Folks Online Feel This Mom’s Pain After She Shared How None Of 27 People Showed Up To Her Kid’s Birthday Party
Perhaps one of the main meanings of parenthood is to always, whenever possible, make sure that your children feel good and comfortable. Take care of them, make them happy, and arrange holidays that will be remembered for a long time as one of the happiest moments of childhood.
However, as for the holidays, in fact, not everything depends on the organizers. You can rent the most interesting playground, decorate it in the most beautiful way, bake the most delicious cake in the world, order great goodies – and all this will be wasted if there are no guests at the party.
A similar problem faced Breanna Strong from Salt Lake City, Utah, who decided to organize a wonderful birthday party for her 3 Y.O. daughter Avery. Unfortunately, the mom’s and girl’s expectations for the big day turned into bitter disappointment, which the woman shared in her video on TikTok, which went viral, gaining over 8.2M views and about 34.3K reactions in just a few days.
More info: TikTok
This mother once decided to arrange a wonderful birthday party for her 3 Y.O. daughter
Image credits: breannamstrong
So Breanna planned a party for little Avery with friends at the KidsTopia Playground, a “jungle-themed indoor playground” with big slides, tunnels and ball pits. Mom ordered pizza, a special Frozen-themed birthday cake, decorated the playground in anticipation of many guests – and invited as many as 27 children.
Image credits: @breannamstrong
Mom invited 27 children yet not one of them showed up at the party
The result can be seen in Breanna’s video of a completely empty playground, her frustrated daughter eating her last slice of pizza, and an untouched birthday cake. Yes, that’s right – none of the kids invited to the party showed up.
Image credits: @breannamstrong
In the comments to the video, the mother said that she had sent out virtual invitations to the party through Facebook. And while several parents of invited children simply RSVP’d with a “yes”, someone literally refused at the last moment, while most of them just ignored the invitation.
Image credits: @breannamstrong
Breanna admits that this situation shattered her heart
“Money and time wasted. Breaks my momma heart so bad. Literally going to go home and snuggle my babies,” Breanna admits in her video, trying to comfort her daughter. “She got everything she wanted. Pizza, Frozen cake, and jungle gym. She didn’t know any different rather than having fun. Just shattered my heart.”
Image credits: @breannamstrong
Image credits: @breannamstrong
However, the mother was more upset than the daughter. After all, Avery had a fun time playing with her mother at the playground and eating pizza and cake. And in the end, at the age of three, the girl is not yet fully aware of what happened, Breanna supposes. If Avery were older, this situation could have caused her real psychological trauma.
@breannamstrong I wish I was making this up. #noshow #birthdayparty #fyp #trending #sahm #makefriends ♬ Get You The Moon – Kina
Apparently, lots of people have faced situations like this at their own birthdays, so they tried to comfort Breanna and her daughter
Of course, the vast majority of people in the comments did their best to support Breanna and her daughter in this really sad situation. “This is a rule at my house. If we are invited, we’re GOING! We have been the only one that shows up. So sad this happens, I’m so sorry,” one of the commenters tells. “I feel so bad, this is why I go to every party I’m invited to,” admits the second one honestly.
Image credits: @breannamstrong
Image credits: @breannamstrong
However, as it turns out, moments when none of the invitees are at the party, it turns out, are far from uncommon. “This happened to me on my 16th birthday. Never had tried again until I was like 26 and it happened again. I’m 39, now I always treat myself to a spa day,” one person in the comments admitted. “This happened to one of my daughters. Now I make sure we show up to everyone’s party we are invited to. I never want to see that pain for any child,” explains another commenter.
Image credits: @breannamstrong
By the way, strange things often happen on birthdays. For example, this guy had an argument with his wife simply because he baked his favorite cherry cake himself, even though she bought him a cheesecake. And if a similar case has ever happened to you as well, please feel free to share it and be sure to tell us how you prefer to spend your birthdays now.
Facebook is the wrong place to invite people from, hardly anyone I know uses it anymore due to the constant changes to what you can view or who can see your posts. She should have used the old method of giving out little handwritten invites via her School class teacher. Poor little girl, bless xx
To be honest I can't really understand why you wouldn't double-check everyone's attendance prior (unless she did and just didn't mention it). Still very sad, but invitations via facebook is not a very smart idea.
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27? So all 27 heartless parents that didn't take their 3yr old to a play party like this? There is way more to this story. Maybe she didn't send the invitations properly to all? Maybe this is a set up for attention and not even real? God forbid maybe her child is a disliked bully etc. There is no way 27 kids just didn't show up, just because they just didn't want to.
She put an invitation on Facebook and the kid is 3. If I invite ppl from Facebook, maybe one will show up, my sister. With 3 you can better ask family and friends to come. Birthday party, you have to invite kids from school and not just pick the date and give a card. Once only 2 boys showed up, because another girl apparently also invited them and she had a way more splendid bday party, so the next year I just called those moms. When does he have his bday party? Oh okay. Which date would fit? All these kids give bday parties in june/july, just before the school stops, when their kids have their bday in july or august. It was a bit sad that he only had 2, but we went to the swimming pool and just that day it was crammed, like the whole city wanted to go there, so I said: look! Everyone came for your bday party!
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I had a similarity situation where I thought FB was the best place to invite people. It was frustrating to feel like people didn't care, but I realized that had I called or talked to people individually, more probably would have came. Also, send a message to those that confirmed like looking forward to seeing y'all on Friday. It's easy to forget clicking yes.
Maybe for her next bday party it'd be best to call the people you want to be there. A phone call or an invitation sent thru USPS mail. I agree with Deborah Harris2 and Lori w My sons' 3rd bday party ( a long time ago! ) we invited his fav playmates, by asking the parents in person. A phone call or two was made. There was no FB back then. But his next bday I invited the entire preschool class, and teachers/aides, etc. Over 30 four yr. old screaming, hyper, sugar-high kids in a nice large backyard, nice weather, was no fun for any of us. It never happened again, either. Too many young kids can equal too much chaos, detracting from the birthday girl or boy. Just sayin' ...
This sounds so frigging fake. 27 families had been invited, and the mum hadn't spoken to any of these 27 families prior to the party?
I agree. Even 10 not turning up is weird but all 27? Not one of them? I'm calling fake on this one.
Load More Replies... I think the mother has serious issues. Who invites 27 children to a 3 year olds birthday? I think that would be so overwhelming for a little kid. She trying to cash in on gifts? Instead of focusing on her daughter and letting her enjoy the playground she had a hissy fit & will always remind this poor little of how terrible her 3rd birthday was. She's teaching her daughter all the wrong things.
I completely agree. Rubs me the wrong way that mom is the "victim" here. Everyone is so "mean." Maybe plan a little more realistically next time - or how about just a little family party for a toddler?
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Who invites 27 children you're not related to to a toddler's birthday party? The child's not even school age yet. It's not like the other toddlers shunned her, their parents didn't accept and there are a thousand reasons why a parent might not be able to take their toddler to a random birthday party. Honestly huge birthday parties for toddlers is so extra. Just have a small party for just family at home until their old enough to go to school and start making proper friendships.
This story is bothering me more and more. She's literally selling it to news media outlets, likely in the hope that people will send her family gifts and stuff. It stopped being about people just not following through the moment she started selling it. She also invited almost all people she doesn't know, at all, and they don't know her. She threw away perfectly good food instead of putting it to use and is making a massive deal out of it. I get being upset, really, because that kind of stuff sucks, a lot. But her child really didn't, and doesn't understand anything other than "mommy said I'm not having a party now" and she got over it quickly, while mom didn't. I'm sure the little one may remember, she's old enough, she just doesn't actually care the way mom thinks she does. Mom is doubling down on the "psychological trauma to my child" card, and it just doesn't fit here. She's even gone as far to tell these media outlets "no one cares about my babies" and she's laying it on THICK!
Exactly. Very suspect. Read this "story" on three different national news sites.
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Pls don't dwonvote me into oblivion, but if I'm invited to a birthday party/gathering I don't always go, mainly because of a few reasons: 1. If it's a pool party, I don't like that I can't really swim, and it embarrasses me. 2. If it is a lot of people that I either only kinda know, or don't know at all, it's really awkward and I want to leave early, but feel bad if I do. And 3. If they say they don't care if I'm there or not, or that it doesn't matter if I show up, I'm not going because if they are rude enough to say that to my face, who knows how they are gonna treat me in the future. Thank you for reading.
Am I the only person wondering about her taking pictures of throwing out a perfectly good pizza (I doubt she did actually since you see her kid munching on a slice right there). This whole thing is a tad suspish to me. Seems more like a "pick me" post.
My bdays were never very fun for me. Small family affairs overshadowed by my mom's health (not her fault). Then very small parties with super close friends (more like a regular hang out with cake). As an adult, I've planned 2 birthday parties and friends didn't show up at all. The last time one girl had to start drama in the group chat I invited everyone in. I gave up. I buy whatever dinner and cake I want and enjoy my evening. My kids make my bdays fun now and they are the most important people anyway
This may have many reasons. maybe ppl invited too late to make plans, maybe the time of day. the place (maybe it's "too far"). also ppl shouldn't be expected to leave everything cuz someone "invited them to a kids birthday". Just saying when no one shows up, it's usually more then "everyone is rude". must be a reason.
So you sent invites by Facebook? You couldn't be bothered to personally invite the children your kid actually knows through their parents? I have little sympathy for you. Seems like you're blaming others for not showing for a three-year-old's birthday party when you didn't do a Beth good job planning or following up. So, does your daughter now believe she's unliked because no one came or are you just trying to get freebies because of your kid's "hurt feelings?" BTW, a three-year-old doesn't care a single bit about a social birthday party. A Happy Meal, some ice cream, and a small gift or two (with your undivided attention for a little while) means so much more to them. Take the lesson. IT ISN'T ABOUT YOU.
This was every single party I had when I was a kid. I would invite all the kids in my class (I went to a small school) and no one would show up. It would keep happening like this until I turned 11, and my mother said I had gotten 'too old' for birthday parties, but deep down I knew the real reason. Now, I don't really celebrate my birthday except for spending the day drowning myself in my writing instead of working.
I feel for this lady - I know FB isn't the best way to invite, but I organised a party for my then 5yo daughter and sent paper invite, handing them out a school - and only 3(all from the same family) turned up out of the 20 I'd invited! It was awful :(The staff at the soft play ended up giving me a load of free vouchers for free play sessions as they felt sorry for us, having paid out all that money!
I get that a parent would feel the sting of no one coming to their child’s birthday party. However we live in trying times with major financial constraints on everyone. Not everyone is going to be able to take the time to take their 3 yr old to a party and stay with them all day because a 3 yr should not be left alone with strangers all day. There is time off work, finding care for other children not to mention getting a gift. It’s a hard ask when people are short on time and money.
I agree Fb isn’t the best place to invite people for irl events, given you get invites to everything from products pages to online events to groups & it’s easy to overlook their real meaning. The interface may make it look like you’re you’re accepting an invite about the persons birthday photo album. Who knows. Still, this is more likely a TikTok clout thing and seems a little too fishy. Even with Evite, you communicate with those on the invite list and you confirm their attendance. That nothing like this happened has me questioning her ability to organize an event. Or, it’s not real.
My son’s birthday is right around Christmas most people are not available. However one year we did do an early birthday. We wrote out the invitations and put them in his bag with a RSVP to my wife. The last party my son was invited to was last week and the dad asked me in the playground during pick up.
Maybe the source of the issue is the mom; it's very obvious she did this whole rigamarole for HERSELF as opposed to her kid. Or maybe there's a reason the kid is disliked? Aggressive spray fire invitations to anything are things I avoid like the plague.
You invited ppl on Facebook. That's what you'd expect. When you invite people like that it's more of an "optional" invite where it's not really taken as seriously. It's just an e vite. But if someone sends me a physical card to invite me somewhere I'm going to 100% treat that way more seriously than I would a fb invite. To me fb invites (I don't even have fb anymore) are so informal n they're impersonal. But if someone takes the time to send me a real invite via snail mail. That tells me that this is something that they care a lot about n they took the time to invite me properly so I'm going to be more inclined to actually go or in this case send my kid. Even sending a email invite would have been better. Social media invites are BS dude. Sorry but I used to deny 99% of them. But if someone texted me or asked me in person about an event I declined.. then I'd go. Maybe that's just me but I feel like my whole friend group feels the same way too. Send invites to peoples homes dude.
It's not even an "e vite" **** meaning email invite. Sorry I meant to fix that.
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I don't get parents who throw extravagant birthday parties for children under the age of five.
FB is definitely not the right place for a kids bday, the kid invited may have no idea the party was ever happening! She should have called and confirmed at the least, but print is the way to go.
I. hate. This. Trend. It's not just this woman - it's for just about all events/get- togethers. I think it's the rudest, most inconsiderate trend and it should stop immediately. What kind of absolute A** are you to tell someone you'll be there and then just.... 'not show' for whatever... no call not even a courtesy "Look, I'm having anxiety, I can't make it" text? HOW IS THIS NOW AN ACCEPTABLE WAY TO ACT? How is everyone feeling okay that their word means *nothing*? All this talk about "we can work together" and "No one is alone" is a whole lot of GARBAGE if you can't even be considerate enough to keep your word about attending something.. and THEN not bothering to SAY anything if you can't show up.
Love how she literally said there were rsvp's, but several people asked why she didn't rsvp the event.
Had something like this happen. We invited family and friends not just through FB but with invites and texts to double check. No one came. My daughter is on the Autism spectrum, and it's so hard for her to make friends as it is...she couldn't understand why, neither could I.
There’s something odd here. She didn’t follow up when she didn’t get rsvps?
I invited my 17 colleagues for a party at my house. I didn't have Facebook so I invited them via e-mail. Later I found out that they only rsvp'd when they saw it on Facebook. So I asked one of my colleagues to share it on her FB. But that didn't help either. Not wanting to go to a party because it's not on FB, I will never understand.
Even for adult parties, people are absolute S**T about RSVP'ing, whether you invite via email, text, Paperless Post, FB or whatever. On the last two, you can see that people have viewed your invite. How hard is it to accept or decline?? It's so freaking rude and it's something that has bothered me for years.
Facebook is the wrong place to invite people from, hardly anyone I know uses it anymore due to the constant changes to what you can view or who can see your posts. She should have used the old method of giving out little handwritten invites via her School class teacher. Poor little girl, bless xx
To be honest I can't really understand why you wouldn't double-check everyone's attendance prior (unless she did and just didn't mention it). Still very sad, but invitations via facebook is not a very smart idea.
Load More Replies... 27? So all 27 heartless parents that didn't take their 3yr old to a play party like this? There is way more to this story. Maybe she didn't send the invitations properly to all? Maybe this is a set up for attention and not even real? God forbid maybe her child is a disliked bully etc. There is no way 27 kids just didn't show up, just because they just didn't want to.
She put an invitation on Facebook and the kid is 3. If I invite ppl from Facebook, maybe one will show up, my sister. With 3 you can better ask family and friends to come. Birthday party, you have to invite kids from school and not just pick the date and give a card. Once only 2 boys showed up, because another girl apparently also invited them and she had a way more splendid bday party, so the next year I just called those moms. When does he have his bday party? Oh okay. Which date would fit? All these kids give bday parties in june/july, just before the school stops, when their kids have their bday in july or august. It was a bit sad that he only had 2, but we went to the swimming pool and just that day it was crammed, like the whole city wanted to go there, so I said: look! Everyone came for your bday party!
Load More Replies... I had a similarity situation where I thought FB was the best place to invite people. It was frustrating to feel like people didn't care, but I realized that had I called or talked to people individually, more probably would have came. Also, send a message to those that confirmed like looking forward to seeing y'all on Friday. It's easy to forget clicking yes.
Maybe for her next bday party it'd be best to call the people you want to be there. A phone call or an invitation sent thru USPS mail. I agree with Deborah Harris2 and Lori w My sons' 3rd bday party ( a long time ago! ) we invited his fav playmates, by asking the parents in person. A phone call or two was made. There was no FB back then. But his next bday I invited the entire preschool class, and teachers/aides, etc. Over 30 four yr. old screaming, hyper, sugar-high kids in a nice large backyard, nice weather, was no fun for any of us. It never happened again, either. Too many young kids can equal too much chaos, detracting from the birthday girl or boy. Just sayin' ...
This sounds so frigging fake. 27 families had been invited, and the mum hadn't spoken to any of these 27 families prior to the party?
I agree. Even 10 not turning up is weird but all 27? Not one of them? I'm calling fake on this one.
Load More Replies... I think the mother has serious issues. Who invites 27 children to a 3 year olds birthday? I think that would be so overwhelming for a little kid. She trying to cash in on gifts? Instead of focusing on her daughter and letting her enjoy the playground she had a hissy fit & will always remind this poor little of how terrible her 3rd birthday was. She's teaching her daughter all the wrong things.
I completely agree. Rubs me the wrong way that mom is the "victim" here. Everyone is so "mean." Maybe plan a little more realistically next time - or how about just a little family party for a toddler?
Load More Replies... Who invites 27 children you're not related to to a toddler's birthday party? The child's not even school age yet. It's not like the other toddlers shunned her, their parents didn't accept and there are a thousand reasons why a parent might not be able to take their toddler to a random birthday party. Honestly huge birthday parties for toddlers is so extra. Just have a small party for just family at home until their old enough to go to school and start making proper friendships.
This story is bothering me more and more. She's literally selling it to news media outlets, likely in the hope that people will send her family gifts and stuff. It stopped being about people just not following through the moment she started selling it. She also invited almost all people she doesn't know, at all, and they don't know her. She threw away perfectly good food instead of putting it to use and is making a massive deal out of it. I get being upset, really, because that kind of stuff sucks, a lot. But her child really didn't, and doesn't understand anything other than "mommy said I'm not having a party now" and she got over it quickly, while mom didn't. I'm sure the little one may remember, she's old enough, she just doesn't actually care the way mom thinks she does. Mom is doubling down on the "psychological trauma to my child" card, and it just doesn't fit here. She's even gone as far to tell these media outlets "no one cares about my babies" and she's laying it on THICK!
Exactly. Very suspect. Read this "story" on three different national news sites.
Load More Replies... Pls don't dwonvote me into oblivion, but if I'm invited to a birthday party/gathering I don't always go, mainly because of a few reasons: 1. If it's a pool party, I don't like that I can't really swim, and it embarrasses me. 2. If it is a lot of people that I either only kinda know, or don't know at all, it's really awkward and I want to leave early, but feel bad if I do. And 3. If they say they don't care if I'm there or not, or that it doesn't matter if I show up, I'm not going because if they are rude enough to say that to my face, who knows how they are gonna treat me in the future. Thank you for reading.
Am I the only person wondering about her taking pictures of throwing out a perfectly good pizza (I doubt she did actually since you see her kid munching on a slice right there). This whole thing is a tad suspish to me. Seems more like a "pick me" post.
My bdays were never very fun for me. Small family affairs overshadowed by my mom's health (not her fault). Then very small parties with super close friends (more like a regular hang out with cake). As an adult, I've planned 2 birthday parties and friends didn't show up at all. The last time one girl had to start drama in the group chat I invited everyone in. I gave up. I buy whatever dinner and cake I want and enjoy my evening. My kids make my bdays fun now and they are the most important people anyway
This may have many reasons. maybe ppl invited too late to make plans, maybe the time of day. the place (maybe it's "too far"). also ppl shouldn't be expected to leave everything cuz someone "invited them to a kids birthday". Just saying when no one shows up, it's usually more then "everyone is rude". must be a reason.
So you sent invites by Facebook? You couldn't be bothered to personally invite the children your kid actually knows through their parents? I have little sympathy for you. Seems like you're blaming others for not showing for a three-year-old's birthday party when you didn't do a Beth good job planning or following up. So, does your daughter now believe she's unliked because no one came or are you just trying to get freebies because of your kid's "hurt feelings?" BTW, a three-year-old doesn't care a single bit about a social birthday party. A Happy Meal, some ice cream, and a small gift or two (with your undivided attention for a little while) means so much more to them. Take the lesson. IT ISN'T ABOUT YOU.
This was every single party I had when I was a kid. I would invite all the kids in my class (I went to a small school) and no one would show up. It would keep happening like this until I turned 11, and my mother said I had gotten 'too old' for birthday parties, but deep down I knew the real reason. Now, I don't really celebrate my birthday except for spending the day drowning myself in my writing instead of working.
I feel for this lady - I know FB isn't the best way to invite, but I organised a party for my then 5yo daughter and sent paper invite, handing them out a school - and only 3(all from the same family) turned up out of the 20 I'd invited! It was awful :(The staff at the soft play ended up giving me a load of free vouchers for free play sessions as they felt sorry for us, having paid out all that money!
I get that a parent would feel the sting of no one coming to their child’s birthday party. However we live in trying times with major financial constraints on everyone. Not everyone is going to be able to take the time to take their 3 yr old to a party and stay with them all day because a 3 yr should not be left alone with strangers all day. There is time off work, finding care for other children not to mention getting a gift. It’s a hard ask when people are short on time and money.
I agree Fb isn’t the best place to invite people for irl events, given you get invites to everything from products pages to online events to groups & it’s easy to overlook their real meaning. The interface may make it look like you’re you’re accepting an invite about the persons birthday photo album. Who knows. Still, this is more likely a TikTok clout thing and seems a little too fishy. Even with Evite, you communicate with those on the invite list and you confirm their attendance. That nothing like this happened has me questioning her ability to organize an event. Or, it’s not real.
My son’s birthday is right around Christmas most people are not available. However one year we did do an early birthday. We wrote out the invitations and put them in his bag with a RSVP to my wife. The last party my son was invited to was last week and the dad asked me in the playground during pick up.
Maybe the source of the issue is the mom; it's very obvious she did this whole rigamarole for HERSELF as opposed to her kid. Or maybe there's a reason the kid is disliked? Aggressive spray fire invitations to anything are things I avoid like the plague.
You invited ppl on Facebook. That's what you'd expect. When you invite people like that it's more of an "optional" invite where it's not really taken as seriously. It's just an e vite. But if someone sends me a physical card to invite me somewhere I'm going to 100% treat that way more seriously than I would a fb invite. To me fb invites (I don't even have fb anymore) are so informal n they're impersonal. But if someone takes the time to send me a real invite via snail mail. That tells me that this is something that they care a lot about n they took the time to invite me properly so I'm going to be more inclined to actually go or in this case send my kid. Even sending a email invite would have been better. Social media invites are BS dude. Sorry but I used to deny 99% of them. But if someone texted me or asked me in person about an event I declined.. then I'd go. Maybe that's just me but I feel like my whole friend group feels the same way too. Send invites to peoples homes dude.
It's not even an "e vite" **** meaning email invite. Sorry I meant to fix that.
Load More Replies... I don't get parents who throw extravagant birthday parties for children under the age of five.
FB is definitely not the right place for a kids bday, the kid invited may have no idea the party was ever happening! She should have called and confirmed at the least, but print is the way to go.
I. hate. This. Trend. It's not just this woman - it's for just about all events/get- togethers. I think it's the rudest, most inconsiderate trend and it should stop immediately. What kind of absolute A** are you to tell someone you'll be there and then just.... 'not show' for whatever... no call not even a courtesy "Look, I'm having anxiety, I can't make it" text? HOW IS THIS NOW AN ACCEPTABLE WAY TO ACT? How is everyone feeling okay that their word means *nothing*? All this talk about "we can work together" and "No one is alone" is a whole lot of GARBAGE if you can't even be considerate enough to keep your word about attending something.. and THEN not bothering to SAY anything if you can't show up.
Love how she literally said there were rsvp's, but several people asked why she didn't rsvp the event.
Had something like this happen. We invited family and friends not just through FB but with invites and texts to double check. No one came. My daughter is on the Autism spectrum, and it's so hard for her to make friends as it is...she couldn't understand why, neither could I.
There’s something odd here. She didn’t follow up when she didn’t get rsvps?
I invited my 17 colleagues for a party at my house. I didn't have Facebook so I invited them via e-mail. Later I found out that they only rsvp'd when they saw it on Facebook. So I asked one of my colleagues to share it on her FB. But that didn't help either. Not wanting to go to a party because it's not on FB, I will never understand.
Even for adult parties, people are absolute S**T about RSVP'ing, whether you invite via email, text, Paperless Post, FB or whatever. On the last two, you can see that people have viewed your invite. How hard is it to accept or decline?? It's so freaking rude and it's something that has bothered me for years.
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