After no one turned up for a little boy’s nine-year old birthday party, his mum has an important message. Please RSVP.
Nine-year old Mahlon was homeschooled until recently, so he had never had a real birthday party with kids of his own age.
At his eighth birthday party, surrounded by just family, his mum promised his ninth birthday would be different.
“He smiled and his big brown eyes sparkled with excitement as he replied with ‘Yay! I can't wait!’”, she wrote on her blog Life on Peanut Layne. “This ninth birthday was supposed to be his year. His special day. His first real party with friends.”
So in the lead up to big day his mum went all out, organising special Diary of a Wimpy Kid invites and organising DOAWK games, as Mahlon is a huge fan of the book series.
“When his birthday finally arrived yesterday, he was up before the sun,” Kristen wrote. “He hung streamers, blew up balloons, cleaned his room, took a bath, picked out his outfit, set the table, and carefully assembled the treat bags for his friends. ‘Only three more hours until my friends arrive,’ he yelled. ‘This is the happiest day of my life, Momma. I can't wait until my friends get here!”
But no one came to the party. Not one single child, although no one had RSVP’d to say they wouldn’t be able to make it.
“Shortly after my husband arrived home with enough pizza to feed a small army,” she recalled. “The party should've been in full swing at that point, but instead M hung his head, his tiny shoulders began to shake. ‘No one came Dad. I guess I’m not very popular at school,’ and he sobbed.”
Can you credit the heartbreak?
“Words cannot describe the utter and complete devastation that washed over me,” she wrote. “Seeing my heartbroken little boy sitting all alone at his brightly decorated, empty party table was more than I could take. I briefly excused myself to my bathroom and sobbed quietly.”
However, despite his upset, sweet Mahlon tried his hardest to have a good time, no doubt to convince his parents he was OK.
“We showered him with hugs, love and kisses in a feeble attempt to salvage the disastrous day,” says Kristen. “Once the kids were safely asleep, my husband and I fell apart. There's only been a few times I’ve seen my tough, manly husband tear up, and last night was one of them.”
So Kristen wants other parents to take one thing from this story: please don’t forget to reply to that invite.
“M will likely never forget his ninth birthday It will forever be etched in his memory bank as that one year when no one came to his party. And that kills me as a parent. And it could've all been avoided by a simple RSVP, via phone call, text, email, whatever, etc. I know I will definitely never ignore those four little letters ever again.
“I know you're busy, tired, stressed, have a million and one other things to do, etc. I’m right there with you, but please the next time you're tempted to ignore the handwritten invitation from a classmate, please remember that there could be a child sitting at an empty party table, crying into his napkin, feeling unloved and rejected. Let the parents know one way or the other if your child is attending.”
Well we will definitely never ever forget to RSVP again after hearing Kristen’s story.
