No one can come to my kids birthday party

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. He's only in 1st grade and the standard here is to still invite the whole class. So far every kid in his class and included everyone. We did the same, but so far only a few of the 20 kids we invited are able to make it. The reminder RSVP hasn't gone out yet. I guess I should relax, but the social schedules of these kids stress me out.

So the party is almost 3 weeks away (the weekend after spring break), and out of 20 invites "only a few" have RSVPed yes? Have the others RSVPed no or just not responded yet? You really need to chill out about this. Come back for advice when literally NO ONE can come to the party, and DCUM will give you solutions, not snark.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. He's only in 1st grade and the standard here is to still invite the whole class. So far every kid in his class and included everyone. We did the same, but so far only a few of the 20 kids we invited are able to make it. The reminder RSVP hasn't gone out yet. I guess I should relax, but the social schedules of these kids stress me out.

So the party is almost 3 weeks away (the weekend after spring break), and out of 20 invites "only a few" have RSVPed yes? Have the others RSVPed no or just not responded yet? You really need to chill out about this. Come back for advice when literally NO ONE can come to the party, and DCUM will give you solutions, not snark.

This.

[Anonymous]

Some of them may be waiting on sports schedules, unfortunately. That's the first weekend for some of the soccer leagues, and probably some of the baseball teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. He's only in 1st grade and the standard here is to still invite the whole class. So far every kid in his class and included everyone. We did the same, but so far only a few of the 20 kids we invited are able to make it. The reminder RSVP hasn't gone out yet. I guess I should relax, but the social schedules of these kids stress me out.

So the party is almost 3 weeks away (the weekend after spring break), and out of 20 invites "only a few" have RSVPed yes? Have the others RSVPed no or just not responded yet? You really need to chill out about this. Come back for advice when literally NO ONE can come to the party, and DCUM will give you solutions, not snark.

You sent it out way too early. Next time only send it out 2-3 weeks before the event date and include a deadline of 1 week before the event. For a weekend kids party, I RSVP the weekend prior and no sooner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Its planned the weekend after everyone returns from spring break. I used Paperless Post. I'm not sure if I should follow up with the parents or just let it go and see what happens.

Absolutely follow up with non responders. These emails are often lost in spam filters. You can send out an email reminder and also reach out directly to each nonresponder so it's not in the spam filter...

Also, for whatever reasons, we have had abysmal time with non responders who show up! It's insane because it affects cupcake count and party favors, but there you have it....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some of them may be waiting on sports schedules, unfortunately. That's the first weekend for some of the soccer leagues, and probably some of the baseball teams.

I actually don't think any sports leagues are scheduled to start until the weekend AFTER spring break...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Its planned the weekend after everyone returns from spring break. I used Paperless Post. I'm not sure if I should follow up with the parents or just let it go and see what happens.

I am not sure what "the weekend after everyone returns from spring break" means.

Are you saying it's the weekend before the kids go back to school? If that's the case, I think some people will still be away.
But, maybe you mean they'll have spring break, then have a week of school, and then it's that weekend after being back in school, in which case I think most people are in town.

I think it's ok to follow up about a week before the party with any non-responders.

[Anonymous]

Talk to the parents you're friendly with first. No need to blast an email to everyone yet. Start with Larlo's BFF.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well which is it? Nobody is coming or a few kids are coming?

Apparently it's the latter. Exaggerate much, OP?

This. And then the snarky fo6llow up from her that the schedules of the invited kids stresses HER out. WTF?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its planned the weekend after everyone returns from spring break. I used Paperless Post. I'm not sure if I should follow up with the parents or just let it go and see what happens.

There you go. People need a quiet weekend for once. Bad timing.

Awww. I'm sorry OP. We are actually invited to the birthday party on the weekend of starting the Spring Break. But we will be long gone by that time so are not able to make it. Otherwise, we wanted so much to attend the birthday party. It is just bad timing. I'm sorry.

[Anonymous]

It's just a tough time of year. You will likely get several more RSVP's after the reminder goes out. You can also let folks know if you have extra space for siblings if you need to goose your numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, my son received an evite from one of his good friends for a birthday party on April 7. We have been waiting to RSVP until we get our sports schedules.

My kids have their first soccer and first baseball games on April 7th but I do not know what time. They would not miss the first game for even a relatively close friend.

Same. For many kids this is the first day of spring season games.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its planned the weekend after everyone returns from spring break. I used Paperless Post. I'm not sure if I should follow up with the parents or just let it go and see what happens.

There you go. People need a quiet weekend for once. Bad timing.

Nothing is quieter for me than getting my kid out of the house for a few hours - there is no timing issue here though I agree with others the OP is worrying too much.

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry, OP. We had very few RSVPs to our son's last party too and it does make a parent feel a little sad. In your case, I think the calendar is to blame - I can't tell from your comments if the party is Easter weekend or the one right after. Many people are still away at Easter, and the following weekend is the start of spring sports so hard for lots of people to say yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm sorry, OP. We had very few RSVPs to our son's last party too and it does make a parent feel a little sad. In your case, I think the calendar is to blame - I can't tell from your comments if the party is Easter weekend or the one right after. Many people are still away at Easter, and the following weekend is the start of spring sports so hard for lots of people to say yes.

Actually this is the most insightful post yet - we are still waiting for 3 of our 4 sports schedules for our 2 kids so this could be the explanation. Depending on the totality of the schedule we often let our kids skip a game here or there to attend a party but part of the calculation is whether we can get a particular kid to/from an event - eg if kid 1 has a baseball game in Georgetown at the same time kid 2 has a birthday party in Gaithersburg we may need to confirm a ride/carpool to cover both.