What do you do when you plan a bday party and no one can come?

[LynnS6]

So, we invited 9 kids to dd's 5th birthday party on Saturday and it looks like only 2 can make it, her best friend from church and one boy from daycare. I don't think it's a general shunning of dd, but rather a bad set of coincidences.

What do you do?

The good news is that we were planning on having it in the fellowship hall at church, so we haven't spent much money organizing anything (I haven't bought much of anything for the party yet). The bad news is that dd REALLY wanted to play games (pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey type) and have all her friends there.

[Apple Girl]

Can you reschedule for a different date?

[JD5351]

Can you invite some kids from church? Or is there anyone else in his class that you could invite?

[transylvania_mom]

what we did

we invited 4 kids for my ds's birthday party, only 2 came, but one of them came with his brother. We didn't organize anything, we just decorated the house a little bit, brought 20 balloons and had cake and lots of food. It was February, so we had it indoors at home. The boys had a blast chasing balloons (and each other) around the house and playing Hot Wheels and Thomas the train. Ds still talks about his birthday party.

For your dd, could you move the birthday party to your house and make it more like a playdate? I'm sure that she'll just remember the fun she'll have with her friends and the cake, even if the party is not too big.

[sewchris2642]

Have the party anyway and play the games. Have big brother join in the fun. Heck, you and dh join in.

[LynnS6]

Well, one, maybe 2 more kids can come, so we're going ahead. At worst, it'll be 3 kids, plus dd and ds, and I can handle a 'party' of that size. The weather is supposed to be beautiful, so we'll probably do a lot of it outside on the playground, maybe take a quick walk into the woods behind the church for a bug hunt, play pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey and some bean bag tosses!

[sisteeesmama]

total of five sounds ideal to me, lol! Hope you have a ton of fun!

[ChetMC]

When DD turned 4 we had a big party. Bigger than I would have liked, but we were moving and a couple of smaller get togethers wasn't possible. Honestly, I think the most fun she had was at the beginning when there were only a couple of kids there. I agree a party can be any size.

[Bell]

It has already happened here. We had the party and was good! My dd had fun and I don't regret of not postponing the party! Hope you all have fun!

[phathui5]

Invite more people?

[meemee]

lynn i am amazed at mamas like you who like small bdays.

i am scared of small bdays, coz i am not good with games or organising for kids.

i get a whole gang and plan in the park near the play area and the party just happens. i cant do anything else.

great that a size of 5 is great for you. for me 5 is :

[LynnS6]

Well, I'm back up from my PMS pit of despair (which coincided with my original post), we've extended a few more invites and heard back from 2 more families.

So, we're up to 6, maybe 7, plus three families that I haven't heard from. : (that despite a reminder e-mail, no response is not the same as RSVP people!) So, 6 guests + my 2 kids makes a nice sized party. We could theoretically end up with 10-11, but I doubt it.

Small groups don't terrify me, but having a 'party' for 3 in a large place felt silly to me. And dd REALLY wants to play pin-the-tail on the donkey. That game works better with more than 3.