11 Plus Exams Forum

dd will be twelve soon and would like a birthday party this year.at home!can anyone advice me about ratio of old friends to new.I don't want to tell her who to invite but she is a bit uncertain about her new friends and doesn't want to invite them but i feel it would be a good opportunity to meet them and parents as i'm sure alot of us are in the same boat,our children being one of a few to go to the school from their junior schools.what sort of party should she have?she hasn't wanted one before and I've never hosted one.i'm finding it very stressful and i haven't even started!
thanks in advance.

If DD does not want to invite new friends, it might be because she wants to catch up with her old friends and feels most comfortable with them.

She could always have a sma11 tea party with her new friends at a later date.

If you've not hosted a party before at home, you wouldn't want the extra stre55 of how much/whether her new friends are enjoying themselves.

what does your DD like?

Is it going to be a mixed group of boys and girls?

Karaoke (singing and dancing),

Crafts (making things they can take home),

Pampering party (hair with beads, ribbons,nails and mini facials),

Movie night (cushions on floor, popcorn and coke)

Pizza Party (make their own pizzas and eat it..
different toppings..
have an ice cream bar with sweets, chocolate chips,
strawberry/choc sauce to make their own sundaes)

T-shirt Design party (you don't have to provide a party bag as they design, draw and take garment home)

there are many ideas on the internet you can look up.

see what you feel you can cope with in terms of costs and preparation.

It wi11 be enjoyable to organise it because you are planning a fun thing for your DD.

if nothing appeals, then even a group of kids divided into 2 teams with you running some games(mini darts, mini basketba11, golf putting, relay race around the garden, penalty footba11) to earn points wi11 be quite entertaining.appoint a captain/cheerleader to encourage their own team. Give prizes to a11 at the end.

invitations
a theme
food and drink
birthday cake
decorations
party prizes

Jazz it up and you are a11 set!

My ds also has an early birthday. We have decided to wait and do party in a few weeks when he wil know who he wants to invite as we don't want to miss out on the opportunity to do something with new friends. We will probably have a sleepover for the old friends at half term so don't have to sort out old and new.

Last year DD had a swim party - you can invite as many people as you like, you hire the whole swimming pool for your exclusive use.

This year, as it was her final party (which had ALWAYS been made clear to her once she was old enough to understand) we went all out and had a paintball party for her, followed by a trip to a pizza restaurant afterwards. She had 5 boys and 5 girls plus two adults (one on each side). They had tremendous fun and the organisers were wonderful, explaining their mission to them (an aircraft has come down and your mission is to retrieve the black box, be careful out there - there are local guerillas trying to loot), first ones back with the box won - there were 5 such missions. We got some cracking photos and memories which will hopefully stay with all of them for a long time.

Once she moves into senior school she will be allowed to have friends over for sleepovers (say 2/3) and have the pizza/dvd/make-overs then.

No more mad mayhem parties - hurray!!!!!!!

I would try and encourage a mix of half and half old and new though - but I wouldn't force the issue.

Hi all, we played it down a little this year, as we did the swimming party last year.
We did the chinese buffet thing.We took a cake which was dealt with by the restaurant.

We all met there,friends from DD's running club, some new friends from her new school, and the old ones too.

This was ideal, as it didn't cost a fortune (£2.50 per head), they all got on well, as they were all eating around a huge table,also, they could choose their own food, so no stress. The girls swapped mobile numbers,and e.mail addresses, and all made new friends, into the bargain.


A huge hit, and a relaxing time for us too!

i must admit I thought it was just me that was wondering about the old friends/new friends scenario!! So glad to find I'm not quite as the worrywort I thought I was...