I’ve just finished two back to back kiddo birthday parties. We love having people over and I love planning parties, but there is always the question of the guest list. You know what I’m talking about. There’s the family, friends, your kids friends, school friends, church friends, people you want to be your friends… the list can really go on and on and on. And you never want to accidently hurt anyone’s feelings.
We’ve always done a bigger party – inviting all our family, all our friends and all their kids. Honestly, I’ve never really thought about doing it differently until this last year when we were invited to two different parties. For one party the mom handed me the invite and said, “it’s for you and Cora Jane,” and the other one said “drop off or one parent” at the bottom of the invite. The parties were great and very kid centered. I really enjoyed the one with Cora Jane because the awesome host, Jaime, got to do all sorts of girly things for the butterfly theme and I got one on one time with my girl.
This year, I was planning Eli’s 6th birthday, because of all our moving (church and geographical) our friend list had grown and our family list has always been big. I was inspired by the year’s party invites and decided to take the plunge into the Kid Only thing.
6 would be the year.
Yep.
I will have the guts to pick and choose.
Nope.
Nope, I don’t.
Let’s have Eli choose.
Yeah, it’s always the best idea to put all the burden on your child.
We asked Eli who he wanted to invite and it actually worked out great. He rattled off the names of the friends he plays with most, and we were done. Whew. Then there was the family. We have a very small family but our regular “family attenders” are at least 12 and that ups the guest list quite a bit.
Family dinner!
Yep a family dinner.
6 would be the year we start family birthday dinners.
Yep, I will have the guts to tell the grandparents and aunties they aren’t invited to his bday.
This actually went very well. I think they were all a little bummed, but we chose a central location for an easier drive and everyone got to have focused time on Eli instead of just hanging out at a big party with 30+ kids (yes, that’s how big the family parties are). It turned out great!
And we all know family gives the best gifts. (Thank you Yaya and Papu for padding the college fund!)
Case and point…
(This was also the first year we officially did gifts. But that’s a whole other post…)
Because switching to the don’t bring your family thing could be a little touchy, here’s how I worded the invite for the kiddo party (see “details” section):
Your kiddo is invited to Eli’s 6th Angry Bird Birthday!
Date: Sunday, September 16th
Time: 1:30pm (pizza lunch!)
Where: Our lovely home
Gifts: No gifts needed – Please don’t feel like you have to bring a gift. We love celebrating Eli with time and attention most. REALLY!! But if you like, Eli loves legos, star wars and pirate stuff. And needs jeans & shorts size 8 regular… hand-me-downs would be great.
Details: Now that Eli is the ripe age of 6 we are starting the smaller party thing so we can have kid centered activities. Fun! You can drop off if you like, or one parent can stay with the kiddo invited to the party. Food and cake for all! Don’t fret if you need a Lawson fix for the whole family… we are having Tessa’s big 1 year party on 9/29. Let me know if you have any questions.
RSVP by Friday so I can have all the goodies ready.
So thankful for you friends
I tried to make it approachable for questions so people would feel comfortable telling me if their spouse couldn’t watch siblings not invited or if they had an out of town guest that needed to come. Of course acceptations would be ok! (Am I the only one who takes an hour to write a simple invitation?) I really didn’t want to offend anyone.
Now that everything is said and done, I can say the kid party/family dinner thing was AWESOME! I got to spend time on fun kid details (post coming this week) and the family got quality play time with Eli. Oh and did I mention this was way friendlier on the budget!?!? Yep!! Now the official “thing” in our family is big all-in-family-friend parties till 5-years-old then kid specific parties/family dinners starting at 6-years-old. I’d love to know what you do, or if you have better wording for a kiddo only party invitation!
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Sarah says
Not to offend YOU dear sister but I usually dread (SOMETIMES DREAD) the BIG parties. Mostly because I hardly get to see the niece or nephew being celebrated because they are too busy playin with their friends…as it should be! Plus I have major baby fever and seeing 30+ adorable kids that aren’t mine makes me a bit melancholy. I love the family parties because they are more intimate and it’s just family…all that to say this auntie isn’t offended at all…just stoked because I am one big SUCKER for those 4 Littles and for family get togethers!!!! HUGS