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Secondary education

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Original poster

Birthdays and year 7

17 replies

littlenicky61 · 12/09/2014 19:01

Hi
Just seeing what usually happens in year 7 with birthdays - what do year 7 girls normally do ?!!! My daughters birthday is next week and she has made a nice circle of friends as well as having a few special friends she still keeps in touch with from Primary. She is not sure what she wants to do and Im not sure how it all works in secondary - what do they normally do / expect to do - help ! Any advice gratefully received.

OP posts:
Coolas · 12/09/2014 20:10

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Mumtobeyorkshire · 12/09/2014 20:15

What about getting her to choose a few friends and going to see a film? I remember my parents waiting in the cafe part of the cinema but us being the screen on our own and it felt quite grown-up! Popcorn & pop instead of cake? X

Reasontobelieve · 12/09/2014 20:16

There was quite a lot of variation in the birthday celebrations my dd attended in Y7. Much depends on your pocket and where you live. One friend invited her for a film and Nandos. Another for a girl's grooming party. Another really successful party involved home made pancakes and milkshakes. When it was my dd's turn, she invited her friends round and they had pizza. Your dd could invite her friends herself and if necessary -and you had the other parents' contact details, you could send them an e mail.

JustADadHere · 12/09/2014 20:16

My son has had a few friends over for a sleep-over, but not much sleeping was done.

MrsDavidBowie · 12/09/2014 20:16

Dd and 5 friends went to local Italian restaurant on their own then back to us for pudding.

MissMillament · 12/09/2014 20:17

Coolas - what a great idea. I would like to do that - where did you get the pencils from?

MissMillament · 12/09/2014 20:18

Sorry OP - from my own DC and those I teach the commonest birthday thing seems to be to have four or five friends for an outing (bowling, pizza, iceskating etc) or a sleepover. My DD had a baking and sleepover party for her four closest friends that week

TeenAndTween · 12/09/2014 20:58

DD has done / attended: lazer quest, ice skating, bowling, go ape, snow dome ringos thing, cinema, home DVD & pizza. Only a few at each, max 10 ever I think.

Coolas · 12/09/2014 21:06

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Scholes34 · 12/09/2014 22:58

DD has taken a cake into secondary school in the past . . . along with a knife. Didn't think about it until after the event.

Tommy · 12/09/2014 23:04

ice cream parlour on a Sunday afternoon

in school, I wouldn't expect any special attention TBH. I work in a secondary school and last week, a tutor got everyone in year 7 assembly to sing happy birthday to a member of her tutor group. It was lovely as she'd bought him a small gift but not sure I have seen it before

clary · 12/09/2014 23:09

My dd had an animal party (the people came to our house with a skunk, a barn owl and various other cuddly and creepy animals) - she invited about 16 friends as it cost no more for that many tho in the end I think we had about 12. DD has also been to laserquest, sleepovers and bowling parties.

I work in secondary and girls in y r7 often wear a big badge and sometimes have a balloon (helium) they carry all day. Boys never have a balloon, very rarely a badge. Balloons/badges tail off as they get older but I have seen 15/16yos with them.

Original poster
littlenicky61 · 14/09/2014 10:05

Thanks to all for their advice and suggestions- think we will probably go along the lines of cinema and pizza - if theres any decent films on for that age !

OP posts:
AtiaoftheJulii · 14/09/2014 13:07

My dd1 and ds have autumn birthdays and went to secondary schools where most people didn't know each other before they arrived. Because they hadn't had much time to make proper friends we had whole class parties (cinema for dd1, swimming for ds) which worked pretty nicely and gave parents a chance to say hello - they were in the same classes for just about all of their subjects, so this was a group they spent most of their time with.

Dd3's birthday (y7) is next week too, and her tutor group and classes don't work that way, and because she didn't know anyone there either, she hasn't got (what I could consider) real friends there yet. I will send in some cakes - that's a normal thing to do in her school's tutor groups - but apart from that we won't do anything else school-related, I don't think.

MrsRuffdiamond · 14/09/2014 13:16

One thing I noticed once my dc were at secondary school was the distinct lack of parental involvement. Invitations from others were mostly verbal, with details of venue, time, phone numbers etc having to be prised out of them half the time!

Mine either had a few friends round for pizza/dvd etc. or went to the cinema and had pizza out somewhere. Usually no more than about 6 of them. My role was ferrying and paying, rather than organising!

MrsRuffdiamond · 14/09/2014 13:20

details of venue, time, phone numbers etc having to be prised out of them

My dc, that is, not the children who'd invited them!

BackforGood · 15/09/2014 18:55

IMe (I have one just left, 1 in Yr11, and 1 in Yr8) parents don't get involved in "birthday parties" once they move to secondary.
The girls (or boys) talk about it themselves, and either arrange to go somewhere together (and they all pay for themselves) or they ask a couple of mates to come round and sleep over.

It balances out in the end - you don't treat her friends, but she pays when they go out on the other girls' birthdays.

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