the other kids understand and still invite her to their parties once they are more settled?

Really don't know what to do for the best.

I know I'm overthinking this!

Thanks, sleepycat, that's the answer I was after .

Absolutely, same here!

In fact, dd1 is rather like me in finding large crowds a bit overwhelming, so she wouldn't even enjoy that type of party herself.

Maximum 12 it is .

fairly certain this is Dilemma No. 345893 but don't let it worry you

have to say the parents will know .. and if you can stretch to it inviting them all would be seen as a good thing .. and would start the year off with your DD being marked as someone that should be invited

but it is early enough for them not to be aware so do smaller if you want to

(intersting that sports halls give you the screaming abdabs but not soft plays .. t'other way round for me )

I had exactly the same dilemma with my DD. We went primarily with her pre-school friends, and added 4 or 5 others she became friendly with very quickly in reception.

I think the older ones (rightly or wrongly) are looked up to by the younger ones. Therefore, all the concerns I had about DD being excluded from future parties had she not invited the whole class to her own party disappeared. So agree with CAT

if you invite everyone to the party in early October this will mean that it will be an opportunity for all the mums to meet each other and they will LOVE you for it.

I speak from experience.

Check with your soft play play what the minimum for a party is. Our one has a minimum of 10. Given that you're likely to get 2 or 3 who can't make it have you thought about how would you choose the extra children to fill up the spare spaces?

I've done the soft play party. Several people who said they were coming didn't on the day (sick/forgot). This year we hired the local cinema. £50 for up to 30 children and as many adults as I could persuade to stay. Was able to bring own drinks and snacks too and choice of current film. It's a very small independant cinema though, you wouldn't get the same offer at a well known cinema chain.

Anyhow, with the cinema party we were able to invite everyone he wanted too, not care if people didn't come as I had to pay a fixed price regardless and it was half the price of 10 children at the softplay!

Really worth looking around at alternatives.
Gilly

My DS has his birthday in September so I had the same thoughts. He didn't actually want a party so I thought "great", we went to Diggerland instead and he invited two friends round for tea one afternoon after school.

Do want you want to do - your child will still get invited to parties later on!