"Overbooking" a child's party--tacky?

[Betelnut]

What would happen if you overbook and everyone comes?

Either you will have to change the venue of the party completely at the last minute, or you will have to phone families and dis-invite the children. The first is potentially very complicated (and only really possible if you haven't told people what the plans were), the second is horribly, horribly rude.

If it were a case of cost, or being a bit crowded, I'd say go for it, because you could manage if hte party were a bit bigger than expected. But for a venue with a hard limit (and for a pool, that limit is safety based), only invite the number you can actually handle.

I would pay for extra food and extra kids to swim. I guess any extra kids would have to sit on the floor in the party area.  The limit isn't for the pool which is an enormous indoor pool used for swim meets (lots of room for many more than 20) but for the eating area which is kind of small. 

Still haven't decided on this issue but I have decided that we won't invite any of the Girl Scouts since my daughter isn't close to them yet.  That will help limit the guest list a bit.

[DavidH]

Depending on the timing of the party and the final guest list, if you have more than 20 people accept, you might consider paying for you and your daughter separately and putting the guest names on this list so it doesn't seem like an A and B list for the guests.  The total would still be the same and only you and the venue would know your list ran over.  The only major problem I could see is if you don't have a solid plan for what to do if everyone accepts the invitation.

[Mikayla]

I would invite the 25...no way that many kids are coming.

That's what I think!  I will invite more than twenty, hopefully GET 20 responses and will be able to provide the pool with a list of confirmed kids.  If people show up who didn't confirm, I will pay for them extra.

This is the only thing that matters.  If the number 20 is for group rate purposes, and they can accommodate more, there's no problem.  Just invite them. 

It would be different if the room could only hold that many, or the pool didn't want groups any larger than this.