Shannon of Rockville, Maryland asked me if she should invite her son's whole Kindergarten class to his birthday party. He is turning six. Frankly, there are a lot of reasons not to invite the whole class. One school of thought suggests limiting the number of guests to the age of the child. That is, for a six-year-old invite six guests. Even with this guideline, I recommend parents consider the preferences and temperament of their child along with their own preferences and temperament - not to mention the family's financial situations and the space available for a party.
Parents should also be mindful of any guidelines the school may have on the subject. My daughter's school (K-8) has a rule that parents should invite either the whole class or limit the guest list to no more than six. The intention of this rule is to avoid situations where only one or two children are not included.
No matter how many children are invited, always have enough supervision. (Tweens/teens can make wonderful party helpers.) The Girl Scouts recommend one adult for every four brownies for sanctioned troop activities, one to three if the activity is a field trip. You may be great with kids and think you have everything under control - but you never know when one kid might get sick, freak out with some phobia (I witnessed this with a clown phobia), or break into a fight (I heard of a case where one ten year old girl punched another girl. Kid refused to simmer down and the birthday child's father had to keep her in solitaire until her parents came to pick the offender up.) So the bottom line is never host a party alone - call in back-up.
Any additional ideas for Shannon? Please leave a comment below.
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