Kids Party - Summerville,SC

Oh boy.. People not RSVP'ing is one of my biggest pet peeves. I am so sorry you are having to worry about this.

I also do special events and you cannot believe the people that have the nerve to show up at events that cost a ton of money per person but they never RSVP'd..

I suggest you call people and ask them. Give them an out by saying, "I just wanted to know if your child would be attending, I am not sure if my son really got all of the invitations handed out at school."

In the future,, I suggest you send an evite.. Seems like for small parties this is the best way to get a true count of the people attending..

Please do not ask the teacher to get involved she has enough on her plate.. At our daughters old elementary, they do not allow the kids to give out invites unless all of the children in the class are invited.

this is one of my pet peeves....are the families holding out for a better "thing" to do, are they just indecisive & can't make a simple "yes/no" decision, do they not know the basics in how to be polite/kind/considerate, or are they just soooo stressed/rushed in today's world that they cannot even begin to contemplate one more thing to do???

I truly believe it is a combination of all of these factors & more! But I do agree that it is frustrating & heartbreaking to the child....well, actually to all of the children involved. Unfortunately, asking the teacher for contact #s is probably not an option due to privacy rules at school.

There are no good options here! I would go ahead with the party, try to invite neighbors/friends/family....in addition to those already invited, & hope for the best. By inviting some more last minute guests....hopefully your son will have a BLAST of a party....& not be left without anyone showing up.

A word of caution, though: please do not let your son know about this awkward situation! & please do not berate or comment on this as the guests arrive....there's nothing more offputting than hearing the hostess say, "oh, I didn't know if you were coming - we didn't know to expect you" !!! Greet them graciously & let the party be a success. I wish you Peace!

You'll need to call each parent and ask if his/her child will be attending. Then you will know what to do. At our sons' preschool, they have birthdays on the wall. I was able to call another mom whose son has the same birthday as our older son, to make sure we didn't plan parties for the same time. It's not rude or pushy to call. They're the ones being rude, but you could use the excuse "Not sure if your child received his invitation" so you don't have to be rude back. Even ask if they're going to the other party -- it might be more fun for your son to attend that one. Or better yet, call the mom of that child to see if your guest lists have the same people. She might not know who's coming either!! agh! If only people would rsvp!!!!!

Oh wow! What a total bummer! This happened to me as an adult and the thought of it still stings years later! I believe children should definitely have to learn to deal with certain things on their own, but this is not one of those "lesson" situations. I would do whatever I had to to protect him from this hurt.

As a teacher, I know that your son's teacher cannot give out phone numbers. Is your child old enough to ask close friends in the class what their phone numbers are?

Having a birthday party with only 2 friends is plenty. If you can just get 2 kids to be there, your son will have a great time.

Good luck!

I assume the other boy having a party on the same day also received your invitation, so I would start by calling them to politely decline about being able to attend. Then laugh about it and ask if their son brought home the invitation to your son's party. Then maybe you can get a feel for how many have rsvp'd to her party. I agree with the others that you should continue with your party as scheduled, especially since he already knows about it, and find additional guests to attend. If you can at least get a couple of his closest buddies to come, then he will be happy. By the way, how old will he be? Hopefully a few will come and it will be a happy memory. Definitely don't say anything in front of him about potential conflicts. Good luck!

I would find a way to talk to the parents and confirm. Having your son at the party and having no one show up would be devastating to him. You can either ask the teacher for the numbers or try to catch the parents personally at drop off/pick up.

I'm so sorry you are going through this. I know that whatever happens, you will make an amazing day for your son.

K.
http://www.discoverytoyslink.com/karenchao

That's a tough one, especially if all the same children were invited to both parties. Maybe you could consider switching yours to a different day and hopefully not lose your deposit.

This is a predicament. Been there. )0:

What i do now is only invite my child's very best freind, or maybe two. If the child is a best friend from school, you can get the home number of the child and call the parent so you don't have to deal with the classroom invite situation. because it is a big party, i think parents just don't get as intimately involved as if it were just a few kids.
We don't have a "party" ...we go to the racetrack, or the zoo, or a train ride, and then the child/ren comes home with us and has cake/sleeps over. this works out so well for us. My kids have grown to LOVE it, and now they hate going to big parties where they never even get a chance to interact with the bday kid. Also because the parent knows that it is just a kid or two invited, they always make sure the child shows up, so the bday child doesn't get let down.

Get the phone list. Call everyone. If you get voicemail, leave a message AND call back. This is an emotionally and financially expensive problem. In my experience when I invite 18 actual friends (not just classmates) to a party, 12 or 13 WILL RSVP. 10 will show. I usually get fewer actual people than RSVPs. In this part of the south, it seems like people only RSVP if they ARE coming. So check. I don't think it's at all pushy.

First off -I am so sorry you live near so many RUDE people! I hope your son is having a fantastic day today, and all of the parents who didn't respond are being tortured with bored and whiney kids driving them nuts!

Anyway, I've always loved paper invitations, and I've usually had really good luck with getting RSVPs, but this year due to trying to save money and time, I sent out an EVITE. I got all the emails from the teachers at my son's school for his classmate's parents, and sent them the evite. Not only are people usually great at keeping up with their emails, but Evite sends reminders to RSVP and reminders right before the party. You can also send a message to everyone on the evite. I haven't always loved going electronic from regular invitations, but for a kid's birthday it works really well!

I would play it by ear. My son's last party, I invited his whole class of 24, and only 4 rsvp'd. I still had to plan for the 24. One kid showed up that hadn't rsvp'd. the others didn't.

Could it be that both invites when out on the same day and the parents only read one and not the other thinking that its 2 invites to the same party. (maybe??).

I would call the Mom of the boy who's having the other party. Tell her what's going on. See if you can get a feel for how many kids are coming to that party. It could be that people haven't rsvp'd to that one either. Is it possible that if the parties are close they could just be combined. Or if you go to your party and 15m into the party no one is there, then head over to the other party and celebrate with them. Just give the other mom a heads up as well as the party place that you have reserved.

M.

I've had this problem for the past THREE YEARS with my child! Can you imagine? The first party for pre-school I prepared for 23 children and only 4 showed up! I could have saved A LOT of money on handouts, cake and ice cream had I known!

I think it's really sad in todays day and age. And it really doesn't matter how COOL your child's party is going to be, it doesn't change the fact that people either just don't look at the invitations or look at them and don't take immediate action on them.

I would suggest calling every single parent and letting them know you have laid out a lot of money for this party and would kindly like to know the EXACT number of children who will be attending so you can plan appropriately, or God forbid, cancel it. And I would MOST CERTAINLY guilt them into knowing you may have to cancel your child's party because NO ONE replied. Maybe they will pay better attention next time, because next time it could be happening to them.

Oh, and locally in our area some of the moms have gotten together and had shared birthday parties. It ensures MORE kids come to the parties because they aren't split between whose to go to. Plus it's a lot less work and cost on the parents because you are sharing it. Our school publishes a phone book of all the students, their parents names and phone numbers. You should also be able to get that list from either the school secretary or your teacher, along with a list of every child's birthday in the class. Hope this helps!

at the risk of sounding harsh (which is not my intent) it sounds like the other kid may be more popular. With no RSVP's on hand by (the day before last day to get a refund on deposit) I would explain to him his options and maybe he can adjust his plans (with your coaching) on what he would like to do. He may have much more fun inviting maybe 2 to 3 friends and doing something else. And he's probably going to handle it a lot better than you think. And he certainly would not want you to lose the deposit hoping someone will show.

Reschedule. I would explain to the venue the situation and see if you might be able to postpone the event to the next weekend or possibly after school. This is a huge deal for your son and he will be crushed if no one shows up (especially since another party is going on and he is not able to attend the other party). My niece had a party at her home a couple of years ago and only family showed up.....not one child. Although she did not say much, I knew she was upset.

Good luck