who do i *not* invite?

[funnymummy22]

my son is going to be 8.  we are having his party at a bowling ally- but the problem is, its 13 bucks a kid and I cant afford the 18 kids in his class.

I was thinking of telling him just to invite the boys, but would that be fair to the girls?  One of which lives directly across the street from us...

or do i not invite any of them and have family come?

What would you do?

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[mooseyme]

What I would do (and have done) is just invite 3 - 5 of his closest friends whether they are girls or boys.  You can control who comes (very important!) and your son will have fun around his friends. 

For younger kids inviting everyone from their class is always a gamble.  I stopped doing it after I realized I was just babysitting the rowdy kids and the parties were getting overwhelmed by too many personalities (and activity levels). 

Bowling sound like a great idea for a party! 


KJ

Sharing birthday party ideas between moms
Free birthday party advice, themes, games and activities. 

[Teresa134]

I always allow my child to pick the children he wants to invite. I messed up one year and invited his entire class and I didn't know that him and one of his classmates were having conflict. It pretty much so ruined the party and my son was miserable. from that point on I decided it is his party and I will let him decide. It has worked out really well for us. Bowling is a great party. Good Idea.

[LiLi536]

At eight a lot of kids do not invite the whole class anymore.  My son started getting all boy invitations at that age.   In first grade we invited just the boys in the class.  In second grade he invited about 1/2 of the class including three girls.   He also invited some of the kids from his soccer team. There were not any problems.  He had friends who did the same thing.  The kids at that age know who each other hang out with.  No on expected him to invite kids he did not hang out with.  His best friend now, did not invite him to his party last year.  I asked my son why, since my son invited him to his.  My son said, well mom, I was not a good friend of his then.
Either way, have fun with the party.

[Razzy]

my son is 8 turning 9 as well and we are doing the bowling thing as well
I send invites to the whole class due to the teacher telling me some kids might feel left out
I got a great deal thou 13-18 kids and it will only cost me 140

[RoseWall]

also i wonder if you could ask the bowling alley for a group discount? and find out if they are running some kind of coupons that you could use? maybe possibly find out if one discount has to be used alone or can be combined withe the other... to lower the price and invite the number of people you want. its worth a try to just ask.

[battgirl210]

From a recreational therapist's stand point, the rule of thumb is your child's age is the number of children you invite.

[LittleBeckah]

We have never done the whole class party due to lack of space and enjoying my sanity. I have 5 kids so space is usually a factor. Typically they invite 3-4 guest and their guest siblings. Their moms won't then have to find a sitter if they want to tag along. This way I almost always get another adult to help supervise. These days I think too much emphasis is put on including
everyone and never having kids learn to wait for things.IN my opinion they will enjoy parties more if they are not constantly involved in one.   

[madabben]

Whole class parties are a bad idea. I am sorry if some kids feel left out--my children do not get invited to every party, that's just part of life. Your son should invite who he likes and who you can afford. If the school wants to pay for kids "not feeling left out" that would be one thing, but on your dime? No! Have fun!

[jenn_tonak]

What if you asked the parnets to contribute money to pay for their kids?