Trend of decrease in large birthday parties?
Has anyone noticed a decrease in the number of large birthday parties hosted for kids? My kids still have a lot of birthday parties to go to as before (they are very social) but the vast majority of them have been small parties (5-10 guests only). I have 3rd grader so thought it was just him getting older, but I see the same happening with my youngest who is only in first grade. I remember a few years ago most of the parties were large (25-30 kids) invited and now most are so much smaller. I need to start planning my kids' parties and need to tell them how many kids they can invite and am wondering if there is an overall trend to move to smaller parties or if it is just a coincidence that all the parties this year were on the smaller side.
Parent Replies
I don’t know what the trend is because my position has always been that there is no obligation to throw a party for my child’s entire class and I’m not interested in being friends with any family that holds such a rigid view. Our kids have winter birthdays so we can’t just reserve a free picnic area and invite thirty families for snacks and frisbee. Our house isn’t large enough to accommodate dozens of people. And we’re not wealthy enough to drop $1000+ on a thirty-kid party at one of the indoor party places. So we’ve had relatively small parties at our house and our kids have learned that their birthdays don’t dominate the family budget. They have fun and no one is any worse for the wear.
I think you don't need to consider a "trend" or not, just consider what works for you and your kids. We had a couple of big parties at parks when my daughter was younger, but then as she got older she preferred a small group to go to, for example, a movie or water park; by age 12 she didn't want to have birthday parties at all because she was uncomfortable feeling like the host and it wasn't fun for her any more. What was trending never crossed my mind.
I am not sure if it's a trend but it's much easier to have a "smaller" party. We throw a very nice party with entertainment, food, drinks (alcohol and non-alcohol) and high quality party favor that the kids would actually use and have invited about 7 - 12 kids and their parents. Sometimes we even hire a babysitter to keep an eye on the kids so that parents can hang out for a bit. It costs about $800 for such a party. Our house is not big, so that's about the maximum number of people we feel comfortable. For paid venues like Bladium, Fairyland, etc. where we have had parties in the past, they have a headcount limit and it's never big enough for today's class size. Also, it would cost too much for us to invite such a large group of kids because we believe in buying a high quality party favor and not a bunch of bulk cheap plastic toys. Our kid also selects the kids she wants to invite to her party and she doesn't want kids that she isn't close to at her party just because the kid is in her class.