Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Something similar to this happened to us. Had a birthday party at the local bowling alley. One child RSVP'd YES and never showed. My kid casually asked her why she wasn't there, and she said she doesn't like bowling. A few things:
1) What parent allows that as an excuse to not go to a birthday party?
2) If the repulsion to bowling was that strong, why reply YES? Why not go with the "we were out of town" response?

Never did hear from the parents. Another kid was a no-show, but he was sick and the mom contacted me to let me know with her regrets.

Mind boggling.

Oh geez. Some of you have lived very sheltered lives. The kid probably lied to cover up the real reason. My mom was abusive and would randomly not allow me to attend things. Maybe her parent is a drunk and was passed out. Maybe her parents were in the middle of a giant argument when they were supposed to go. Maybe the family’s one car broke down. Who knows? The poor kid was probably embarrassed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I once showed up to a party the Saturday before.

I was flaky at the time, actually in the midst of a nervous breakdown.

You never know what is going on in other people’s lives.

This. You never know what's going on in other people's lives.

These "she sucks" posters are so self-centered it doesn't occur to them that another family might have an issue occur that could bump their precious kids' parties from someone's mind.

Someday these posters will forget a party, or have a suddenly sick kid, or a car problem at an inconvenient time, or otherwise find that they don't control everything all the time. Then they'll say of course that THEY have a legit excuse for missing a party at the last second.

Anonymous wrote:I once showed up to a party the Saturday before.

I was flaky at the time, actually in the midst of a nervous breakdown.

You never know what is going on in other people’s lives.

Anonymous wrote:I have been in the midst of health issues before--and not the kind I want to talk about with everyone. One had unpredictable results, and I often had to cancel with short notice. Something could be going on in her life that has her strapped. I would not assume she is a jerk.

For friends who powered through and were patient with me, I am quite grateful.

And the meltdown example someone gave is another reason. I have missed events due to my child's crying and meltdowns, and I did not always want to share child's business with people I didn't know well.

Some of this has led me to accept fewer invitations.

I guess if people think I am a jerk for missing one event, they can.

Sounds like some of you have lives that result in you never making a mistake. You are most fortunate.

Anonymous wrote:Once when the kids were little a pet escaped, we were searching frantically, found the pet, and in the panic and relief afterward, forgot about the party completely. Stuff happens.

Anonymous wrote:Something similar to this happened to us. Had a birthday party at the local bowling alley. One child RSVP'd YES and never showed. My kid casually asked her why she wasn't there, and she said she doesn't like bowling. A few things:
1) What parent allows that as an excuse to not go to a birthday party?
2) If the repulsion to bowling was that strong, why reply YES? Why not go with the "we were out of town" response?

Never did hear from the parents. Another kid was a no-show, but he was sick and the mom contacted me to let me know with her regrets.

Mind boggling.

Anonymous wrote:I have been in the midst of health issues before--and not the kind I want to talk about with everyone. One had unpredictable results, and I often had to cancel with short notice. Something could be going on in her life that has her strapped. I would not assume she is a jerk.

For friends who powered through and were patient with me, I am quite grateful.

And the meltdown example someone gave is another reason. I have missed events due to my child's crying and meltdowns, and I did not always want to share child's business with people I didn't know well.

Some of this has led me to accept fewer invitations.

I guess if people think I am a jerk for missing one event, they can.

Sounds like some of you have lives that result in you never making a mistake. You are most fortunate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do people forget? Don’t you have a phone calendar? Set alerts if you’re that disorganized.

I’ve added it to the calendar for the wrong day.
Also, evite mixed up the time zone once and I showed up 2 hours late - as the party was ending.

Anonymous wrote:We had 2 families no-show yesterday. One family texted that they all were diagnosed with strep on Friday afternoon, the other family just forgot in the chaos of having out of town guests. The ones that forgot felt awful and stopped by with a gift that afternoon. The guest receipt indicates they bought the gift a week in advance so it wasn’t some last minute thing.