My daughter had a large group in middle school too. We always had some of the other parents to help with rides. Would any of the parents be interested in providing a ride and hanging out all day with you?

Or rent a sprinter van. I think they go to 14. But that may include the driver.

Perhaps she can pare her guest list down to 12. That's 2 mimi vans and that's what's safe. Not unreasonable. OR enlist a friend to come along with the two extra in the car. Would not hurt to have an extra hand anyway. Maybe pay someone to do it if push comes to shove. My friend is a retired teacher's aide and she cleans houses for a living. Clients often pay her for extra hours helping them with personal logistics. But then she is a gem of a trustworthy person. Perhaps you know someone similar?

Can you get a sense of the headcount? We always hold end of year parties, and find that many kids/families skedaddle right on the last day of school! As a result, we usually have our party the day before the last day of school.

Mercedes mini bus hire?

I am running to a meeting so have to be fast-- if you are interested, I will stop back and provide more details.

One of the things my nieces and the girls in my old neighborhood loved were movies outdoors-- think drive-ins of our era but without the cars :) I had a very large blow up screen (reasonably priced around $200 and something you'll use again and again) and a projector (mine took DVDs but most can connect right to a laptop so you can stream from any of your movie services). The picture was GREAT as long as it was dark and we had lots of fun developing meal/snack options around movie themes -- or just nostalgic movie treats.

This is something you could do at the lake or in the city if your back yard is big enough. They set up blankets and Adirondack chairs and had a blast.

I’m thinking a day in mid-June you’d be lucky to only have a couple miss...that is prime vacation time here! I’d have one of the other moms help drive...how far is it?

You need more parents. Do you know any of the parents and are they someone you could stand to hang out with for the day?

You can rent a passenger van, but I'd second either reducing the head count or much better, yet, enlisting other parents/friends. How far is your cottage?

If that doesn't work, do you have state or municipal parks where you could rent a picnic area? In my area, they are a nominal fee and usually near ball fields, mini golf, tennis courts, etc.

When my DS turned 18, we had a surprise party at our beach house and rented a van/driver for about 14 kids. I think it was around $300? This was 4 years ago so my memory is a little fuzzy on the exact amount.

When I have had my DD's gymnastics team come to our beach house, usually I invite another mom to come, and she'll drive some of the girls. But we usually only have 6 or 8 kids, not 14.

Or, rent two mini vans and you and DH each drive one. We just had to rent a mini van to pick up DS from college. We used Enterprise and it was pretty inexpensive.

I see most people are providing suggestions for transportation-- but in case you are interested, here is a little more info on the outdoor movies.

I have had 2 screens-- I see my first screen is about $169.. my second screen is a little over $200. They both come with a nice compact duffle bag for storage (they deflate and roll). You can also go much cheaper by using a sheet or a garage door.

This was the first one I had-- both versions are secured with stakes much like a tent.

I setup my screen in the middle of the yard-- so that the adults could watch/supervise from the deck while the kids setup in front of the screen.

My projector was pricy-- but you can pick them up for a wide range of prices (and you may already have one!). Mine had high lumens and a short throw (meaning I could set it up close to the screen). I think I paid about 1200 for it-- but that was over 10 yr ago. I am certain they cost much less now.. and if you don't have one, you could always borrow one.

They can also be used to watch sporting events and or gaming on a large screen.

Funky, that does look like fun, but if it rains it will be a disaster.

Remembering back to when my DD's did sleepover parties, we usually did some kind of craft. Then I had a DVD movie for when they were ready to go to bed.

Thanks for the great ideas!

Funkyart, I totally forgot about that. A neighbour did it when all our kids were younger and it was great for parents and kids. Unfortunately, our yard is too small and chopped up with flower beds to be able to set something like that up :(

The cottage is about an hour and a half away. I will have to look into how much it would cost to rent a couple of mini-vans. I just looked quickly and it looks like most seat 7 max. It would work if not everyone can make it. Passenger van would be great, but years ago got a bad rep after some bad accidents, but maybe there are newer, better ones out now?

For us, school goes right until the end of June so it would be a week or two before school is officially over.

eld6161, I agree completely about doing it b/c it is special to her. I'm tempted to just say no, but I'm really touched that she wants to take everyone.

I'm not really close with any of the other parents in her grade and don't feel comfortable asking them to help out. Kind of odd as we are very close with many of my older DDs friend's families. Maybe I should ask anyways. I'm a bit of an introvert and hate asking for help. Most of these kids have homes and yards that are much more extravagant than ours with pools, etc. I kind of wish one of them would just offer to do it at their place, but my DD is sort of the leader/organizer in her grade (how I hatched an extrovert, I'll never know).

ETA: robo, i just saw your suggestion and got all excited, but it looks like they start at $215 per hour and would be out of budget :(

Daisy, I totally understand how you feel about not being friends with your youngest's friends parents. I was friendly with my youngest, not oldest. But, I did find when I needed help with our Girl Scout events, everyone was more than willing to help.

Reaching out might gain you a friend as well as help for the party.

So true about wishing others would step up to the plate.

Update: Another family may be interested in co-hosting at their place. If they are interested (at the moment it's just a rumor thru the teenage grapevine), I'll offer to do food, etc. if they offer their home (with pool) as venue.

Sounds like the potential for things to work out very nicely ... so many people are put off by the food aspect of a party so it's a great division of effort. Hope it works out!