Sons' Birthday Party and in Need of Kids

I know you already got responses, but I wanted to share what we did. For my son's 5th birthday we had it at a museum and invited all the kids from his pre-school class. We actually didn't think everyone would come- all but one came. It helped us get to know other families. It got my son some invites to other parties and it set up connections for playdates. One thing that was really nice is how many parents we had just met stuck around and helped with cleaning up. My son felt really special that day.

Our kids have been invited to 4 parties in 4months at daycare, they currently are going part time. It is perfectly fine to invite kids from his school. One of the parties we went to was neat, it was for a girl and had a candyland theme with great decorations. The downside was that it was for a 3 yr old so most were 2-5 (daycare is from infant to 5). There was tons of candy and we couldn't keep our 1 1/2a nd 3 1/2 yr old away from the candy. They also had peanuts. Please don't have peanut anything since you won't know if any kid has allergies. My son does but we kept him away.

You could put on the invite "RSVP with kids ages and any allergies so you can better prepare for food if they bring bigger/littler brothers and sisters with them. If they know the ages of both your kids they will be more inclined to bring their kids litltle brother/sister too which would be good for your 3 year old.

I don't think it would be strange to invite the kids from school - we haven't met many of the parents of the kids who attend the same day care as our kids do, but we've received invitations, gone to parties, and have gotten to know people.

My only caution with a big party is that being a gracious hostess becomes your primary responsibility, and you may not get to enjoy the celebration of your kids' birthdays.

In the end, as long as they have fun, I hope you're able to come-up with a good group of people to invite and enjoy it along with them.

Well it is a party for your kids, and if they spend time with the kids from school, you should invite the kids from school. Especially if you want a big party with lots of kids. This is a great time for you to meet/get to know the parents. Who knows, you might find a family that you could have play dates with or something.

My son just had his birthday and invited all of the boys from his class and I only knew 3 of the parents and they just dropped off their kids and left so no big deal invite his friends.

Yep, invite the classmates! We do for our daughter, who is in preschool, and we've been invited to many of their parties, as well.

I always invited the kids from school, even though no one ever came because we lived 30 minutes from our daycare. I put them in near where I worked so I could get to them faster for emergencies. Now I also invite kids from church. It is a great way to get to know the parents of the kids your sons play with every day.

If you really want a big "to do" you'll need to invite kids whose parents you don't know. It'll be great! Your sons will get to have their school and/or neighborhood friends there and you will have the opportunity to meet the parents. BTW, most parents of this age children will not do the "drop and run" at birthday parties. Most of them will hang out for the whole party, so keep that in mind as you plan. Also, attention spans are short and many of the kids are still napping so if the party runs too long or there aren't enough things to do or there is too much to do (overstimulation), you will have meltdowns.
Have a great time planning.
S.

It' pretty much normal to invite classmates. The kids can pass out the invites at school as long as everyone is invited (the rule for our schools) otherwise the teacher might be able to give you addresses.

What about doing an end of the year party for your school aged son ? That way you can meet the parents & kids and maybe get contact info so he could have play dates during the summer in addition to his birthday party ?