Anonymous wrote:My rule for my kids is invite everyone (either whole class or same gender) or less than half (of class or gender). It's fine to prefer a small party of just your friends, it's not fine to invite everyone except the one kid you think is weird.

+1. Don't leave out just 1-2 kids, but totally fine to do a small group.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m obsessed with inviting everyone

Me too. Why exclude? We are in NYC and I don't care what we have to cut back on because of the expense, we invite the whole class. Period.

We are in FCPS and the lower grades had classes of 28-32. We can’t fit those sizes in our house and a party with that many would have too much money at a venue. Much summer parties already ran $600-800 and this was years ago. That many kids can be over stimulating and then they aren’t fun. We never invited full classes.

This. Completely unaffordable. Plus some kids aren’t comfortable in large groups. This board is so out of touch.

Have it at a park, order a pizza or cut up veggies and get cupcakes or a cake. Simple and inexpensive relatively.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I dont like birthday parties and I don't have them. My kids have quit asking and it's fantastic!

Future DCUM poster: my narc mom didn’t like birthday parties so we were never allowed to have them. She never listened or cared about what we wanted, so we stopped asking. Can anyone relate?

This. I grew up with a single mom (dad died) and was a twin. We shared a cake and had only maybe 2-3 birthday parties in my 18 years under her roof. We sometimes had family dinners, but as a kid you remember that. It doesn't have to be fancy or expensive! Have kids at your house, do arts and crafts, make a small cake or cupcakes, some veggies and fruit and be done with it. As an adult I understand more (it wasn't about $ it was a time and she didn't want to do it issue, she even talks about it today how she didn't want to do it, so didnt), but attending other kids parties made me sad. I didn't need anything fancy or even every year, but if it matters to your kids then try at least sometimes!

We invited the whole class in PreK and K and then some outside friends, but this year in 1st we took our child to Disney instead and said this is instead of a party. Issue is our child has a summer birthday, so many people are away. I think in future I will have toward end of school year, so we don't miss kids.

I don't think we could invite the entire class since he is friends with kids in different classes, but also depends on where we have it/ # restrictions.

Best practice is the entire class, all of one gender or less than half. Any of those 3.

Anonymous wrote:I dont like birthday parties and I don't have them. My kids have quit asking and it's fantastic!

Future DCUM poster: my narc mom didn’t like birthday parties so we were never allowed to have them. She never listened or cared about what we wanted, so we stopped asking. Can anyone relate?

Anonymous wrote:I am so much fun without Hennessy

Most of these biz itches need a little something to tolerate them. Offer them coffee and put Baileys in it, so they don’t taste it.

I did a whole class party in 2nd and there were maybe 2 others that year too. But none since then. Whole class parties are nice to get to know families when kids are young and new. But not neccessary or even fun after that.

My child is in first and I think only once we invited the entire class and that was for a party at a park in preschool. All other times we have only invited friends. Who has the space for the entire class at a home party and It's way too expensive to invite kids my child isn't friends with at other party venues.

I am surprised at how many parents provided emails and/or phone numbers for the class directory that do not work.

When my older two were in elementary, the rule was if an invitation was given out at school, there had to be one for every kid in the class. By the time my youngest got to elementary school, the rule had changed to no invitations given out at school at all.

I'm not chasing down a parent's correct contact info. I made an effort and that's good enough for me.

I dont like birthday parties and I don't have them. My kids have quit asking and it's fantastic!

We are in ACPS. Most of the parties are super simple: meet up at the park and play and there are cupcakes and pizza and juice. Or just snacks. One family had breakfast burritos which was nice. We do backyard parties. Our house is tiny but we say dress for the outdoors. E

We usually do bdays at a venue so we're capped at a certain number for most places (whether space/capacity-wise or price!) so whole-class parties are not an option for us. Two boys, 1st and 3rd.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m obsessed with inviting everyone

Me too. Why exclude? We are in NYC and I don't care what we have to cut back on because of the expense, we invite the whole class. Period.

We are in FCPS and the lower grades had classes of 28-32. We can’t fit those sizes in our house and a party with that many would have too much money at a venue. Much summer parties already ran $600-800 and this was years ago. That many kids can be over stimulating and then they aren’t fun. We never invited full classes.

This. Completely unaffordable. Plus some kids aren’t comfortable in large groups. This board is so out of touch.

+1. Although things were kind of off with the pandemic for a while, IME there are more whole class parties in preschool and kindergarten, but even then not always. And much fewer whole class parties by 1st grade. My 2nd grader doesn't even want a big party this year, they just want to invite a couple of friends for a fun activity.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m obsessed with inviting everyone

Me too. Why exclude? We are in NYC and I don't care what we have to cut back on because of the expense, we invite the whole class. Period.

We are in FCPS and the lower grades had classes of 28-32. We can’t fit those sizes in our house and a party with that many would have too much money at a venue. Much summer parties already ran $600-800 and this was years ago. That many kids can be over stimulating and then they aren’t fun. We never invited full classes.

This. Completely unaffordable. Plus some kids aren’t comfortable in large groups. This board is so out of touch.