Question re 6yo birthday party

[MrsK]

K1 is having his 6th birthday in a couple weeks. We planned a small party at home and invited about 6 kids, including the 3 that live across the street. Their mom just rsvp'd saying that her kids will be arriving an hour late because they have another party earlier that morning. It's really hard to start party games or anything if half the guests aren't arriving until mid-way through the party. Not to mention, that games and whatnot go so much faster when you only have 3 kids playing and something like musical chairs is ridiculous with so few kids. So, what do I do? Invite more kids? Do I just press him to invite all the boys in his class?

[Ladybug]

Maybe adjust your game schedule? You know the first games will go fast until others arrived. We've arrived at parties late because we have four kids. It's gets crazy on the weekends with multiple parties. I think this mom is a trouper if she's willing to hit one party and then another for her kids. You could definitey invite more kids. It's a wide net.

[spotty_dog]

Honestly, at that age it could take an hour before you get the guests dragged away from the birthday boy's toys and things. And depending on the kids, more kids can be exponentially more overwhelming -- it can be better for everyone to keep the numbers small. Siblings add to the chaos in their own way too. Maybe instead of organized games like musical chairs, you can do join-as-you-go activities, like coloring pages and backyard obstacle courses?

[Pollyanna]

Honestly, at that age it could take an hour before you get the guests dragged away from the birthday boy's toys and things. And depending on the kids, more kids can be exponentially more overwhelming -- it can be better for everyone to keep the numbers small. Siblings add to the chaos in their own way too. Maybe instead of organized games like musical chairs, you can do join-as-you-go activities, like coloring pages and backyard obstacle courses?

Yes this.

[MrsK]

I talked to K1. So far, I have 6 boys which include my two boys, K1's new best friend, a boy with autism from his class last year (just rsvp'd, past experience causes me to expect that he's not likely to participate in any organized activity), another boy from the class last year and his older sibling (so, my sons + 4 guests). There are a set of twins who are on the fence (I assume they are not coming) and then the neighbor's 3 kids who may or may not show up late. He is really uncertain about inviting the other boys from his class and asked if he could invite them all except one. That's not going to happen. I thought that if he could choose 2 or 3 more boys then it would be okay but he really doesn't feel like choosing any of them. I think I'm just going to hold it where I am and hope the weather is decent enough for free play in the back yard.

[gcuthbe1]

I recall when I was in first grade inviting all the girls in my class to my birthday. In my memory I only had truly 2-3 friends, and would've preferred to invite all the boys in my class instead. So if it's easier for you to have less and your son is happy, just go for less kids and your son will have happy memories regardless!

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