This refers to both of my kids my daughter had her 9th birthday party at our karate school and we invited about 25 kids. Sounds normal, right? Only 2 showed up. Now I worry that the same will happen to her brother who's turning 7. We also plan to have a karate party for him (power rangers theme). Has anyone else ever had this problem? My kids are well-behaved & relatively outgoing, but it seems that none of their classmates want to hang out outside of school. I just worry that my kids will feel crappy since no one comes. Any advice or tips to attract the other kids attention so they will come would be great.
It sounds like it has only happened once so no need to worry. Assuming your kids are liked at school, you sent the invitations early, and you did not have party on a week day, you should be OK. You should follow-up with a phone call when the rsvp is low. Saturday afternoons is the traditional day to have a B-day party, at least in most towns in the US. Sometimes parents forget, others don't want to drive, others are weird about what they let their kids attend, others are unfriendly, you know, the whole spectrum. Out of 25 invitations, my guess is that at least 15 should attend. Good luck and let us know how it went! Alicia
What about your daughter's other b-day party's in the past? Is it possible it could have just been bad timing? One year we invited about 25 kids to my son's b-day and 6 showed up. The next year we invited 25 and 33 showed up (siblings came along) - it was crazy and the timing of the part was better - a Saturday afternoon right before Xmas, which I thought would be terrible, but everyone used the time to do last minute shopping. Timing is everything and we live close the mall. For awhile we separated his b-day from Xmas by having it a few weeks early, but there were so many holiday parties it was actually more difficult for people to attend. Now we do it close or on his b-day and we get good attendance. If we invite 13 we get around 11 or 12.
Do you have neighbors that you can invite just in case there are fewer kids than anticipated? Also, you can have your daughter invite one or two friends if you are concerned about attendance numbers. You might also want to send a reminder a day or two before the party or follow-up wiht a phone call from people you haven't heard back from.
Hope you have a wonderful party!