Some of you parents have experienced this already and others will soon be there. My daughters are now both in school. My oldest is in kindergarten and my youngest is in pre-school. As they make their way through the school year they start to make new friends. They tell me that they want to have play dates and they want to have so and so over. I think that is great. I love the fact that they are making friends. Sometimes difficulties arise when my daughters want to invite some of their classmates to their birthday party.
I found out that if I plan to put birthday party invites in my daughter’s backpack, which makes it easier on me since I don’t know who these kid’s parents are, that I would need to invite ALL of their classmates. REALLY? Do you know how much that would cost? Of course you do. You have priced out many different party venues for your kid’s birthday celebration. We would be talking about at least 20 kids in the mix. Plus, that is not counting their cousins that are around the same age or our friend’s kids outside of school.
So this is where it gets tricky. One, I don’t want try and manage a huge entourage of toddlers strolling up to Bounce-A-Rama or Chuck E. Cheese. That alone would cause a migraine. Two, my daughters are not friends with all of their classmates. Three, did I mention the cost yet?
So if I want to stick to a budget the guessing game begins. As I pick up my daughter from school I conceal the party invites in my jacket. I start to sweat. I don’t want to make it too obvious that I am inviting someone’s kid to the party and not another one’s kid. I try to ask my daughter if that is so and so’s parent. All I get is a shrug. Really? No help? Awesome.
Okay so I am back to solving this riddle all myself. I feel as though I am a ticket scalper in front of Fenway Park looking to try and unload some game tickets. Are you Sally’s dad? Are you Tyler’s mom? I get some weird stares and a few people saying no. I was only able to give out just one invite the first day. Yikes. That is a poor batting average.
To me it would be a lot easier if the teacher could just put the invites discretely in the kid’s backpack when it was either snack time or recess or whenever. Since that can’t happen I feel like I am playing that old school board game “Guess Who?”
Day two I am bit more successful. I got three invites out. Day three worked out even better. I was able to give out the rest. YES! Done. Phew.
Now I got a few faces down for next year so it doesn’t have to be so awkward next birthday party. So I have to ask. Is it just me that feels this way or are there other parents out there who have experienced the same thing?