4 weeks, unless it’s a holiday or other easily booked weekend, then 6.

We are immigrants and we will send out invites at least 6 weeks in advance for people from our own community but for the rest- 4 weeks advance notice works.

I am currently booked for each weekend until end of May and this is true for most people I know. I think it is cultural too. In our community people socialize a lot and reciprocity is the norm. It is hard to turn down invites and we absolutely try and attend most functions and events. Sometimes, DH and I split and go to different events because we have two or more events at the same time. Family representation is very important too. Things becaome even more hectic because of kids getting invited for birthdays and their EC activities.

This is so timely. DS's birthday party is about 3 weeks away and I haven't sent out the invites so I'll do that tonight.

The whole kid party thing gives me anxiety. Will people show up? Will too many people show up? Etc.

Our schedules are complicated and I like to plan well beforehand. So ideally 4-6 weeks out, with a reminder 2-3 weeks out.

Anonymous wrote:We get most bday invites (kids ages 5 & 7) 3-4 weeks out. We had a surprise MAILED invitation received less than a week before the party. I was shocked to see that a healthy number of classmates showed up on a Friday night.

You were the back up plan.

Anonymous wrote:These responses are interesting. I always aim for about 4 weeks but most invites we receive are less than 3 weeks out. I always thought I was too early, but do it then to avoid the situation if no one showing up. That happened when DD was in preschool and another girl was having a party the same day, slightly later (our invites went out first). Not one school friend came to my DDs party. Luckily she was only 5 and didn’t care and we had a lot of family friends attend so she didn’t even notice.

We had very few RSVP's till a week before. I almost canceled it. And, at the party we had over 30 kids show up so about twice as many as RSVP's. People are really funny. We always try to make it a point to go so this kind of situation doesn't happen where no one shows to a child's party but most people are not like that. Our school parents are very cliquey so if you are not in the group, your child is left out (mine is a lot of the time). I'm sorry that happened to you. We did about 3 weeks out.

Anonymous wrote:These responses are interesting. I always aim for about 4 weeks but most invites we receive are less than 3 weeks out. I always thought I was too early, but do it then to avoid the situation if no one showing up. That happened when DD was in preschool and another girl was having a party the same day, slightly later (our invites went out first). Not one school friend came to my DDs party. Luckily she was only 5 and didn’t care and we had a lot of family friends attend so she didn’t even notice.

I don't get it. Since your invitation went out earlier, why didn't anyone from school show up?

These responses are interesting. I always aim for about 4 weeks but most invites we receive are less than 3 weeks out. I always thought I was too early, but do it then to avoid the situation if no one showing up. That happened when DD was in preschool and another girl was having a party the same day, slightly later (our invites went out first). Not one school friend came to my DDs party. Luckily she was only 5 and didn’t care and we had a lot of family friends attend so she didn’t even notice.

2-3 weeks out, sometimes 10 days. Your child's birthday party is NOT a wedding or even a big deal. If you send an invite 4 weeks out, we would not respond until a week out (if I remembered) because who can commit to a child's birthday that far out? There certainly might be something better that comes up!

We get most bday invites (kids ages 5 & 7) 3-4 weeks out. We had a surprise MAILED invitation received less than a week before the party. I was shocked to see that a healthy number of classmates showed up on a Friday night.

why only boys?

-european parent who thinks this kind of thing reinforces gender discrimination

3 weeks out

3-4 weeks in advance. Earlier than that and I have no idea what that weekend looks like yet and will probably forget to RSVP till the reminder goes out. Later than that and I may already have things on the calendar that can't easily be changed (but may have been flexible initially).

More than 4 weeks and I forget about it or lose it.

Anonymous wrote:3-4 weeks. I roll my eyes at more than that. Your kid’s party isn’t that important. Fine to text the moms of a couple best friends with a “save the date” but otherwise 3-4 weeks.

Kind of agree with this. Three-ish weeks seems standard to me, but it feels like kids' birthday parties have become the new weddings, and now I'm getting invites 6-8 weeks out.