Hide birthday party guest list or not?

[Anonymous]

I’ve got space/budget constraints for my 6-year-old’s party and although he’s friendly with most of the kids in his class, we only want to invite 10 of the 20.

I’m also wondering if I should hide the guest list as I don’t want children to come solely based on whether other children are planning to attend. I don’t want to hurt any child’s feelings if they are not on the list.


Are there any advantages to hiding the guest list or should I just let everyone see?

[Anonymous]

I've never hidden a guest list on an invitation.

[Anonymous]

I’ve always hidden the list, but I’m big on privacy.

[Anonymous]

I never hide the list, but I always include the whole class, so I don’t feel the need to. I always show the list in case people need to carpool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve always hidden the list, but I’m big on privacy.

+1

[Anonymous]

Always hide the list.

[Anonymous]

Please don't because sometimes people like to car pool and it makes things awkward. The kids will talk about it anyway at school. My daughter tells me all about the parties she wasn't invited to. There's no privacy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please don't because sometimes people like to car pool and it makes things awkward. The kids will talk about it anyway at school. My daughter tells me all about the parties she wasn't invited to. There's no privacy.

[Anonymous]

Don’t hide the list. Make it’s very awkward for those of us to dance around the subject of “is this other person I know invited or not”. I hate it and prefer to just know if can or can’t mention the party

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please don't because sometimes people like to car pool and it makes things awkward. The kids will talk about it anyway at school. My daughter tells me all about the parties she wasn't invited to. There's no privacy.

+1

[Anonymous]

I hate it when parents hide the guest list! I usually will text other parents I know to see if their kid is going to arrange a carpool (and other parents have done the same with us). I agree that it really provide privacy and just makes things difficult for parents of the kid you are inviting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hate it when parents hide the guest list! I usually will text other parents I know to see if their kid is going to arrange a carpool (and other parents have done the same with us). I agree that it really provide privacy and just makes things difficult for parents of the kid you are inviting.

* doesn’t provide privacy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t hide the list. Make it’s very awkward for those of us to dance around the subject of “is this other person I know invited or not”. I hate it and prefer to just know if can or can’t mention the party

Yep, this. When parents hide the list, I always assume they are being exclusionary and don’t want people to know. It also makes it more likely that I will decline if I would need a carpool because I don’t want to upset someone if it turns out their kid wasn’t invited.

[Anonymous]

Don’t hide the list. You are way more likely to have hurt feelings when people don’t know that only half the class is invited. And the people who are only going to come if certain other kids are invited, are going to ask the other parents, so you aren’t preventing that, you are just making harder for them to get that information.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t hide the list. You are way more likely to have hurt feelings when people don’t know that only half the class is invited. And the people who are only going to come if certain other kids are invited, are going to ask the other parents, so you aren’t preventing that, you are just making harder for them to get that information.

Edited to add: there is only so much work I am willing to do for a classmates’ 6th birthday party. Don’t make it harder for your guests.