Sometimes I wonder how completely selfish people really are.  The oldest boy is turning 6 this week. We’ve been planning his birthday party for about 3 weeks. He picked Lego’s and we got a great birthday kit with invites, thank you’s name tags and Lego men as a party gift. He’s been so excited. He picked ten of his friends from school to invite to his party.

We had it at home. That was probably our first mistake; not having it at some commercial place like Chuck E Cheese or something similar. We’ve been planning and planning. We’ve been prepping and prepping. We drew Lego faces on 30 yellow dinner plates and 30 yellow dessert plates. We drew Lego faces on 14 yellow bags. We made Lego waters. We made a Lego pull string pinata. We cleaned the house. We ordered 12 Lego cupcakes. We got fruit and veggies for snacks. I made popcorn-per his request. We reserved the coolest balloon artist ever (www.BigBalloonTycoon.com). We’ve been working so hard to get this all ready.

Wednesday I started to worry. We’d sent out the invitations almost 3 weeks ago, and I still hadn’t heard one RSVP from anyone. I put my cell number and my e-mail. No one called to RSVP. Not one. Hubby and I talked Thursday about my fear. We were both worried. I had taken my personal day and got all out running around done. We worked hard to get all the stuff ready. Friday comes and goes-we’ve still heard from no one. We got most of our final prep done and the birthday boy went to bed--VERY excited.

This morning-it’s party day. He’s up early and UBER excited. We spent the morning making out final preparations, running around and cleaning up the house. Hubby called the neighbors to invite them over as well. He explained our fears about the day. They’re already coming to our family party next week. Now they are coming twice. They are awesome people!

1:00 comes, the neighbors arrive. The kids start playing. They’re having fun. It’s 1:15-they are still the only ones here. !:30, 1:45, 2:00. The ballon guys arrives. He’s carrying at 3 foot tall Optimus Prime. Birthday boy is elated!!! He starts making balloons for the kids. They are thrilled because he makes the coolest stuff. Birthday boy is still in the shade talking to his Dad. “I wish my friends were here.” Just writing it breaks my heart. He was sad. We made the best of it. They talked about how lucky he was to have the girls there, how he was getting some seriously awesome balloons, how his friends were missing all the fun. He was still sad. (Thankfully Dad handled this one-I would have been a mess.)

3:00 comes and the Balloon Tycoon heads out. We’re so amazed at the balloons the kids have. He was AWESOME! The girls hung out for a while longer to play. They played the Lego game we’d planned and prepped and had fun. They played together with the Legos.

Our worst fears were realized today. Not one parent RSVP’ed to his birthday. Not one kid showed up that we invited. We did our damnedest to make the best of it for him. We put on our happy faces and complained about it away from him. Overall, we made sure he had a great day.

I however, am PISSED!!! It’s not my money or time I am put out about. It’s the fact that my kid was disappointed. He’s hurt that his friends didn’t come. I don’t blame his friends. I blame their parents. Those kids are six. I know they can’t drive or call to RSVP to a party. That’s their parents responsibility. If they couldn’t make it, they should RSVP, if they were going to come, they should RSVP. I punt an RSVP on the invite-I gave two ways to contact me-phone and e-mail. I got nothing. R.S.V.P. stands for a French phrase, "répondez, s'il vous plaît," which means "please reply." The person sending the invitation would like you to tell him or her whether you accept or decline the invitation. That is, will you be coming to the event or not? I don’t feel like I asked for much. I asked for you to tell me if you were coming to my almost 6 year olds birthday party. I didn’t ask for a kidney. I didn’t ask for a pint of blood. I didn’t ask for you to murder anyone for me. I asked for an RSVP.

I ask parents to put themselves in my shoes next time you get an invite for one of your kid’s friend's birthday parties. Will you have the common courtesy to RSVP? Are you man or woman enough to talk to the host?

I feel like too many people in today’s society are too selfish. It’s all about them. No one thinks of other people’s feelings any more. People only think of themselves. Next time, think of the little person who will be disappointed. Think about their fragile little egos. Think about the fact that these little things mean the world to them. Give a few minutes of your time and RSVP to a party. It’s the polite thing to do.