Made a birthday party mistake - please help with your advice!

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks so much for all the insight. My husband and I decided to keep the plan as is primarily because of the short notice and to call it "special birthday playdate" rather than a party (great suggestion 19:05!)

I wish I would have posted this issue to this board last month so I could have organized a drop-off only party; will definitely do that next year.

Thanks Moms!

[Anonymous]

OP, as another mom in a twist about her DD's 6th birthday and who to invite and accommodating small homes, etc etc. We generally care more than anyone else does, and that is the truth. Don't worry about it! Take your lessons for next year and have a nice bday playdate!

[Anonymous]

Fyi, we did a "special birthday playdate" for our son's 4th with his 2 BFFs and he thought it was fabulous. We'd done a giant party at 3yo and just couldn't muster the energy this time. He definitely didn't notice the difference. I think having a cake, balloons, and a few themey activities (they colored race cars, no biggie) gave him the sense it was a real party, plus he had cupcakes at school and a special day with mom and dad. He had a Zoo party at 5yo, but I'm considering reverting back to some version of the playdate thing for 6yo mostly because I can't tell who his real friends are now that he's in K. I am as bad as any overly indulgent parent when it comes to birthdays but I feel like the bigger, the better definitely does NOT apply to parties. We've also been to some really nice parties at people's houses, even when space is tight, at this age the kids are pretty happy just to see each other (and dressing up is always a hit!)

[Anonymous]

Our house is tiny, and we've always done "drop-off only" parties. Here's how we word it:

Fairy party for Lucy
111 Elm St.
Drop off time: 2:00
Pick up time: 4:00

Parents have always picked up on this wording, and we've never had an issue with someone not understanding that this was a kid-only party.

[Anonymous]

We just did a drop off party (for 7 four year old boys!!!) and in addition to the "drop off, pickup" times that were on the invitation, I added ("dropoffs welcome!") next to the drop off time just to emphasize that we really were cool with the idea. One mom stayed for a little while to acclimate her son, but then she took off and we really did have everyone there without parents. DH was home and we had a sitter there for our 15 month old. I highly recommend a 90 minute party ....

Also, if you know the parents pretty well or if most of these kids have been to your house before, you could put "dropoffs encouraged" on the invite. I didn't know everyone and didn't want them to feel pressured to drop off if they didn't want to, so I went with welcome.

[Anonymous]

Thanks to the two PPs for answering my question. Those are great ideas for wording the drop off party.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since it's a pretty small class I'd invite all the girls.

Some of them won't make it anyway, especially on fairly short notice.

Agree 5 is more than old enough for a drop off party.

I agree

[Anonymous]

First I would just like to say: awww, how cute that your daughter is offering some problem-solving strategies to allow for a bigger party: a new house!

I wouldn't have the heart *not* to invite more people, so I would invite all the girls.