At what point do I have a problem?

[Anonymous]

Throwing bday party for DD turning 4. This is my 3rd kid - I've thrown lots of bday parties before. Her preschool will not give out parent emails, but allowed me to put a paper invitation in kids' cubbies. We invited eleven girls across two preschool classes. I made the envelope a very bright blue so it would stand out from other papers, and I can see that they have been taken home (not still in cubbies). Invitations went out on Monday (9/9) for a bday party on Saturday 9/21. So far we have received one rsvp. I knew that paper invites might yield fewer attendees than an evite, but now I'm worried we're going to have so few kids that it's embarrassing. Party is at a kids' gym place. Between my daughter and one of her siblings, and now the one rsvp, we would have three. I figure we need to have 8 total to make it reasonable. On what day would you begin asking other people to come just to fill out the room (it would be something like asking my older daughter if she wants to bring a couple of friends, asking some family friends who would never be offended at something like this if they are free and want to bring a kid or two)? The preschool is kiss-and-ride so we don't see the other parents much, and I don't know them well at all.

[Anonymous]

It's been less than 48 hours, please chill.

[Anonymous]

Lol OP were you expecting everyone to run home and rsvp first thing? Is this really your 3rd kid?

[Anonymous]

OMG. It's been 30 seconds.

[Anonymous]

I hate daycares/preschools that don't help families connect. So lame.

OP, I'd go on friday to pickup and see if you can find these parents face to face.

[Anonymous]

Two days is like NO time. If I got an envelope in the cubby, I would open it and set it aside to respond over the weekend.

Give it at least a week, and next time send the invitations out a month in advance and include an RSVP date.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lol OP were you expecting everyone to run home and rsvp first thing? Is this really your 3rd kid?

[Anonymous]

At the point where you don't give out paper invites only 10 days before a party during one of the busiest times of the year?

[Anonymous]

That's pretty normal. We invited a lot of kids, only about 12 RSVP's. Last party we had 30+ kids show up as a lot didn't RSVP so depending on the group plan for a few extras. I'd invite others if you aren't getting a huge response. Most likely just a few will come.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At the point where you don't give out paper invites only 10 days before a party during one of the busiest times of the year?

This is harsh but true. DD's bday is near the holidays so I make sure to get invites out at least a month in advance. We've already got 1 bday party booked for OP's weekend and 2 the following.

[Anonymous]

Late to hand out invites. For some reason, that's a super busy weekend and we've had invites for at least a few weeks.

[Anonymous]

School started on 9/4. I could not have handed out invitations weeks in advance!

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t worry until at least the 18th.

[Anonymous]

OP, I sent emails on Sunday for a party in 3 weeks. I thought that was plenty of notice, but we’ve gotten 3 nos and 4 yes replies. Everyone is already busy! Sucks, because I rented a rec center and have entertainment, but oh well, my kid will have fun with his 4 friends and hopefully we’ll get some more yes replies from the remaining 12 kids. No way to send out earlier, we just got the class list and contacts on Sunday.

[Anonymous]

You might want to see if you can poke a room parent to start an informal list of parent emails for the class. I'm sure you're not the only parent who would find that very useful and I suspect that nearly 100% of the parents would give out their email for the list.