Birthday parties are one of the joys of childhood.While parents mingle, kids play and have fun with their friends and loved ones. They look forward to this one day of the year with great excitement and anticipation. Still, not all children always have a memorable party. Sad birthday stories, like when your friends don’t turn up, can really disappoint a child.
No child wants to remember sad birthday stories. Birthdays should be full of fun and happy memories.
Sad birthday stories: When no one comes
Recently, mom Sil Mazzini planned a big birthday bash for her son, six-year-old Teddy Bollinger. It was scheduled at a pizza restaurant in the United States. Sadly, none of the 32 invited kids (or their parents) turned up.
According to Mazzini, she had given handwritten invitations to Teddy’s teacher 14 days prior to the birthday bash. The teacher distributed these invitations to Teddy’s classmates. Some had even promised to come much earlier before the birthday bash.
“I’m done with parties for a while,” said Mazzini, disappointed.
Sad birthday stories are especially heartbreaking when they happen to a child, because of how much excitement and anticipation is involved. Teddy was no different. His sixth birthday party was the first birthday bash he ever hosted. He insisted on having a pizza party with his friends, which even overruled Disneyland and Legoland.
To make matters worse, the party was scheduled based on whatever time Teddy’s dad had to spend with his family. Mazzini’s husband resided in Alaska, and they didn’t have relatives near the pizza place, either.
Social media post goes viral
Heartbroken, Mazzini snapped a photo of Teddy, sitting alone by the table at the restaurant and shared it on social media. She also sent the photo to a media reporter, who shared the photo on his Facebook page.
It didn’t take long for the post to go viral. People, organizations, and even companies all over America began wishing Teddy a happy birthday.
Among the people who responded were the Phoenix Suns, a popular sports group. They offered Teddy tickets to their game against the Los Angeles Lakers in the Twitter post below:
Soon enough, other professional sports teams also did the same, inviting little Teddy to their sport games. However, the following day after his planned birthday bash, iHeartRadio hosted Teddy a real party. Most of their staff attended the birthday bash at the pizza restaurant location Teddy originally wanted to have his party at.
Mom and son grateful for the outburst of positivity
Sad birthday stories no more! Teddy sports a smile as he thanks everyone for the birthday wishes in a video. | Source: Facebook
Mazzini and Teddy were both grateful for the amazing support.
In particular, Mazzini expressed her thanks towards the Phoenix Suns, who offered a free ticket for the family to watch their first game. “We weren’t expecting the tickets. We never asked for anything, but we are happy that they invited us. It is going to be his first game and he is super happy about it,” says Mazzini.
Teddy himself also thanked the massive numbers of people who wished him in a video uploaded in Facebook. In the video, he says, “Thank you all for the birthday wishes. Big kiss.”
Tips to handle sad birthday stories
Sad birthday stories do occasionally happen. But that doesn’t mean they are life-shattering or that you can’t cope with them. Here are some tips that could help.
- Don’t forget to follow-up. If no one actually reserves a seat for your child’s birthday bash, don’t worry. Really. People might not respond because of a variety of reasons: they’re too busy, misplaced the invitation, or simply don’t remember. If you sent the invite via kids, it’s possible that they didn’t remember to pass on the invite to the adults, too. To get a better idea of who can make it, follow up your invitation via text message, ringing other parents, or emailing them. Contact all the invited parents two-three days prior to the actual birthday.
- Change the date or location if needed. Many parents who have children whose birthdays fall in a holiday actually do this. If the original set date isn’t a good time, a good idea would be to ring up the parents and ask if another time would suit them better. And it’s okay if the birthday itself is shifted a few weeks earlier or later. At the very least, having a birthday at a different time gets rid of the disappointment kids may have, since they think that they’re the cause. Do explain to your kid why you’re shifting their party date.
- Have the party at school! Parties don’t necessarily need to be extravagant. Parents can ask school staff to celebrate their child’s birthday in class. It’s the best surprise for your child – show up unannounced with presents and cake. Your child won’t have to worry about not having fun with their friends, and you won’t have that big a mess to clear. In addition, class parties aren’t just affordable (all you need to buy is cake) – you don’t have to follow-up with other parents, either. Even a minor party on its own is great fun!
References: yahoo, Twitter (source 1, 2), PopSugar
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