My son is starting 1st grade in Aug. and will turn 7 10 days after school starts. He will have some of the kids from last years class but many new kids he will not know in
his new class. He has only been playing with one old kinder buddy this summer. So I don't know if I should have a party with his kinder boys befor school starts or wait until September and invite his new classmates instead. I'd rather just have the 3 neighbors but I told him he could have a gymnastics party because he's been to a lot of b.day parties of other kids. so far he has only had small neighbor kids birthday parties.
I'm going to face this every year due to late Aug birthday.
What do moms with late aug birthdays do? I'm probably over thinking this!
Invite the kids from his kinder class since he knows them.
You never know the bond he will have w/the new kids in his in his new class.
My kids are 17, 13 and 10. We have NEVER invited the whole class to a party. When they were younger, they took donuts or cupcakes for their class bday party. When they got older, the could pick 1-3 friends (either from the school or neighborhood) and do something on the weekend. Like movie, bowling, laser tag, swim party, mini golf, etc. So my suggestion would be that. It's too much to invite the whole class no matter when their bday is. JMO. Good luck!
I would invite his kindergarten class. You really are obligated to invite the kids whose parties he has attended.
He will probably not know the new kids well enough that early in the school year. I would have the party before the school year starts and invite his kindergarten buddies.
I'm with you on wanting to invite just the three neighbors. I had one big b-day party for my oldest on her golden b-day when she was in first grade. It was at Pump it Up and I had to pay for 25 kids. We invited her whole class plus family and friends. Less than half of her class bothered to RSVP. I ended up paying for about 10 kids that weren't there. Never again. Now we have small celebrations with 2-3 friends.
Follow his lead. Ask him who he wants to invite.
FYI...I don't think this will be a problem in future years because after this year he will only want to invite his friends and not just classmates.😊
My daughters birthday is the last week of September and I always fret about this too. In the past I always invited previous year friends or playgroup friends but last year we transferred to a new school for first grade so we decided to invite all the girls from her new class. It was the best decision ever! It gave me a chance to meet the parents of her school friends which resulted in new friendships for me and playdates for my daughter. Best part though was that it gave all the other girls who had been together for kindergarten a chance to get to know my daughter. At conference time last year her classroom teacher said she was amazed how many friends she made right off the bat. If she didn't know better she would have sworn my daughter had gone to kindergarten with all the other kids. I think having a chance to play together outside of school had a lot to do with it. Best of luck with all your party planning. :)
My boys have October b-days & school starts in September where we are at. I am going to wait until there actual b-days & have them invite their new classmates...I figure its the best way to make new friends?
So that is what I would suggest you do.
It depends on what your budget and how big a party you are planning to have. If you can swing it, I'd say you should invite all the kids in the new class and his favorites from the old class. This is such a great way to get to know his new classmates and their parents. It helps to establish a sense of community right off the bat.
As your son gets older, he will probably have met all the kids in his grade and start distilling his favorites. You won't necessarily be facing this issue every year.
We get invited to daycare parties all the time. My son has 29 in his class and my daughter has 16. You can imagine I dont have it in my budget to buy 45 gifts though out the year. We get invited to alot because its daycare policy to invite every child in the class. Which I totally did not do and stuck invites into a few kids cubbies from each class. I know its tacky but I have to be realistic about what I can afford. BTW another momma who has kids the exact same classes as me planned a huge party expecting 32 of those 45 kids to show up and only about 12 of them did! you can imagaine the elaborite party she threw. I say do what your kid wants on that special day with in means. If he only wants his friends to go to the gym party of 5 kids or so then why not. If he wants to have a begining of the school party for the entire class...what fun!
Leave it up to your son. If he wants to invite the neighbors and kinder kids that he knows best, that's great. If he'd rather wait to make new friends, that's fine too.
The only hesitation is that if you wait to invite the new classmates, you'll probably need to invite all of them, or at least all the boys. It's hard to be exclusive so early in the school year when you don't know any of the kids yet.
I'd invite the whole class and hope at least half of them showed up. He'll be the example to follow for the rest of the year.
Two of my kids have birthdays in September (7 and 10) and I am having the same dilemma. I plan on inviting their favorite friends from last year's classes and all the kids in the new class. (Outdoor party; my son will be 5 and daughter will be 7.) I imagine that, in a few years (once the kids have a larger group of good friends), I won't be inviting the whole new class.
My son is a late July birthday and we struggle with this each year. I feel horrible about it, but I have managed to get out of a friends party so far by having camp friends sing happy birthday and having family over to the bowling alley. He is also turning 7. With summer, it is so hard to figure out who to invite or timing. I am hoping that next year he will have some established friends and we can tackle a party. I have an older daughter, and I will tell you to try to avoid the trap of an every year friends party. Tell him now that it will be every so many years that you will do one, or you will be locked in every year.
