Need Advice On Party Etiquette

[mamac]

I am deep in the throws of birthday party world right now. My oldest is in kindergarten, and only has 15 kids in his class. Every kid is invited to every party...and if you don't go, it is sort of frowned upon. it is expensive, time comsuming, and a little bit much. One week, we had three parties - on SCHOOL NIGHTS! It is cheaper to have them at a place outside of the home on weekdays. It was crazy!

I have noticed that most parties, the kids open the gifts after the event is over. I personally prefer it, as I always find opening gifts to be a frantic, stressful part of the party. And it is usually pretty boring to watch.

I have a friend who allows her children to have as many friends to the party as they are old. When they turn five, pick five friends. Six, six friends, and so on...I think it works out well.

I have held parties in the past for my kindergartener where, instead of gifts, every child brings a donation to a local food bank or animal shelter. I then have my child go with me to drop them off. I think our society has taught our children that the more they have, the better it is. I try to emphasize with my kids that we are lucky, but that others really aren't as fortunate. It works!

OP, you will have plenty of years when your baby will want to have parties with their friends. Enjoy the simple time when all he wants is cake and his family ~ it goes so fast!!!!

Ugh. My son's school has "open" classrooms where both kindergarten classes get mixed for different subjects. This makes his "class" a whopping 41 students. Thankfully he has not been invited to every party this year, as a few of the girls didn't invite him, but it seems like a lot of the boys have very close birthdays this time of year. Luckily we are not obligated to invite every kid unless the invitations are sent into school so next year I will be taking names from the kindergarten friendship list that was sent out this year and have him pick a select few to invite.

I agree that kids seem to be conditioned to think that more is better. I was shocked to find out that these kids already had all of the gaming systems before they even started school. I hadn't planned on video games until he was MUCH older but I caved because I wanted him to be able to fit in with his friends. I do like the idea of donating to charities instead of getting more gifts. We have done that with their older toys and have given them to Goodwill but I never thought of having that in lieu of gifts. I might give that a whirl this year.

And the number of friends per years of age remind me of the number of "spankings" they should receive. Lol. That also sounds like a good rule of thumb to follow.

Glad I started this thread. I am getting lots of great ideas for future parties. lovethis The biggest one has probably been this ----> Keep It Simple, Stupid! ::

[preeti22]

If you are throwing a party it obviously means that you are the one who will pay every expenses. if you make a call and ask every parents that they have to pay for your kid's birthday party,then i don't think that they would be ready to send their kids for this party.
I will suggest you to have small party at home with simple theme.