inviting boys to a princess party - should I bother?

[magicdomino]

Invite them. Almost all of the games that you picked can be very "manly" by a change of a few words and colors. And you may find that one or bot of those boys doesn't mind the princess stuff, and one or two of the girls is all into the prince or knight stuff.

As a little girl, if I had been invited to a princess party, I would have passed. I've always identified with the knights more. And Shining Armor is so much better than Princess Celestia or Princess Cadance. 

That was me alright! I would have vastly preferred to be a knight than a princess. So I think if you give guests a choice of which they would rather be instead of dividing it along strict gender lines, I think you'll be fine.

As a former little girl who hated pink, I'd like a blue horse and a sword, please.   

[Perfect Circle]

I see nothing wrong with it and in fact it would be very nice to invite the boys.

[Thipu1]

I don't have kids and you know the children better than I do but the race games bother me a bit.

  Children that age have a lot of energy and the idea of a dozen 5 year-olds racing across a yard on pool noodle horses  to find magic bracelets or racing across a room with books on their heads doesn't sound good to me. 

As my mother would say, 'Somebody's going to wind up crying'. 

If the boys want to come to the party, welcome them. They'll probably love making the horses and many of the other games.  Teaching 'knightly conduct' would not be a bad thing.  The little guys might actually enjoy it. 

   

 

[elephantschild]

As the mother of an almost-5-year-old boy, I also say invite them. DS would love it.   I'll concede that perhaps not every boy would, but then, not every girl would either.

[delabela]

My boys have been to princess parties, and had a ball!  We don't really emphasis "boy" and "girl" things, so they just go with what they like.  At the last party, a very nice party helper was trying to make sure my son got a blue party favor, but he held out for a sparkly pink one (she was happy to oblige once he stated what he wanted).  We've also done the trucks and superhero parties.  They just love a party!

So I'm on the go ahead and invite side.

[Eeep!]

My son, who is 3 3/4 ( ) regularly plays princess with some of the girls at daycare and would loooove to go to a princess party! He would probably also like sparkly things. (We have discussed how its kind of not fair that girls get the sparkly shoes.  )
But, as long as it wouldn't break the bank, I would try to get a few extra of each of the boy/girl favors as there will likely be girls they like the "boy" ones and, who knows, the boys might like the "girl" ones.
I think the whole party sounds splendid!!

[nolechica]

I still prefer blue and tomboyish things, but definitely played with boys that let me dress them up as a kid.  As such, I'd say invite everyone.

[SPuck]

I'm going to go with the don't invite crowd. If you were inviting more boys or personally the children them there would be less of a change than there being one prince or knight amongst a crowd of princesses.

[Blondie]

I had a little mermaid party when I turned 5. I invited 4 or 5 boys, and of them, only one was able to come (dangers of having a birthday in the shadow of Christmas...) He loved it, and to this day (20 or so years later) will jokingly bring up how he was Prince Eric when other girls were regulated to roles like seaweed.

I was one of the girls who had both male and female friends and never saw an issue in having to segregate them. Go ahead and invite the boys- they will come if they want to, or not if they don't. As we always say here, an invitation is not a summons.

[faithlessone]

Slartibartfast, you said you only realised Taylor and Alex were boys when you were deciding who to invite to the party? That implies that the fact they're boys doesn't matter to BabyBartfast. So why should it matter at the party?

I think you should go ahead and invite them. Keep the princess games, add some blue pool noodles if you like (although I have two boy cousins aged 4 and 6, and their fave colours are purple and orange!) and swords, and just let all the kids at them!

Good luck with the party!

[PurpleFrog]

Invite them. They'll come if they want too. These boys are part of your ds's friendship group, they may be hurt if they're excluded because of gender. My mil is a teacher and there are several boys who will head straight to the princess dresses (most of whom would never be allowed to wear a dress at home). I like the option of making it knights/prince's and princesses if only because I'd rather be a knight.

[beakiebean]

How will our children ever get past stereotypical gender roles if we parents keep reinforcing them. I agree with the others who've suggested throwing in a little variety with colors and ideas and running with it. I think it'll be a great time.

You can always phrase the invitation something like "Princess Babybarfest invites you to join the royal court and celebrate her birthday with us."  Then the kids can embrace whatever royal role they wish-princess, prince, knight-maybe there's a royal jester lurking in her group of friends. :-)

[Betelnut]

How will our children ever get past stereotypical gender roles if we parents keep reinforcing them. I agree with the others who've suggested throwing in a little variety with colors and ideas and running with it. I think it'll be a great time.

You can always phrase the invitation something like "Princess Babybarfest invites you to join the royal court and celebrate her birthday with us."  Then the kids can embrace whatever royal role they wish-princess, prince, knight-maybe there's a royal jester lurking in her group of friends. :-)

Or a court sorcerer like Cedric of Sophia the First!

[gramma dishes]

I have a four and a half year old grandson.  He's all boy in every way.

However, right at this moment his favorite colors are pink and purple and he really likes Princesses.  Very young kids aren't usually really very divided up along boy-girl "expectations" unless their parents or other adults in their lives push it.  (Sadly, some do.) 

I think he'd LOVE to be invited to your party!   

[Marbles]

My boys go to princess parties every year for my goddaughter's birthday. They seem to enjoy it - there's cake and ice cream, really nothing else matters to them. I wouldn't make a big deal of having special colors of stuff for them, just a variety for everyone.

Also, my boys love mardi gras beaded necklaces, so I don't see it as being such a stretch for bracelets (though my kids lose interest in those faster). Heck, my kids like going through my barrettes and having me put them in their hair. It's just play.

How will our children ever get past stereotypical gender roles if we parents keep reinforcing them. I agree with the others who've suggested throwing in a little variety with colors and ideas and running with it. I think it'll be a great time.

You can always phrase the invitation something like "Princess Babybarfest invites you to join the royal court and celebrate her birthday with us."  Then the kids can embrace whatever royal role they wish-princess, prince, knight-maybe there's a royal jester lurking in her group of friends. :-)

I agree completely!