How do you invite for a Birthday party?

[gshoemate]

DD will be 7 in January and she has never had a birthday party with friends. It has always been with just family. It is time that she have a birthday party like those at school. My question is, who do I invite? Do I invite the whole class (which will be alot of money) or do I have DD choose a certain amount of friends to invite. I know she is not friends with everyone in class and she has a few friends on the bus that she would want to invite. I feel that if I don't invite everyone in class, she will hurt some feelings. Am I thinking to much??

 

[mommytotwo]

I don't think you need to feel obligated to invite her whole class. If your daughter wants to do somethng special with her whole class, ask the teacher if you are able to bring in some cookies or cupcakes with juice during snack time or after lunch.
Have your daughter pick out X number of friends and give them invitations and have their parents rsvp so that you have a head count and know how many children to prepare for.

 

[decker96]

ITA with mommytotwo. Send treats with her to school to celebrate there. Then let her invite who she wants to the party. My DD has been had friend parties for the last 4 years and she has never invited her whole class. She usually doesn't want any boys there and she's not friends with all the girls. Plus, she has other friends from the neighborhood that don't go to school with her that she always wants to invite.

 

[beattyfamily]

I ask my 8 year old who she'd like to invite and go from there...I do not invite the whole class...the only time I did was in pre-k because that is what everyone did. She went to many parties in pre-k!

 

[mickeyboat]

Just be careful, if you aren't inviting the whole class, to not send invitations to school to hand out. Many schools don't allow it anyway.

Denae

 

[candykisses]

Send invitations to the children she would like to invite.

 

[NMAmy]

Originally posted by mickeyboat
Just be careful, if you aren't inviting the whole class, to not send invitations to school to hand out. Many schools don't allow it anyway.

Denae

 

[The Duchess]

DS's school has a "birthday walk" for the kids. Mothers (or fathers) bring in treats for the kids and make a poster of what the birthday child did the past year,using photos. The birthday child hold a globe and walks around a candle in a glass bowl (which represents the sun) and counts the number of years they are old. I brought character cupcakes.


DS invited just 5 friends from school, so his party is a mix of school friends, relatives and a few kids of moms I used to work with.

Weird timing on this post, I just did his Birthday Walk today!

 

[CEDmom]

I'd decide in advance how many children you want to have and then work with your DD on selecting those to invite. I agree about not handing out invitations in school if the whole class is not invited. I don't think it's necessary to invite her whole class if you're keeping the number small. It can be hurtful though if just a few children are left off the guest list. We also do a treat for the whole class to celebrate.

BTW, last year I only invited 2 children from DD's preschool class and along with sending the invitation to their home I also included a note saying that the whole class wasn't invited.

 

[mom2boys]

Originally posted by mickeyboat
Just be careful, if you aren't inviting the whole class, to not send invitations to school to hand out. Many schools don't allow it anyway.

Denae

My boys old school required that invitations be mailed unless the whole class was invited. I like that idea and have always followed it.

One month into kindergarten a mother decided to hand out invites at pickup - not hard since it was half day. Problem was she didn't know the parents of one of the 4 children her son invited. She walked up to one woman with the invitation extended and asked "are you X's mother?" Well it wasn't X's mother, so she said oh this isn't for you, turned her back & walked away. I was mortified for X's mother.

 

[poohkinandpiglet]

For my son's 4th birthday, we had his first big invite friends party. We invited friends, neighbor kids, and only the boys from class. It was a "Firefighter Training Camp" theme so I figured I could get away with not inviting the girls from school.

This year we are doing a much smaller party at our local Kindermusik Academy. I plan on inviting only 5 or 6 kids from his class along with a few other friends. I'm mailing the invitations so no one gets their feelings hurt at school.

 

[Otto's Doll]

Check with your school on the policy for invitations. At our schools, you can invite all the boys, all the girls, or the whole class. If you are only inviting a few from the class, you must send invitations in the mail. Have a great time!

 

[gshoemate]

Thanks everyone. I feel better now and won't stress as much. I will also check with her teacher to see how it is normally handled. DD received an invite today at school and that is what caused me to question how to go about the invite thing. I will also need to get addresses and such from the teacher. Thanks again!

 

[HollyJoy]

You certainly don't have to invite the whole class! That would be stressful! LOL My youngest is having her 5th bday party next weekend, and I let her pick the kids she wanted to invite.