Who to Invite To Your Daughter's Bat Mitzvah

A Bat Mitzvah is an exciting event in a Jewish girl's life. Families, however, can feel stressed when they try to determine just who they should invite. Here are some tips to help you with your guest list.

If your daughter attends a small, private school, encourage her to invite all of her classmates. If the school is a little bigger, consider inviting all of the girls. This way, there will not be any hard feelings among your daughter's classmates. However, if your daughter attends a larger school, it is fine for her to invite just her closest friends. This is a good opportunity to talk to your daughter about being kind to those who are left out of the fun. Make sure that she understands that she should keep conversation about her Bat Mitzvah to a minimum during school hours. This will help keep any girls who did not receive an invitation from feeling left out.

Relatives should certainly be invited to the ceremony and party. After all, they have seen your daughter grow and mature. They will want to be a part of this special day. In addition to relatives, you should feel free to invite some of your own close friends. After all, your daughter will probably spend most of her time interacting with her own peer group. Having your own friends at the party will give you people to talk with while giving your daughter the freedom to celebrate in a way that is meaningful to her. You should explain beforehand that you expect your daughter to greet and thank guests for attending at some point during the evening, but that she does not need to spend all of her time with the adults. As long as your daughter is able to invite plenty of her own friends, you should feel free to invite as many adults as you would like.

In these tough economic times, many parents worry that each person they invite to a Bat Mitzvah will feel compelled to bring a gift that they might not be able to afford. In order not to put this financial burden on a relative or friend, some parents might leave these individuals off the guest list. This can backfire. Invite your close friends and relatives, no matter what their financial situation is. If you are very close, a polite phone call explaining to them that their presence is the only present needed is a kind gesture.


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Mary Davis is a writer who focuses on events and the details involved in these special occasions. For those looking for the perfect bat mitzvah invitations, she recommends eInvite.com for all of their party needs.