No one coming to DS's party. Should I cancel?

[Doritosforever]

Hi All,
I've booked a party for my 6 year old DS and no one seems to want / be able to come. I had 1 response by the RSVP deadline, so have chased all via WhatsApp or at the school gates. All have either seen WhatsApp and ignored it or said they can't make it.
I sent the invite out 2.5 weeks before with a RSVP of 7 days before the party. We invited all but 3 in the class (various reasons). The teacher said my DS is liked by all and plays with lots of different children.
I had to pay in advance and was a minimum of 20 kids, so £150 paid. We were doing our own food, the party is Saturday so not got it yet.
Currently 1 child from school going and 1 from out of school. The out of school parents didn't bother to reply either!
How depressing will it be having 3 kids in a room that fits 40.
Would you cancel? Should I cancel? DS is very emotional and will be heart broken either way.

Yes, tell your ds that plans have changed and you're taking him and the 2 friends out instead. Roller skating? Ice skating? Laser light show? Cinema? MacD? Beach (if you live near one)? Zoo? There's loads to do!

That’s a pity OP but what occurred to me is that perhaps another classmate, possibly one of the three uninvited kids, is having a party that day and your DS hasn’t been invited to that? If invites went out earlier for the other party, people might feel awkward about answering you if they have already accepted the other invite - and don’t want to alert you to the fact that your DS wasn’t invited? I would make other plans with the 3 kids.

She's already paid for the room!!!

@Doritosforever I would keep the room and set it up for your own invictus games - a bit of running, jumping jacks, skipping etc Or games like skittles, bean bag toss, childrens darts, giant jenga etc.

The winner gets a prize and the runners up get prizes too.

Try to get more people there to cheer them on.

Good luck, I hope it works out.

Also Im glad you didnt invite the bullies. Your sons wellbeing comes 1st x

Not heartless if the 3 that have been left out are bullies!! I wouldn’t invite them to my child’s party.

Retired teacher here. I think you are wrong, sadly. Bullying can be invisible, insidious and really hard to stop even in the best schools with the right mindset.

People will turn up, in my experience people are just plain rude. It really doesn’t hurt to send a text message does it to say yes or no. I would still have it.

In our school nobody would come with 2.5 weeks notice. Except for my son and I because we’re new and I don’t make a lot of plans. We have friends that are always booked 2 months of weekends ahead. Also a lot of people book paries flat in the middle of the day which makes it so hard to do anything else!

Everyone is on holiday or hoping to be on holiday, and you left it too late - that's all. All schools have bullies, though funnily enough all kids will say they've been bullied, but none will ever offer that they are the instigators. Inviting the bully to your party will only confirm they can do what they want without concern, but there may be repercussions if the bully is sidelined. Bullys lack empathy or conscience - great material for future leaders of industry or politicians or some other type of sociopath. Invite who you want, that's the point isn't it...

As you've paid and can't get a refund, don't cancel. It's not unusual for some non repliers to turn up.

I'm glad your son has decided what he wants to do and is happy with it. If it's a big soft play and some of the 14+ yo friends kids like playing with younger kids I'd ask if they want to come. My older niece and nephews were massive hits at my son's party last year almost preferred to the paw patrol character that visited 😂

Good on you for having the confidence to try to arrange a birthday party. Honestly people are so flakey nowadays and hardly put the effort into turning up for other kids. I have dreaded the thought of hosting ever since my baby shower. The lack of people that showed up for my child but would virtually bombard me was crazy. I felt rejected and sad for my child.
I would personally take the loss and cancel party, take your child to a theme park or on holiday for his future birthdays.

How did it go OP @Doritosforever ?

I was bullied by two girls at school, unfortunately I thought it was mean to leave them out (2 in a group of 17) so I invited them anyway just to be courteous. I would’ve invited the bullies knowing they likely wouldn’t turn up. A lot of bullies primary school age have bad upbringings and bad home lives and I think a party might show them a bit of happines. Leaving primary school age children out is bad I’m afraid and poor form.