Have you ever found yourself overwhelmed with the number of people that you feel you should invite to your kid’s party? Deciding upon whom to invite is one of the dilemmas of almost every party planning process. To reduce your stress from all the prior planning, here are the 3 people that you only need to invite to your kid’s party:
The 3 People to Invite to Your Kid’s Birthday Party
The Family
Inviting members of the family is already a given, but you need to trim it down to the closest ones—this could include the first cousins, the titos and titas,the ninongs and ninangs, and the grandparents. But not inviting some of them may be inevitable. Although there are family members who are close to you, you still need to consider if they have a child/children or if you have pamangkins that you can invite to join the party. After all, it is a kid’s party—unless you decide to make an adult party for a kid’s birthday instead.
The Classmates
If you’re making a kid’s party for your child who is already old enough to have his own opinions, the tendency may be that he already has in mind who to invite to the party. More than the guests that you want to invite, the guests of your child should come first—this may include his closest friends or classmates at school. Never leave them out.
It may be inevitable that inviting only certain kids from your child’s class may create fuss inside the classroom. Uninvited classmates may feel envious or left out. To avoid this situation, make sure to talk to your kid and not let him hand out the invitations when others could see. If it is possible, contact the parents of the invitees directly and let them know about the party or hand the invitation personally. Ask them if they could also talk to their child to keep the pre- and post-excitement chitchat to themselves. That last one goes for your little one too!
Other Friends
This includes your workmates, neighbours, or your family friends who have kids. Again, you need to be careful with listing who to invite as your party is a party for kids.
Extra Tip!
Here in the Philippines, a standard practice for inviting guests for a kid’s party is “one child plus two”. This means that one child may go with two adults—either both of the parents, or a parents with a nanny. If working on a tight budget, some go with a “one child plus one” invitations instead.
If you just can’t keep the list from getting longer and longer or you still need to trim it down but you couldn’t anymore, try to settle for a much intimate celebration for the family with one or two of your kid’s best friends. In lieu of the main celebration, maybe you and your child could hand out something for the other classmates and friends that you couldn’t invite. It could be cupcakes, donuts, simple toys, or whatever you could think of. This way, although you didn’t get to invite them, they will feel that they were still a part of your kid’s birthday celebration.
We know that you don’t want to be that rude mom or host who didn’t invite everyone. However, inviting everyone in the family or in your friends may not be the most practical and fun way to do a kid’s party. The important thing is that the party should cater to its main audience—the kids.
References include an interview with Mrs. Jme Gonzalez, Vice President and Production Head of Party Links Events Corp. (920-0966, 0922-829-6980, [email protected]) | Gladys Cabaliza, Planner & Stylist at Hizon’s Catering
Image credits: MyCity-Web.com | HAIPAD.net
