A mother was left heartbroken after none of her son's guests turned up to his surprise birthday party despite her inviting every kid in his class. The 'baffled' parent explained how she organised a secret Hawaiian themed party for her son after she had to move states for a new job and she knew it would be 'challenging' for him to start his new school, the Mirror reports.
She said that while the other children 'accepted' her son and invited him to things, not one of them showed up to his birthday party despite half of them originally saying they'd be there. After being told off parents that their kids couldn't make the event anymore, the mum later found out that another child in the class was having a sleepover party on the same day and all of her son's classmates wanted to go there instead.
She went on to explain that her son hadn't been invited and when he asked if he could go, she had to lie to him to protect his feelings but admits she feels like an 'a**hole' about it. Taking to Reddit to explain the 'f***ed up' situation, the angry mum slammed the other parents for their behaviour.
In the post, she wrote: "We moved to another state for a job and enrolled our son midyear in the fifth-grade. We knew it would be challenging for any kid to start at a new school, but to start midyear is even harder.
" Most of the kids in his grade have known each other for years. They accepted him, have playdates with him and got invited to birthday parties but they have not bonded with him the way they have bonded with each other.
"It makes sense that you are not going to be as close to a new kid as you are to someone who you've been best friends with since pre-k." Despite this, the mum invited them all to come to his birthday party and thought they would attend because they knew there would be music, games and cake at the event.
She continued: "I wanted to throw a surprise party and emailed all the parents of the class. About half of his class accepted, but they brought him birthday gifts to school on Thursday which was weird.
"On Friday, all of the parents who accepted the invite said they would not be coming - I was baffled." The mother discovered that the reason for their cancellation was because another kid in her son's class was having a sleepover on the same day and all of his classmates were now attending that instead.
She added: "The other kids decided to do the sleepover because they were 'better friends' with the other kid. The other parents knew it was f***ed up but that thought that by giving him birthday gifts at school would make it OK.
"I lied to my son that there was a scheduling conflict and that his friends had already made a commitment to another party and it would be wrong of them to break it to go to another party. He asked if he could do the sleepover instead and I said no because we wanted to spend his birthday with him - another lie as he wasn't invited.
"I feel like such an a***hole but I don't want my kid going to school on Monday and knowing that he is an outcast." Reddit users flocked to the comments to criticise the 'nasty' parents for allowing their kids to cancel on the boy's birthday party and argued that his classmates could have attend both since they were happening at different times.
Others warned the parent to 'prepare' her son for Monday as it's likely that 'everyone will be talking about the sleepover' and her child will feel left out. Another wrote: "I don't get why the other parents could not have brought their kids to your party for an hour or so at least and then taken them to the sleepover.
"Those parents are nasty people and they are teaching their kids that it is OK to be nasty too." Someone else advised: "Prepare him for impact on Monday. The kids will tell him the truth. That's a fact."
A third user remarked: "Bad form from the parents that stood you up. Our daughter isn't a social magnet, so we do a theme park or similar and 'a couple of close friends'.
"It's meant no awkward empty parties, and those friends really appreciate a grand day out, building better friendships from it with her."
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