What's the Maximum Number of Kids You Would Have in Your Home for a B-day Party?

Yes I would, if I had that kind of space, but I'm a little nutty and am used to chaos. We have an 1100 sq ft house for 6 people and I've managed to have 25 people inside (13 of them kids) for party and it was a blast. Have fun!

I have 800sq ft and have had 40+ people for a party and everyone said they had a great time! We even fed them all dinner, dessert and party favores. 17 kids will be fine.

The rule of thumb in our circle of friends seems to be the same number of guests as the age you are turning. Turning 6? 6 friends. Seems "logical" to the kids and keeps the activities reasonable on all accounts.

Have fun with the party!

Our house is 2,000 sq ft. The largest birthday party we have had was 24, which was all girls in both classes plus scouts. They fit, we had fun.

The largest party we had was my daughter's prom after party where we had a 150 kids in the house, fifty of which spent the night.

You would be amazed how many people you can fit in a house with a little creativity. :)

We followed the "one per year" rule too - it made for quality time with the guests, forced my son to make some choices, and kept it from being insane. 2000 square feet is not a lot if the bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchen are off limits! So it depends on the space available for socializing. Also, I think it's important for the birthday child to open the gifts in front of the givers and say thank you. If you have 15 or 17 or 25 kids, that's a LONG time for children to sit around watching a whole bunch of stuff they can't play with. If the birthday child doesn't open the gifts, then he/she doesn't learn the social graces of saying something nice and the giver never gets the pleasure of seeing the recipient's happy face. And I never wanted my child to go to 20 parties throughout the year - it just became too much and he really wasn't good friends with most of those kids. It becomes a financial and a logistical hardship. And kids need to learn self-limits. So I'd have your child make his best choices and go from there.

Our home in RI was only 1100 sq feet. The max people I have had in my home was for my husband's 30th Surprise party. It was about 40. That was completely nuts. Luckily it was nice outside, so a lot of people were outside.

Well our house is a bit smaller than 2000 feet. I goofed when my son turned 5 and invited everyone he knew (preschool, tball, neighbors, friends, family), thinking that not everyone would show up. In fact, at first, most of the RSVPs were people declining the invite. Then at the last minute (maybe the change in the weather forecast) it seemed everyone was calling to change their RSVP. Almost everyone invited came...and we included siblings. I had close to 30 kids show up plus our adult family members and all the parents (since most were too little to just drop off).

And to make matters worse it decided to rain and get cold, so we had to move it indoors. Fortunately, we have concrete floors. We shoved what furniture we could into our bedroom and set up the tables in the living room. Shoved our dining room table over (our house has a great room) and set up seating for most of the adults. I basically piled everything from the garage on the side of the house and moved the games in there. Fortunately my party plans (Ghostbuster training) worked very well with the large crowd. I have everything planned and mapped out and extra activities in case things went too quickly. I didn't want any "down" time for kids to wander off and start playing in bedrooms or making messes.

It was a bit overwhelming to say the least. Everyone had fun and I heard several "I can't believe you pulled this off" kind of comments. It was a lesson learned the hard way and we will never invite that many kids again..ever.

My daughter turned 4 two weeks ago. We had a total of 15 kids and the weather was nice enough to do all the activities outside. That was MUCH, MUCH better. My son was allowed a slumber party with 5 friends last year...that was almost heaven.

So yes, it's a bit insane, but it can be done. Good luck!!

Keep in mind, just because you invite 17, doesn't mean that 17 will all come. In kindergarten we invited the entire class (I have a daughter). None of the boys came. I think we got 10 out of 23 that came to the party. The next year, we invited 16 girls, and 14 came (and several brought siblings). That was crazy. The following year we were back to a 50% acceptance rate.

My daughter has been to several parties where they have been in a home and there have been more than 20 kids present. It was chaotic, and it really ended up being more free play, but the kids seem to enjoy it. I think it really depends on your comfort level.

I would say that if you are really OK with the chaos, go ahead. Move some furniture into the basement or another room you won't be using. The kids will have fun -- only you and the other helpers will feel like it was a mistake! Have fun!

We don't do big birthday parties. My boys are ages 9 and 11. They've never had a big birthday party. Birthdays are for family and only the closest of friends.

So, that said, yes...I think it's nuts to have 17 kids over for a 6 year old. I'm all for inviting a child's closest 3-5 friends over, but it would be a movie night or basement party (games/movies/pizza/popcorn). We'd still do the birthday with family and then invite friends for fun...with no obigation to bring gifts.

I had a bunch once and the cool aid stains etc made me make sure I have it out of the house every year lol. But 6 years old do not need anything fancy
. Plus not everyone will probably show up anyway.

I think you will be fine...as long as you are ok with a little chaos :).

We just had my daughters's 3rd bday and we have about an 1100 sf house...but have a finished basement too. It poured rain so no outside. We had 14 kids and about 20 adults. It was fun!

I put the drinks/cooler in the front of the house and food on kitchen counter as a buffet...I didn't worry about chairs- I knew I disnt have enough...but people managed ...chairs, couch, floor :). Definitely helped to have the basement! They played down there (I had a balloon lady for an hour) most of the time and adults were upstairs.

I also did finger food to try to make it easy. Mini bagel dogs and mini pizzas and tator tots. Easy for the kids to eat. Seemed to help!

It got a little crowded at cake time cause everyone was in dining room. But it was fun crowded :). The only thing I would go different is not open the presents. It was just crazy! I'd skip that.

Other than that - remember they are your friends and family. Your house is your house. Don't worry about it- everyone will figure it out! :)

Okay, I have 2 kids that are 6 and 9.
We have never had that many kids in our house.
We TELL our kids, per planning... that there is a limit to how many we can invite and that we have a budget. They understand and have no problem with that. My kids anyway, just want to invite their closest friends.
Not every extraneous kid they are just acquainted with.

I grew up in a big house. It was common, to have over 20-25 kids over.

Per me and my family, we have had about 10 kids, IN the house.
That is the amount WE all are comfortable with. And the house.
If more than that amount, then the party is OUTSIDE somewhere.
Not IN my house.

To save $$$ on a party, the most direct way to do that, is to limit... the amount of guests.

My son turned 6 recently... we had the party at a nearby park... that ALSO had a hiking trail. It was a hiking and mountain party. The kids had a BLAST. We brought balls and bikes and games to the park too. The boys ran around like little colts and had so much fun. And the parents could drop off or stay. It was a party with under 10 kids.
My son had no wish, to invite a load of kids.
And me/Hubby/Grandma/Aunty and another Mom, ALL helped to watch the children.

tghe birthday child willnot have more fun with more guests..

we have gone to bounce places and invited 20+ kids but that is cause the price was the same for 5 kids or 25 kids.

I would keep the number to something you can handle inside (in case of bad weather) 17 kids + potentially 17 parents sitting around sounds like a lot...

You have the space, so go for it!! My godson's mom has a huge home with huge back yard. There have been up to 50 people in her home for b-days. For the most part, the kids come in to eat, drink and use the bathroom. Sing Happy Birthday and eat cake. They are outdoors running around, playing and tiring themselves out. Provide basketballs, soccer balls, jumpropes, frisbees and leave it outside. Presents get opened after everyone leaves because that can become chaotic. Good luck on the lego aspect.....that can get messy. I would give a nice amount of lego pieces in a goody bag with candy as everybody is leaving. I'm not a big fan of millions of pieces of anything being tossed and thrown and being all over the house weeks after the party : ) My luck usually makes me step on them or the dogs will eat them or the vacuum will suck them up. Good luck.

We have a dozen kids and a dozen adults in our 900sq foot apartment which has no outdoor space. It can work if you want it to work.

good luck to you and yours,
F. B.