Against my better judgement, I am considering...

[elliott]

allowing ds1 to have a party at home for his 7th birthday in the middle of winter...it will be mostly boys. If I do this, how many should I limit it too? How can we make it not too much of a madhouse? What sort of activities would be good?

We've usually had parties out of the house with sporty activities to help blow off steam, but ds1 has consistently been asking for a small party at home. Its a bit complicated by the fact that he's just changed schools, so I had in mind that it would be better to have a bigger party this year to help him make more friends...he also wants to invite lots of his old classmates (who are not people he is ever going to see again tbh).. arrggh!

So, how much should I let him plan his own party or should I over-rule him for my own sanity?

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You say it will be in the middle of winter, so it's not an urgent decision - maybe wait and see how it goes at his new school? he may not want to invite old classmates when the time comes.

It really depends upon the size of your house. Friends of ours always turned their lounge into a cinema. Blackout curtains were put up, seats were set out in lines, the mum showed people in by torchlight (remember proper usherettes?!) popcorn served, the invitations were sent out as home made tickets. However, it depends upon you being able to find a newly released dvd that they are all likely to want to watch (Wall-ee was great and v. suitable for 7yos - should be out sometime in the winter) You could follow with pizza to eat.

End of november - I know it seems a long way off but on past experience, if I want to book an activity party I'll need to do it fairly soon to get my choice of dates.
But yes, I'm hoping that the guest list will resolve itself - but I'm still not sure whether a small party would be a mistake at this stage, when he won't really know who his friends are going to be?

House is big but we have just moved (hence school change) and I don't think we will be able to afford big screen TV before his birthday - it's definitely an option for later though. But don't gangs of boys need to burn off some energy? I did think I could perhaps organise some outside activities anyway - after all, there's a good chance it will be drier than it is now