My dd will be turning four soon and I'm trying to plan her birthday party. I was planning on inviting her friends from preschool and few others from our neighborhood and church. There would be about 10 kids invited. We are planning on having it at the park and we would grill hot dogs, etc. This will be our first real party so I'm not sure what to expect. I've heard from one person that I should expect siblings to also show up. If that were to happen, we could be talking about 30 kids showing up! Some of these kids have 2 or 3 siblings. Then if both parents show too, that would be a whole lot of hot dogs and chaos! What has been the experience of parents here? Do only the children invited show up, or do some people think that the whole family is welcome to come? I'm wondering if we should rethink having it at the park if that is going to give the impression that all are invited. I would hate to not have enough food, drinks and cake to go around. I need the voices of experience here!
I just had my son's fourth birthday party at Chick Fil A (they have great packages and if you're interested in more info you can PM me). Anyway, I invited his whole preschool class of 12 and I think four came and I had about 10 kids total. The only sibling that came was a baby so that wasn't a huge issue. Also, only one parent brought their child. I don't think it's fair if siblings that aren't invited come and I would be surprised if that happened. If so, I don't think parents should expect for you to feed them. If they wanted to come and play at the park that is one thing, but you should only be responsible for the child whose name is on the invite and something for the parents. Good luck!
We usually have dd's party at a museum or similar, where we're paying $12-15 per kid. I've found the best way to take care of this on the front end is to address the invitations to each child and then add a line at the bottom that says something like "Mom or Dad is invited too!" or "Please bring Mom or Dad". (On the flip side, when I have something back at the house, I'll add something like "Bring the whole family, everyone is welcome".) I think that makes it very clear that no extra siblings are invited and that you expect mom or dad to stay for the party to supervise their own child.
b'day try kids club house 550-3262 they will be able to accomadate you and your situation for far less then $12. per kid. Ask whomever answers the phone for information. or check it out on 40/42 home page. the kids will have a blast and you will be able to enjoy the party instead of freating the whole thing. Good luck GAM
See, this is why I have never done anything other than close family and friends for DS's birthdays. The uncertainty would drive me nuts! At least my way, I know I better get the trough ready. :jester:
It's true. I am rethinking inviting folks from his class next year because nobody RSVP's and it drives me nuts because I don't know who to expect!!
Yeah, I can't handle it. I have to plan everything down to the last detail, can't stand not knowing how many are coming for things. Yeah, I have a touch of a compulsion about that too. :lol:
That's a good idea. I had thought about trying to word the invitation to convey that, but couldn't think of anything that sounded good. That is a great way to put it!
I looked into them, but the only thing I see for birthday parties is for $170, which is $17 per child since I was inviting 10. Is there another package available that I don't see that is cheaper? I still may consider it. The park is going to cost us $45 to rent the shelter and there is no refund if it rains, so that is one more thing to worry about. Then there is the cost of the food. Decisions, decisions.....
Yes, this is what I was concerned about. If just one or two did that it wouldn't be a big deal, but like I said, some of them have 2 or 3 siblings and one even has 4 siblings!
I echo what others have said about having drinks/food for parents. It really depends on the age of the child for your party and the age of the siblings whether you will have people drop off the child/stay, or bring other siblings. If the kids are close in age AND since you are going to a public park, most would bring the siblings and let them play I would think. I mean it's not like there won't likely be other random kids playing at the park that day. Right? We have always done private parties. There are too many variables for the outdoor stuff so we always do a planned party somewhere. My daughter's last birthday party was the absolute BEST party we have EVER done!!! AND I really think it was the most special for my daughter and the girls she invited. We had it at Grandma's Princess in Apex. http://www.grandmasprincess.com/ It was so worth the cost and the experience was so special. We limited the party to six girls including my daughter. She picked only girls of course. I made sure that when I invited each girl that I included the website on the invitation. The moms understood that this was a small party, that girls would only enjoy it, and that anyone "extra" would either incur us a cost or not be able to participate. Best thing is that the parents are even served food, included in the cost. I didn't have to do anything but take pictures. PM if you want more info, but any little girl would love it!
I've found that overall not many kids from school will attend; typically just the ones that your child hangs out with regularly and whose parents you've already met. When having it at a place where you pay for admittance, I typically include something like "Please be sure to RSVP by xx/xx to ensure that you're on the birthday list at the door". Kids Clubhouse is great if you want to invite a ton of kids, as their package for $170 allows you up to 35 kids (which ends up being less than $5 per child!).
I 3rd Kid's Clubhouse.......we have used them for the last two years. My two boys have birthdays 2 days apart. They chose not to get a big present this past year so they could have their party at Kid's Clubhouse. My 4th grader invited everybody in his class, atleast 12 or so came alone from his class. My 1st grader had atleast 10 from his class as well. Some kids brought siblings as well all our close friends were there. I would have to say that we had close to 45 kids there and of course some of their parents stayed and helped supervise. We just did cake, chips & drink. We scalled down ou food so much this year........it was much less stressful.
We usually do our parties at non meal time hours, have the cake, chips, etc., but no meals, that takes care of not having enough food. I've found that when we've invited classmates, most do not RSVP which gets frustrating beyond belief, so now I only invite kids that my kids hang out with, and we usually hand deliver the invitations, that way there's parental contact. I know w/my kids there have been times when I've emptied their bags on a Friday, only to find an invitation for a party the next day, of course I feel like a heel and call the parents. We've done Adventure landing, the Pottery place in Clayton by WM, and a few others, and have not had problems w/siblings coming.
We like Monkey Joe's, but they get way too crowded on the weekends. If you're looking for possible locations for the party, you might want to check out this past thread http://www.4042.com/4042forums/showthread.php?t=16595&highlight=pottery.
Thanks for all the help, everyone! Hearing everyone's experiences helped me decide that I would rather just go ahead and pay some money to not have to worry about stuff. So we decided on Kids Clubhouse and went ahead and booked it. It looks like great fun and no worries! I will also include some other kids since we can have up to 35. Thanks again!!! :hurray:
