French Children’s Birthday Parties

In preparation for my daughter’s upcoming birthday party I realised I’ve thrown a few now and have become accustomed to the differences compared to more anglo style children’s parties and appreciate the low key vibe here, held at home or in the local park, where the kids are left to play with their friends without much interference.

Les enfants in France don’t generally invite their whole class to a party but rather their close friends (plus maybe a few friends from previous schools/family friends) and no one is offended. Invitations are plain or just sent via text and often quite last minute. They also very rarely take cakes to school on their birthday but in some schools the class bakes a cake together and celebrates all the kids with birthdays once a month.