Couple of questions re Junior Infants Parties

marley123

Hi All,

Need to check couple of things. Now don't have the space in our house to have 26 kids running around so was thinking about inviting just the girls in my little ones class.. - is that OK do you think??

I have the choice of a 3.30 PM Party on a Saturday or

11 AM on Sunday

( only times entertainer I want to book is free ) What time do you think is best?

Moonbeam

Maybe just invite her friends instead?

marley123

They move tables on a weekly basis so they get to know all the kids in the class so today will probably hear names I haven't heard mentioned before! TBH dont want to miss someone out ..

Moonbeam wrote: »

Maybe just invite her friends instead?

Scarlet42

have a princess party .. .. my daughter went to a few of those during Junior Infants ..and what boy will want to go to a princess party!!

also not all the kids will turn up .. we invited all 26 from her class and only 15 turned up.

if you have it on a Sat morning most kids have some sort of class .. so they won't be able to make it!! LOL

Sat or Sun afternoon is probably best

angeldaisy

Speaking from my own experiences, I only invited the boys plus 3 girls that my son was close to. he has never wanted all the girls to attend plus it seems to be the norm in his class that not all the children are invited to everyone's party. I certainly wouldn't be upset if my son wasn't invited to someone's party, unless of course he wasn't invited to any:D
I wouldn't go too mad for junior infants, it just means that you have to keep it up or better it as time goes on! Some of the parents just book out a local hall that has soccer goals and the kids just run around for an hour or so. we always had it at home so it was fairly low key. A recent party he was invited to, they had a bbq (burgers only!) and tattoos and had great fun! Just keep it simple...

Fittle

My advice would be for you to start as you mean to go on!!!

My lad is in 4th class now so this was our 6th year of bday parties with schoolfriends. Two of his friends mothers invitied all the class to the JI parties...and then year after year, they felt awful because they couldn't exclude X,Y or Z child as they had been invited to the first party. This year, on their 10th birthdays, both boys continued to invite the full class (23) costing their parents a fortune.

In the first year, I invited a few kids from his creche and a handful of children from his class - mainly children of the parents I'd become friendly with myself or children he mentioned himself.

marley123

I don't think my Little one would turn up her own party if it is a princess theme:) She isn't real girly girly.. Have found a great idea where there is lots of animals brought to the house for the kids to interact with ( she is animal mad! )

Scarlet42 wrote: »

have a princess party .. .. my daughter went to a few of those during Junior Infants ..and what boy will want to go to a princess party!!

also not all the kids will turn up .. we invited all 26 from her class and only 15 turned up.

if you have it on a Sat morning most kids have some sort of class .. so they won't be able to make it!! LOL

Sat or Sun afternoon is probably best

lynski

i have told my son that i can fit 5 extra children around our kitchen table, so his 2 oldest friends outside of school and 3 more and that is it. he is happy enough with that.

The Lovely Muffin

I'm sorry I can offer any advice or suggestions, but this thread reminded me of the time I was in Junior or Senior infants and for my birthday I invited the whole class over to my house for my birthday, but never told my mother, luckily only one girl turned up.

Needless to say, my mother was thrilled only one girl turned up, as there was no party or anything planned.

I honestly don't know what she would have done if all 20+ kids turned up lol :pac:

marley123

.

January

marley123, I've merged your two threads into one as it's about the same birthday party.

Justask

26 kids :eek: I wouldnt do this to save my life. The cost of that alone is going to be mental, the mess the tears and tantrums (most will be 4or 5) that are very very small. Then you will have the what I call the PITB (pain in the bum) mothers staying and you will end up entertainin them aswell. Then the parents who end up 2 hours late tpo pick up their child.

Invite the girls only. of course thats ok

Fittle

I would suggest that 11am is way too early. You will be feeding them sweets/treats (I assume) and there are very few parents who would appreciate their kids that early in the morning.

Can I just say that I feel you are over-thinking this too?

Honestly, these parties end up being a group of kids screaming and running around your house -with the best will in the world and all the organisation in the world, having a gang of 4yr olds together will have little, if any structure.

Just invite the girls - don't have it any earlier than 1pm - make sure you have a finish time also as it's really important that parents arrive at a set time to collect the kids.

Keep it simple - they tend not to eat too much at that age either, so I wouldn't recommend 'proper' food - I have been to many parties over the years where parents prepared good food - none of it was eaten - the kids just want chocolate and rubbish. It's only for 2 hours one day a week, so few parents mind this.

I would finish with 'enjoy', but in my experience, you will enjoy it when you look back on it - as opposed to while you are there;):p

marley123

So my mind is made up 11 am on the Sunday & inviting just the girls in her class fingers crossed now I will make it through the party:D

Justask

marley123 wrote: »

So my mind is made up 11 am on the Sunday & inviting just the girls in her class fingers crossed now I will make it through the party:D

Make sure you have a nice bottle of wine to wind down when they are all gone, you will need it

Kildrought

11am on a Sunday morning? Good grief!

I take it none of your child's friends are church goers then?

marley123

tbh spoke to some of the mums today & NO TIME is going to suit everybody. The entertainment I wanted to book is ONLY available to come to the house at that time. I won't be offended if any child can't attend due to Church etc.

ash23

I usually pick a set number of kids and tell my daughter to pick which ones she wants. Can't be bothered with the class politics of it all. Some parents invite all kids, some invite a few and some invite even less.
As for 11am on a Sunday morning. Waaaaaaay too early imo.

If I get an invite for half 12 I think it's too early. Usually party start times are anytime between 1 and 5pm.

Kildrought

My advice?

Drop the entertainer.
Start a tradition that your child can invite as many children as her age + 1 to grow on.
Put the party time to a more usual afternoon time, max 1 1/2 hours in duration.
Make some buns, have ice-cream and jelly, play pass the parcel, musical chairs etc.,
Sing happy birthday with cake & candles

Job done.

Fittle

As I said earlier, start as you mean to go on!

Otherwise, parents try to out-do each other by having a better entertainer/more children/more expensive food etc at their childs party!!!

I agree with kildrought, but you seem to have you mind made up.

RH149

Didn't you say that 3.30 pm on Saturday was an option? Sounds more sensible than Sunday morning!

lynski

Justask wrote: »

26 kids :eek: I wouldnt do this to save my life. The cost of that alone is going to be mental, the mess the tears and tantrums (most will be 4or 5) that are very very small. Then you will have the what I call the PITB (pain in the bum) mothers staying and you will end up entertainin them aswell. Then the parents who end up 2 hours late tpo pick up their child.

Invite the girls only. of course thats ok

Agree on the 26 kids - mental but the PITB comment irritates me. we are talking 4/5 yr olds here, there is no way i would drop my 4/5 yr old to a strangers house and walk away for a couple of hrs. the supervision of many children, other adults there, accidents, upset, so many possible problems. No way.
I think 6/7 yr old, when i know the parents on sight at least for 2 yrs. Maybe if i lived in a small town and i knew all the parents and where the lived etc.
Anyway, smaller the better for me when it comes to parties, mostly like playdates with cake and sweeties.
oh forgot, i actually love the 11am on sunday morning, you are up anyway, kids get a nice run out early in the day and the whole sunday afternoon, precious family time, is not gone to some bunch of strangers.

foxinsocks

+1 on the PITB irritation. Up until last year I have stayed with my kid at parties because she asked me to. Once she started 2nd class she stopped asking, and I started leaving her there. I tried to stay out of the hosting parent's way as much as possible, I did not want to be adding to the headache, nor did I want to leave my child in a strange place if she was going to be distressed about it.

As for the parties I have thrown, I have always invited her whole class, but that is mostly because her class is only 14/15 kids, and she always had names of both girls and boys that she wanted to invite. That said, I've only ever had 1 hallowe'en party at my house, and only invited the girls to that, as at the time I had a very limited time to prepare for the party. All of her birthday parties have been outside the home. We had one at an open farm, and the others in the kid gym type places where they run around and climb on padded stuff for 2 hours and wear themselves out. They also did all the food, all I had to do was turn up with a cake, and pay for everything.

Most of the kids in her class only invite either boys or girls, not the whole class to their parties. I think my daughter only usually gets an invite to one of the boys parties.

littlebug

I've always been glad of any parents that stick around... for the sake of having a few extra pairs of hands. It's hard to sort food, cake, mediate any tiffs, dry tears whilst at the same time organising party games by yourself no matter how many kids are there. I always make use of the extras Likewise for any parties I've stayed at I've made a point of helping out.

+ 1 on the bottle of wine for yourself for after !

marley123

Update - Well just to let you all know - EVERY single invite to the party has been accepted! & feedback about 11am start is good - seems most of the parents are going to head off for a lazy brunch & a read of the sunday papers when party is going on...