Your Kid Spread The Word

What happens if your birthday kid is soooo excited about his upcoming party that you are planning that he asks everyone at school, at after-school activities, and neighborhood pals to come to his party….even before you have had the chance to discuss the invitation list or decide how many to invite with him? Before you know it your 5 year old has invited over 50 people to the big bash!

In the case of this situation, don’t feel pressure to invite all 50 of these guests. Although your kid has generally spread the word about his party to everyone he knows, that does not mean they actually must get an invitation. This is an excellent opportunity to explain a few things.

1. The birthday invitation list is made-up of those people who your kid is especially close to. Given that the general rule of kids’ parties is to invite as many kids as the age of your birthday child, you can either decide to stick to this rule or allow more invitations. Still, it is important to set forth the number of guests with your child and then see who he really wants there within those parameters.
2. If he says, “but I invited everyone,” you can say that no one is officially invited to attend a party until they receive an actual invitation. Although he was excited about his party, he really hasn’t extended an official invite yet. He may feel placed in an awkward position due to having talked about the party and invited everyone, and so you may want to use it as a time to say that in future, better to not mention your party until we know how many and who will be invited. This is definitely a difficult part, but should not be avoided to simply not have to deal with potential awkward questions.

It is important to invite the number of kids that your budget can comfortably manage, and that you can plan a party of games/activities/food/goodies that are manageable based on the number. Small children may not understand this, so try and discuss this from the on-set to potentially avoid this situation, but, with all of the excitement ,it may be difficult. Still, coming up with a number, coming up with the appropriate guest list for the party are two essential party-planning elements. Do not feel you have to invite everyone that your kid generally invited ~ rather maintain your original plans and have your kid help with the official list and number!