When you send out Invitations......

for us here, we're not in the habit of sending out invitations and personally, i prefer talking to them personally rather than sending out invitations as there's no guarantee that they'll respond as you know. thus we don't even know if they will attend. also, even though the invitations might be sent maybe via school and all, the children might actually forget to give to the parents, that's why we might not get responses as well. if we call them or meet them and let them know, then it's so much more convenient. we'll know whether they can make it or not and we would have let the parents know regarding the party and all.

When my son turned one, i sent out invitations. And some of my friends who live far from us, I called them and told them the details. Too bad then, there was a storm and only few relatives came for the party. Honestly, I cried. I waited for this event to happen and I prepared for it. I made the goodies bag, everything. But I tried to be happy for my son. I want him to enjoy the party. This august, he is turning to and I'm really preparing for it. As early as now, I'm praying for a storm not to come. I really don't know what I will do and feel if the same scenario happens again.

Well I hope that they do let you know as it is also manners to let you know, you need to know how many you are catering for and that It does not matter what Party it is People should always let you know as there is also the food and that to think of I do hope Sweetie that there will be some Children there for him and that the Parents will let you know Love and Hugs

I dont do these kind of parties anymore. I got so tired of it fast. You get all this work ready and people either dont show who said they would or more show than had RSVPed.

what i would do heavenschild is contact your sons teacher and tell her your dilema,so they may be able to remind the other parents for you and give you some contact numbers to give them a call.i hope it all works out for you.cheers sue

My heart really goes out to you. My youngest daughter is also autistic. She's never been invited to a party. No one calls her on the phone and although the people at her job are nice to her, she's never been included in anything. I wish I knew what to tell you to do other than just have the party whether any show up or now.

people just don't RSVP anymore. trust me in the last year i've had a toy party, a party lite party and 2 birthday parties. i sent out invites to all of them and no one called to say they were coming. the only reason i knew a few people were coming is i happened to talk to them and asked them if they were coming. Do you know these kids parents? i would just start calling and asking to see if they are coming so you know how many to expect. it may be they just got too busy and forgot. my daughter was invited to a party and i lost track of the days and didn't remember to call till the day after the RSVP date.

Hi heavenschild, I'm glad to see that you're on here tonight. Actually, this is the first time I've been on myLot in the last couple of days. I really haven't felt up to it. I'll be having an early night tonight, and hopefully will start to feel better. By the way, I hope you received the e-mail I sent. Your situation really saddens me, and I'm not sure why those that you've invited are behaving this way. I certainly hope it's not because of your son's autism. Do the parents of the invited children know he's autistic? It's really too bad you can't get ahold of their phone numbers, but I don't suppose you have their last names? While it's great that there's going to be lots of family on hand, it's still not the same if it's just adults. When some have mentioned here, that they just have family parties, I'm concluding that there may be other children in their families, who would attend. Your son needs this opportunity to interact with kids. I guess it's too late to invite any children from your church? As for loot bags, since you don't have a number, maybe you can just buy something edible to hand out at the end, if they show, and a small toy to go along with it. I'm sorry, I don't know what else to suggest. I do understand though why you're feeling the way you are. Love and hugs to you.

I tend to call if I can go to the party if they ask for rsvp. But if that isn't written or if I can't go then I won't call. Usually cause I don't know the person and feel bad calling just to say I can't go. I call cause like you say there are some planning to do. I had a party for my daughter in September and only had 5 girls confirm. I had 14 girls show up. There was "make you own pizzas" and "make your own bracelets" so numbers would have been nice to know. I bought enough thinking that if they don't show up we could eat it all ourselves but still was worried that I spent money I couldn't afford. It worked out for her which was good. Though I think it would be nice if people would phone you to let you know, I hope that you son has a fun day regardless of the number of children that come. Happy Birthday!

I am sorry to hear that no one has RSVP to your invitations, I always make sure that I let a parent know if my child is going to go or not, it is just good manners to do so. I really do not know what to say to you with regards to doing treat bags, if you do not do any then guarantee that they will all turn up! I have never had this problem before, but this is only because I do not do birthday parties for mine. We always just do something together as a family instead. I think if it was me then I would be inclined to try and catch hold of the parents of the children that had been invited and just double check with them to see if their children are going to come or not.

I have a younger sister and I have found that less people are replying to the RSVPs than they did back when I was a child. Some people just tell my sister they are coming, but my parents would really like a phone call from the parents to me sure, because children may say something but then do something else. What my parents tend to do is just ring them up and explain that they want a rough idea of numbers, so they can do party bags and whatever and enquire whether that parent's child is coming.

I think that is very necessary to ask that parents rsvp for their children. I ask that on invitations for my kids. I haven't always done that, but I wished that I had. Once I was giving my son a party, and he passed out invitations, and only 2 kids showed up. We all have very busy schedules, even kids now days, so it's a very good to ask that they rsvp because it is heartbreaking for the child, and then you feel bad, and on top of that, you have all of the food, decorations, party favors, and whatever else you may have spent money that you get stuck with. So as for your son's party, I would still do everything that you planned, just not as much. Do enough so that your son still enjoys himself, and maybe have some party favors and treats bags for backup just in case other kids do show up. But I just think that it is inconsiderate of the other parents not to rsvp to say if there child will be attending one way or the other. I hope that son's party turns out to be great!