This will get you right in the ticker.
When not a single child turned up to Glenn Buratti’s sixth birthday party, he and his parents were devastated.
Glenn’s parents Ashlee and John Buratti, of Florida, had invited all 16 of his classmates to the party. They didn’t receive any RSVPs, but Glenn’s mum thought that some kids would still turn up to celebrate her son’s birthday.
When not a single person showed-up, a heartbroken Ms Buratti shared the problem with the Osceola Rants Raves and Reviews List Facebook page.
She posted:
I just wanted to vent to other parents who maybe had been through the same thing…I know this might be something silly to rant about, but my heart is breaking for my son. We invited his whole class (16 kids) over for his 6th birthday party today. Not one kid came.
And the response was overwhelming.
The local community stepped in to save the day, and make sure Glenn, who has epilepsy and autism, had the ultimate birthday celebration.
Around 15 kids and 25 adults (who were total strangers) came along to the party to share cake and games with Glenn and bring him gifts, including a new bike.
Related: 5-year old boy has been given an invoice for a no show at a school mate’s birthday party.
And several days later, members of the local fire department and Sherriff’s office also paid Glenn a visit, wishing him happy birthday, bringing him presents and giving him a tour of their emergency vehicles.
They even organised for a rescue helicopter to fly past his house and for the pilot to wave to Glenn.
Related: 6 ways to tell if your kid is struggling at school.
Ms Buratti said she had been touched by the community’s response.
She told the Osceola News-Gazette and Fox 35-Orlando:
From the minute he woke up that day he wanted to know how many minutes until his friends came…It’s probably one of the biggest hurts you can have, to see how let down your child is when nobody shows up for them.
Just one Facebook post and it took off with people helping us. It was amazing. His face lit up, his eyes got real big and he just smiled the whole time. And to think, all this happened because nobody showed up to his birthday. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Excuse us, while we shed a little happy tear.
What would you do if no one turned up to your child’s birthday party?
Quicky News Headlines: Thursday April 25th 2024
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Top Comments
OK I have a lot of feels on this:
Firstly, Why continue to go ahead with the party when you KNOW noone has rsvp'd? You're just setting your kid up for dissapointment. Just tell the kid that you have something even better than a party and use the money to take him to a theme park or something. He'll be having so much fun that he'll forget all about the fact that he was meant to be having a party with his friends. It's just plain illogical. Then she's shocked when noone shows up? Like duh, noone rsvp'd?
Secondly, unlike a lot of comments here, I completely disagree that parents are rude or inconsiderate for not forcing their kids to go to a party they don't want to go to.
Autistic kids are just like normal kids: Some are lovely deep down, and some are little brats.
I know one little kid who is awful. He bullies, hits, kicks, pulls the hair of, steals the lunches of, all the other kids and calls them names. He swears at the teachers. He also happens to be autistic. I'm not saying that his behaviour is a direct result of his autism. I am saying he happens to have autism, and he also happens to be nasty. I'm sorry but I would never force my child to go to a party of a child who bullies them or treats them badly. As a parent I have a responsibility to look after my own kid and sometimes that will mean not forcing my own child to go to the party of a child they don't like. 6 year olds are pretty simple creatures. They don't know enough yet to be prejudiced against people with learning disabilites. They're pretty much happy to be friends with anyone who is nice back to them. Maybe this kid isn't.
Event planning tip: if you haven't received any RSVPs, you have to chase them up. Start ringing people. Mention it whenever you see the kid's parents.
How rude that people don't RSVP and people then feel that they have to do that.
It's just common sense. They may have forgotten or the invites were lost in the post. Plus then you can guilt trip them into coming.
If I have to guilt trip people into coming then I'm not sure I want them there.
The satisfaction of calling them out on their crappy behaviour will be enough.