How to politely say “no siblings” invited to my sons bday party?

[Anonymous]

We just sent out an evite to my sons 4th bday. We are having it at our house, which is small, and only invited the kids in his preschool class. We didn’t want 50 people at our house and intentionally didn’t invite our friends with kids or any neighbors to keep the guest list small. I guess I made a mistake on the river and didn’t realize you could cap the number of people, but now one of the parents immediately responded with a yes for him and his son plus his two other kids! His response “I hope it’s OK we bring the whole family.”

How do I politely say no that’s not OK. We don’t even know these people.

[Anonymous]

River should be invite

[Anonymous]

I would just respond honestly but politely - "I'm sorry, but our house is small so unfortunately we have to limit guests to kids in Larlo's class."

[Anonymous]

Oh gosh I hate when parents do this! I didn't have the nerve to tell one of the parents coming to our party "no it's not OK" but regretted it because it ended up soooo overcrowded.

I would just send them an email and let them know that sadly space is a bit of an issue and that you only have room for the kids that were invited. You could always let them know if a lot of the kids RSVP no that he can bring the rest of the gang.

[Anonymous]

You should just say you don’t have room and hope they can still make it. We’d have to reply with our regrets since we don’t have weekend childcare but other people will figure it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would just respond honestly but politely - "I'm sorry, but our house is small so unfortunately we have to limit guests to kids in Larlo's class."

I agree, and do it ASAP and change the invite. The longer you wait the more awkward it will be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would just respond honestly but politely - "I'm sorry, but our house is small so unfortunately we have to limit guests to kids in Larlo's class."

I agree, and do it ASAP and change the invite. The longer you wait the more awkward it will be.

+1

And go back edit the invitation and re-send it.

"Due to limited space, no siblings please". (short and simple).

[Anonymous]

That is just rude. And you barely know this person? Is there a way to put on the evite "Jimmys" name only?

[Anonymous]

You should just edit the invitation to say that the invitation is limited to kids in the class because of space reasons. Or send a message to the guest list.
For what it’s worth, we almost always make an effort to go to class birthday parties even if siblings are not invited. One parent stays behind with the other kid.

[Anonymous]

I’m sorry, we can’t accommodate entire families. This party is just for the preschool class.

[Anonymous]

Ugh I feel like such an idiot for not anticipating this.

[Anonymous]

“I apologize; I should have made this clear on the evite. As much as we would love to have enough space for siblings to attend, we unfortunately just don’t have the space to do so. I hope Johnny can still join us on his own; please let me know!”

And then change he rvite setting and the invitation to make it clear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“I apologize; I should have made this clear on the evite. As much as we would love to have enough space for siblings to attend, we unfortunately just don’t have the space to do so. I hope Johnny can still join us on his own; please let me know!”

And then change he rvite setting and the invitation to make it clear.

Don’t say the last part about on his own unless you are ok with a drop off party.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“I apologize; I should have made this clear on the evite. As much as we would love to have enough space for siblings to attend, we unfortunately just don’t have the space to do so. I hope Johnny can still join us on his own; please let me know!”

And then change he rvite setting and the invitation to make it clear.

This, except I would send the bolded part as an update to the invite to the whole list, before you start getting more RSVP's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh I feel like such an idiot for not anticipating this.

You live and learn, so you shouldn't feel like an idiot but now you know. I and others I know specifically have house parties so siblings and families can be accommodated without incurring a per kid charge at a venue. It's rude that he didn't ask first, but for many people it's not a huge deal to invite siblings to a house party.