5 Year Old's B-day Party and Who to Invite

I think 5 is a good age to let her choose her friends, rather than having to invite everyone in the sake of fairness. Plus, since she is a summer baby, it helps that you don't see the preschool kids all day. I would invite the 8-10 she wants and keep it at that. Simple is always better!

As for the ones you don't invite but are friends with on Facebook, I always try to avoid posting pics on FB if I think people will see them and feel bad that they weren't invited. I didn't post any pics from my son's party this year, just ones from opening presents and stuff at home.

I think you're entitled to invite whoever you want, as long as your daughter is considerate about it and doesn't announce her party plans in front of those who aren't invited. (It's tough for most 5-year-olds not to get caught up in the excitement, but you can at least talk to her about how not to hurt people's feelings.) Don't waste a second worrying about offending people who haven't bothered to RSVP in the past.

I will say that, in my son's case, I cut the list in half by inviting only the boys.

I'd say your timing is pretty accurate. Sounds like your daughter knows who she wants to invite and NOT invite. Go with that. There's absolutely no reason to be inviting 30 kids to a 5yr old's party out of obligation. Keep it small - the girls will all enjoy it more that way.

It was all over the place for me, Mom. I kind of based it on the venue I chose. (I never had these kinds of birthday parties at home - too much work!!) One year I had room for 6 kids in addition to my two at an Earth store that had a small party room, and a pretend cave where you "mined" for jewels. They showed a film about mining, what the rocks look like when you find them in the mine, and then what the precious stones look like when they are professionally turned into jewels. It was COOL! The kids donned helmets with lights, carried little cool buckets, and went mining! They brought out the cake afterwards that was round in the shape and color of the Earth. Ice cream and presents, turn key operation. SO cool! That was in the middle of my son's first grade year.

Two other parties were at the Y. I invited the whole classes and friends for those. I had pretty good attendance. One year was at The Little Gym. They allow a pretty good number too.

I didn't base it on numbers of kids as a cut-off unless the venue called for it.

None of these were family parties, either. I had those separate.

Anyway, maybe you'd like to think of it that way.

Dawn

This is how we do it:
We have a budget.
We tell our child.
We then have a set amount of kids we know we can accommodate, per budget.
Our kids, invite their friends. NOT an entire class.
THEIR friends.
And certainly not every kid from the neighborhood.
We have always done it this way.
And we have never had any problems about it.

4 years old :)

Before then, my daughter was still mostly parallell playing. But for her 4th, I let her choose the venue (gymnastics) and the guests.

Wound up have 8 kids, and we could have had up to 12, but she was so happy with being able to have input into her party it was wonderful.

for my son's summer bday, I told him to pick 10 which he did then i invited a few more that he plays great with and really likes but for some reason didn't think about when he was making the first list.

No one RSVP"s soooo annoying, this year i did follow up calls, which feels rude but if they are going to be rude and NOT rsvp that forces my hand I"m too uptight to roll with it.

I found that by only inviting good friends we had 99% turnout instead of having only a few show up.

Lastly i have to share this, My son had 12 kids and He is now 9yo. 4 people brought cards and all the rest brought cash or a gift card, wow i couldnt' believe how much money he got --which he loves but Yikers. I feel guilty letting him keep a $25 gift card. let alone 5 of them.

anyhow have fun and it will all be ok,
Doyou have to post them on FB or could you set your privacy settings different for those posts.

For my 4 year olds party, I invited the whole class (12 kids). Next year, when he turns 5, I'll probably do the same thing. Once he's in K, we'll see. I kept the party simple however (old school)...cake, icecream, lots of easy field day type games and water balloons. The kids had a blast and so did I. It was also less than 2 hours, once the kids began to get tired it was time to go home! I invited everyone because it's a coop school and I see the other moms quite a bit, I didn't want to leave anyone out and truly wanted them all to come.

I have never invited "everyone". I do my kids' parties at home and we don't have the space! We're doing my 5 yo's party (turning 6) next week. We invited about 14 kids that she wanted me to invite - and I believe 12 of them are coming - that's plenty! I say I believe because some have not RSVP'd but they're planning on coming from what I know.

We have some neighborhood kids and some class friends.

Once the kids start school is when I let them decide who to invite and then I only invite the kids they want. There is no reason to invite the entire class, and the entire neighborhood.

For my twin boys' 5th birthday a couple of months ago, we had it at a farm because I think 5 is a milestone birthday so I wanted it to be special. Since it was at a farm, we invited all the young kids they know, which included family friends, their friends and preschool classmates. We had about 50 people, parents included. That is pretty much how it has been at all my kids' parties so far. Next year is the year we will start keeping it smaller.

I think 5 is kind of the age you can stop inviting everyone though many people don't ever invite everyone. I think how you're handling it sounds just fine. The times I add on to my daughters' list is for a mom I know and we're always invited to their parties so I feel a bit obligated... And lack of rsvp for last year's party is definitely a cut off for me unless there are other factors involved.

Go with the kids whose parents you are friendly with. My son was in kindergarten this year and it seems like who was friends with whom changed from week to week. I couldn't really go with his list since he might change his mind before the party. We'll see how first grade goes...