Olive is turning four soon, and I’m busily planning an awesome puppy party for her. I’ll definitely do a post on the party later, for now all you need to know is that since our place is small, I’m keeping things pretty simple – just close family and a few friends.
Originally, I wasn’t going to invite anyone from her preschool because there’s like fourteen kids in her class and I’m not sure about the etiquette around inviting only a handful of them… Is that a dick move? I feel like it’s terrible if a group of them are talking about her party while others didn’t get to go and might feel left out… Experienced moms, please tell me how you do this!
Anyway, there’s one little boy in her class who Olive absolutely adores, and she really wanted to invite him so I figured, why not? It seemed less dickish somehow if there was just one kid invited. (Is it? Or is it worse? Pls help.)
Anyway, today I talked to his mom after school and got her number to send her the invitation.
This is what happened next. (Names changed and info redacted for obvious reasons.)
So far so good, right? I proceeded to give a few more details…
At this point I’m laughing out loud, like, damn, this mom sounds fun.
I also mentally add “wine” to my party shopping list. Lady wants adult drinks?Lady will have adult drinks.
Then I try to play it cool, like this was the plan all along.
Um. Okayyyy? A little unorthodox but confessions make BFFs so, yeah, sure!
Go ahead, woman I’ve talked to once, tell me your darkest secrets.
Wait.
What?!
At this point I start laughing so hard I can’t breathe, while also trying to explain to my sister (sitting right next to me) why I’m losing my shit.
Meanwhile, buddy continues texting me:
I’m still laughing because I love stuff like this, but it’s also starting to sink in that I’ve provided my phone number and home address to a total stranger.
Naturally, I want to address the issue with finesse and tact, so, after some deliberation, I come up with this:
Niiice.
Thankfully, Internet stranger is not offended.
What a ridiculous situation. I’m still laughing when my brother calls, and I’m halfway through telling him the story when this final text arrives
Oh, I will, buddy. I definitely will.
If my life were a romantic comedy, dude would show up at Olive’s party with flowers and we’d immediately fall deeply in love.
(If my life were a rom-com I’d also have way better hair, but nevermind.)
As it stands, I have to now somehow track down Olive’s friend’s mom’s real number. And I guess I have a new pen pal, too!
TGIF, y’all.
15 Comments
That is AWESOME! I bet you want to correct his grammar and spelling over dinner
On another note, it’s not a dick move to invite only a handful of children (the ones she actually plays with!) if you invite them via mailing invites or handing out invites to the parents privately before school starts. Unless you intend on privately inviting all but one child…that’s a dick move that people will whisper about regardless of how privately you invites them all Four-year-olds will hardly notice not being invited and won’t hold a grudge if they do find out…unlike the parents! Ha! A lot can happen over the weekend that will not have long term effects in the little kid party world. This is coming from a mom of three, with lots of birthday party experience it’s impossible to invite everyone and make everyone happy and people will always be out of town or unavailable anyways.
This is perfect!!
Haha, this is waaaaaay too funny! I’ve definitely texted the wrong number before. Luckily nothing bad came of it
If you’re inviting less than half, do it privately and you’re good. More than half and you have to start evaluating how many you’re leaving out and why. Personally, I’d rather my kids only get invites to the parties of those they actually play with.
Sidebar – I love your blog. I think you are a courageous woman. You have an endearing way of looking at things.
I like the less than half rule suggested above. We’ve gone both ways with preschool party. First child:14 kids arrived, fairy theme, ALL the parents stayed. 28+ ppl , kind of awkward, but it was a nice sunny day in the yard, so space wasn’t a huge issue. Feeling like I had to engage the adults over and above the fairy themed games and activities was not ideal.
Second kid: You are turning 5, pick 5 friends. Can’t remember if any parents stayed. I think only my friends with kids there stayed to help out. Much less stress.
Have fun!
This is uh-mazing! The way I handle parties with my boys (ages one and three, so not TONS of party experience here…) is that the 1st Birthday is ridiculous and involves way too many people (and definitely lots of adult beverages) and after that, the kids get to invite the number of friends that matches the years old they are. So, my three-year-old invited three friends from three social circles and people were all annoying about not being invited, but OH WELL! I have a few super close friends who have kids the same ages as mine, but if the kids don’t play together regularly or if they have constant battles when the do get together, they just won’t have fun at the party, and I think it’s all about the birthday child feeling special and loved by his/her closest pals and family. We also have parents stay and probably will until our kids are in kindergarten. Happy Birthday to Olive!
Amazing! Invite her friends, simple. Two or three she talks about and adores, you won’t be sorry. These ladies will become friends for years to come. Start small for sure.
Ha. This wasn’t the direction I expected this post to take. Brandon turns 4 on October 4th and we’re having a kids’ party for the first time, after having attended several others over the past year and a half. I invited the kids whose moms I like best.
There are 32 kids in preschool and nearly every party seems to issue invites to selected kids only. This is easily discerned because party invitations are always left in the kids’ cubbies. Parents always bring, and stay, with their kids (this is a change from my own childhood…didn’t we just do dump-and-run parties in the eighties?).
So funny! My husband and I set up our first date after I mistakingly texted the wrong person and got him instead. Turns out he was the guy who had given me his number many months before and I thought it had been deleted. Best mistake I ever made!
Whaaat? That’s the best story ever!
What a great post. So funny. Lord what a lot of issues with who to invite. I think I only ever got a couple of friends to my parties. Perhaps I was underprivileged and it still affects me to this day. ha ha
Haha, deep childhood trauma! I hope you’ll recover some day 😉
I also go for the one kid invited per year of age as a guideline… And I reckon that party invite returns and what not should never ever be considered and parents should not factor that in at any point. Way too complicated. Enough crap to stress about as it is.
[…] the stranger I invited didn’t show up, but six of her little friends did along with their parents, my sister and her […]
Hi Madeleine! I don’t usually read your blog but I just fell upon this post. It’s funny, I was texting people on Craigslist once, looking for a kitten, and I got this number wrong. So I texted the person, asking if they had the kittens, and if they had fleas. Response? They said the one kitten that had fleas, they drowned it in the pool! I literally got heart palpitations then, and said, “Are you serious????” And that’s when they finally “confessed” that they’d never had any cats and didn’t know who I was!!
Cruel, but fun(ny)! Cracked up over the dinner table later that night 😉
Lovely blog!