Ok Moms,
I am throwing a birthday party for my 2 boys who are turning 6 & 8. They both wanted a baseball themed b-day this year, and I was happy to oblige them by throwing 1 instead of 2 when their b-days are basically 4 weeks apart. Anyway, here's my dilema...
With us inviting all the family, neighborhood friends, both classes and both baseball/t-ball teams, we are looking at inviting roughly 90 kids (not including adults). Yeah I know it's a bit insane, but we just can't leave anyone out. This is going to be a big shindig. Anyway, I don't know how many kids I should expect to show. I've asked everyone to RSVP in time, but I know most people don't anymore these days. (By the way, what's up with that?) So, I figured I'd do a craft, but not sure how many to purchase with not knowing how many kids are coming yet. If I wait too long, I won't have time to order them. I figured that if I go ahead and get 40 that might be good enough. What do y'all think? Should I get more? Or is that too many? Also, I've got goodie bags that will be filled, 2 talking pinata's.. one for each kid, a moonwalk, possibly a dunk tank, balloon dart toss, and 2 baseball throwing games as well as 2 water ball games. I definitely want all the kids to be entertained, but now I'm not sure if we're doing too much to keep them that way. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks moms, as always, I know I can count on y'all.
Hi Moms,
I would like to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for all the great advice. While we did invite 90 kids to our sons' birthday party (that was held at our house), we only had about 40 RSVP. With siblings and parents we had between 40 and 50 people here. It was fabulous. We rented several tables and chairs, a large sports themed moonwalk, and a really fun Dunk Tank. That was the highlight of the party. We had 2 talking pinatas that were stuffed, so there was plenty to go around. The kids had so much fun, and enjoyed all the games and prizes that were given out.
So, thank you again for all the help and advice, and for helping me to stress a little less from our "party of the century." hehehe.
Love knowing I can count on you moms.
Wow! Sounds like a blast! It sounds to me like you have plenty to keep the kids occupied, I would think adding a craft would just give you more work to organize that day and it would get lost in the midst, especially with 8 & 6 year old boys!
TRUST ME those kids WILL SOOOOOOOOOO be enertained with everything you hav decided to use
but i think everyone that you invited that hasn't RSVPed u should call and if they dont answer leave them a message AND text AND e mail them
if they say 'well......we're debating" or "I don't know" or we hav to see if we can squeeze that in" Well then that means that 2 days later you NEED to call/text/e mail them again 'cuz sooner or later the will hav to answer good luck
hope u hav fun
What a brave, loving mom you are!!! I agree, RSVP is a tradition that should have been continued along with please and thank you. I think you have a great idea with the 40... and set it up so the kids can do it if they want, like activity stations. With all the activities you have planned, some may never leave the moon walk, or dunking booth. If you feel you have to have more, use some place like Hobby Lobby so that you can return any unused, unopened crafts. Good luck!! I look forward to hearing how it went!
C., I would skip the craft. I believe you have plenty to entertain everyone. Are you serving Hot Dogs? B.
Okay...so when and where do we show up??? LOL ;-)
Are you throwing a double birthday party or a Carnival for the city? Sounds a lot like the latter!!! I highly doubt you are having this at your home with the number of people you are inviting.
I agree with the previous poster about most people showing up throughout even if it is for a short period of time...I also agree with her about making it CLEAR wherever you are having it, that this is a birthday party by invitation only or you WILL be entertaining the entire city by the time you are done.
I agree with Laurie A about hiring a few teenager to help out...I would put one or two of them on camera duty with a few disposable cameras so you get some great candids and aren't always the one behind the camera...This also frees you up from some of the more mundane hostess duties (like pulling the rope on the pinatas) so that you can enjoy it with your kids instead...Make sure you keep the teenagers around to help with cleanup afterwards!!!
I think that you may have gone a bit overboard...But I also think it's a day your kids will never forget (and every kid deserves to have one or two of those in a lifetime)...Just make sure they know that it's not something they should expect from you every year...I also think it shouldn't matter if "we" feel it's right, wrong, or indifferent, but if your family can afford to do it and if you feel it's the right thing to do for your boys! Then go for it and have a GREAT time with no regrets...Afterall they will LOVE it and will talk about it for years to come!!!
Have a blast!!! And happy birthday to your boys! ;-)
WOW-- i can't wait to hear how it went! Well, the last party I had, many guests didn't RSVP until the last two or three days before the party; just something to keep in mind. You never know.
I did a Christmas Craft Day last December for all the kids in our neighborhood as our Christmas gift to our neighbors. I planned on many crafts, however once it came down to it, the kids all just wanted to play outside. The kids were at my home from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. and we only had time to do 2 craft projects as it takes time to organize the kids and I only had 15. I think your games will be good, but I wouldn't worry so much about the craft project. The kids are mostly going to want to play together anyway. They will keep themselves entertained especially with a moon bounce and the baseball games.
How about having dizzy bat races, like what you see at most pro baseball games? That wouldn't require any pre-planning, or matter how many kids showed up!
Oh good lord! So you are actually throwing a birthday carnival! Are you holding this in your back yard? If it is in a public space, be sure to put up huge "Happy Birthday" Banners or everybody in the neighborhood will think they can just come right in... How much help do you have? I usually hire some high school kids to help with kids parties this large...
I was hired to do a party like this and everybody ended up coming at least for a few minutes.. I went ahead and purchased the goodie bag stuff and for all of them and thank goodness. I kept the receipts so I could return anything not given away. . The craft area I would order enough for about 75% of what you expect o attend.. Some kids will not want to participate and others will want to do 2. Remember, any leftovers can be donated to a school or your church.
Make sure you have a ton of water available.. It gets so hot outside with all of the activities....Have fun... Take a ton of photos..
And I thought my daughter's party got out of hand this year...wow! I, like you, did not expect that all of the kids I invited would come, but those RSVPs just kept on coming in! We invited about 30 kids and all but 2 showed up, so you just never know! I would make sure you have plenty on hand and, like the other poster said, just return what you don't use. It's certainly better than not having enough. I like the idea of having some older kids (teens) there to help too. I don't think I could have pulled off anything bigger than what I did by myself. Good luck and have fun!
If you live in Houston, Minute Maid park does birthdays.... Might be the perfect venue for such a huge crowd. Good luck!!
I do customized coloring books for birthday parties and it could double as your party favor and craft. Do to the number you need, we could get creative on cost savings. my website is www.theo-saurus.com and you can look at the standard one that I have but I have done lots of custom type books for themes. It is a great activity for the party as well as a keepsake.
If you want to be TOTALLY safe, check with your craft store. Explain your situation to them. I'll bet that if you buy enough for everyone that's invited (maybe a few extras for guests' siblings?) and don't use them the store will let you return any unopened items.
I agree w/most post...I would skip the crafts. More work for you and the kids are basically just gonna want to play, esp at an outdoor event. Check out James Coney Island for catering...http://coneyman.reachlocal.com/coupon/?scid=1210786&c...%
Whew... I think I would've found a nice big park w/ a ball field and let them all run and play! :) You must be a saint and it sounds like you've got PLENTY of activity planned. Maybe skip the craft since you're unsure about how many are attending. Let them have a water balloon/water gun fight or something instead! You're gonna be crazy enough as it is. Don't add more stress w/ having to set up and monitor a craft table.
Consider having a photo op something or other w/ a Polaroid camera? That would give the kids a memorable, take home alternative to the craft.
Have fun and plan a spa day for yourself afterward... sounds like you're gonna need it! :)
