Just curious, how many kids do you invite to a birthday party?

[CEDmom]

DD and I got back a little while ago from a birthday party for the 4yo DD of a friend. There were about 30 kids there. It was pretty crazy the entire time and although DD had fun she narrowly missed getting hurt a few times by some bigger kids and the birthday girl ending up in tears at the end of the party. This is the 2nd time we've gone to this child's party and last year was just as bad. I don't think we'll be going again. Anyway, I was just wondering how many kids you invite to your child's party. DD who turned 4 in August had 8 plus we also had a little party at school for her pre-school class.

 

[tlgoblue]

My kids are a bit old for the big party thing, but way back when, I kept if to one guest per year. Thus, a 4 year old would invite 4 children. Parents were always welcome and encouraged to stay. Of course, that all changed when they got to be in school and I would get the preemptive letters asking parents to invite the entire class or at least the entire gender, so nobody felt left out. I just kept to my guns, and invited who we wanted. However, the parties became fewer and farther between. I try never to be seriously outnumbered by little people.

Keep the Faith!
Tracy

 

[Scratch42]

One guest per age the child is turning! That way you can keep it simple and everybody can enjoy. Even the parent who has to clean up afterwards if it's a home party!

m2cw

Scratch

 

[CamColt]

We are having a house party for DS's 4th birthday next weekend. There will be my 2 DSs, my 2 nieces, and the 5 other boys from our neighborhood, for a total of 9 kids(ages 4-14)

We had a 7th birthday party for my oldest DS about a month ago at the bowling alley. The same 9 were invited plus 2 more from his class(2 of the 5 neighborhood boys are also in his class).

 

[Kimberle]

I am planning Brittany's 5th bday party. I am inviting 26 children. 19 from her class, 2 cousins, 5 friends.

I do not want any kids to feel left out, so I invite the whole class.

I expect abt 15 will come.

 

[Beast fan]

For DS5's party last June, I think we invited, I think, about 25 children. All but 5 of them were from his Pre-School class. We ONLY were able to invite that many children because DW found a great place to have the party....... our local "community" center. It worked out GREAT. Even though it was indoors, the facility is large enough to play hockey and basketball (remember, these are Pre-School kids, NOT 8 year-olds), and even had one of those cushy, bouncy type things (oh, come on! You know what I'm talking about!) to bounce in. Also, the facility provided the supervision! Granted, it cost $200, but we had the facility for 3 hours (not including set-up time), the children were safe (not going to run in the road if you're inside), and the parents loved being able to watch their 4/5 yr old expend a ton of energy with little or no work from the parent.
Point is............ if you can arrange a large space, why not have 20 or 25 children over? I guess it all depends on the environment.

Dave

 

[huey duey & luey]

For my childrens' 2nd bday I have about 25 kids on the list. Believe me too many too year olds so I actually decided to split it up and have 2 seperate parties. One is their multiple splay group. The other my friends/neighbors
Tara

 

[luvmy2sams]

We just had DD's 5th birthday party yesterday. Similar to Beast fan, we held the party at a local school that rents their gym out. One end of the gym houses all the equipment from an out-of-business Chuck E. Cheese. It was great! DD invited everyone in her class, as well as several of her friends from church. We sent out 22 invitations and 19 kids showed up, along with various younger siblings. We had kids stopping us at church this morning to tell us how much fun it was, which made it all worthwhile.

 

[Pembo]

DS#1 turned 4 we had about 25 kids. His whole preschool class, all of our playgroup and his cousins. We had it in the church fellowship hall. Everyone was under 5 so it was pretty easy to manage (for an ex-preschool teacher ) I also specified no gifts. That weirded out a few moms but ds didn't need a lot of cheap toys, no offense to anyone. He didn't miss the gifts at all! We played games, had a craft, read a story and had cupcakes.

That said....I'd never do it again! LOL!!!

I try to stick to around 6 kids. It gets too expensive with a lot of kids and the birthday boy doesn't really even know who is there. DS#1 will be 8 next month. He has his list done. (since Oct ) His 3 cousins, his brother, 4 friends.

 

[Lewski709]

I think the type of party you have and the age of the child make a difference. Say for instance, you rent the pool at the Y and your child is turning 7....7 kids does not warrant the pool being rented. In this case, I would invite as many kids as possible to get use out of the pool and the more the merrier. I am not responsible as their are guards included in the fees. A 7yr old party at my house, 7 kids are plenty. A 7yr old party at putt putt, 10 guests are included in the price so why have less. If I am not totally responsible for supervision......invite the whole town.

 

[skiwee1]

Emma is turning 5 next month and we are having two parties. We are having a low key family party one day and a kids party another day. The kids party is being held at the Crayola Works factory and we have invited 20 kids. Not only did Emma want all of the kids in her preschool class from this year but also from last year! I have to pay per kid about $16 a piece but I think it worth it to keep them out of my house. We usually don't do tghe kids parties until they start 1st grade but all her classmates do them so I figured what the heck!

 

[Desnik]

My DD is turning 6 at the end of the month. We are havuing it at a bowling alley. We have invited 15 kids. Some from her class and 3 from the neighborhood and 4 cousins. I got lucky this year because we just moved to the area so DD hasn't made too many friends yet! We usually have a family party with mostly adults, then a party for her friends/classmates. They also have alittle party in her class.

I think 30 kids is crazy! Believe me, I owned a party facility and I would talk the parents out of invited that many kids. They just can't enjoy themselves. FYI:The average party was 15-20 kids.

 

[jel0511]

I always invite everyone and usually end up with extravaganzas. For DD's 4th birthday we had 25 kids and about 35 adults. We had it catered and had a clown and puppet show for the kids. DD's birthday is in May, so luckily they were only in the house during the puppet show. For DD's 5th birthday, I had 23 kids at Build-A-Bear and Rainforest Cafe. Definately EASIER!!!! I'm trying to talk DD into having her 6th birthday out, but she's insisting on Pony Rides in the backyard, so we'll have to see.

 

[shortbun]

We invite same as the age. 8-8 kids invited. I started this at
age 4. 1st birthday had kids of our friends. 2nd and 3rd-no
friends, just family. We usually go bowling or picnic. I absolutely hate parties like some have described and often don't even tell
ds about his invitation. Most of his good friends parents do the
same thing we do or even fewer. At 10-I've told DS the parties
stop and he can have 3 friends over for a sleepover and a movie.
Kids that get these extravaganza parties have such expectations
all their lives. I know, I was one.

 

[browneyes]

I invite all their cousins. There are 14 cousins. But I've had as many as 25 kids show up before (and even more adults ).

 

[aprilgail2]

At my daughters preschool they request that you either invite the whole class or none at all from there so out of the 15 invited 14 of them came to her party plus a few kids that we know from other places. I think the more kids the better time they have playing hte games and just running around.

 

[disykat]

We've always done "the # of guests per year give or take a few" for their "friend" parties. Before they were four we simply invited close friends or family. We also stopped the parties at age 10.

I've still got one under 10 and I'm hoping he'll choose a family outing instead! Everyone I know has small home parties with cake, ice cream, presents, prize bags, and a few games.

 

[tiggerlover]

As I general rule we have always invited the # of kids for the age of the child. We did this until DS was 5, the last two parties DS invited under 10 kids, which was fine for me because I wouldn't have wanted any more because it does get crazy. Also, we have two seperate parties, we have a BBQ birthday party with the family, including cousins and very close friends and then we have a party with the kids from school.

 

[believe]

Up until age 5 they have a family party which is about 17 kids and then the adults. After age 5 it is a friends party with is anywhere from 10-12 kids.