Birthday parties are a huge deal for kids. I don’t know about your kids but mine start counting down the days until their next birthday literally MONTHS in advance.
Kids love everything about them: the balloons, the games, the cake, the gifts, but most of all, getting together with their friends.
Which is what makes this story so incredibly heartbreaking. Grab the tissues, you’re going to need them.
Dawn, a mother from Saskatchewan, Canada shared a devastating video on TikTok of her 6-year-old son playing in a park alone after none of the 22 kids he invited to his birthday party showed up.
Not one.
And that sound you hear? Is our collective mama hearts breaking.
The video has racked up over 3M views, 530K hearts, and 20K comments since being posted just two days ago. She simply titled it “heart broken.”
She opens the video with a shot of a picnic table, covered in cupcakes and refreshments, blowouts, a “6” candle, and a Happy Birthday decoration.
The words “out of 22 invites…no one came…” flash across the screen.
In a voiceover she explains what is happening:
So we’re sitting at the park for JJ’s birthday party, we got everything ready…his party started half an hour ago.
She pans the camera around the empty playground showing a deserted play structure, slide, and swings. There is not a soul to be seen except for her little boy, playing in the sand, ALONE.
He had literally zero people show up for his birthday.
My Poor little man.
And I am not crying AT ALL.
She uses captions on the video to explain that she knows it’s a pandemic but that Covid-19 restrictions had been lifted in her area.
Just to be safe they were having the party outside.
She also apologizes for the shaky video, saying she is “upset” and that JJ is “amazing and he deserves better.”
Damn right he does.
Look, this has been a shit year for our kids. They have already lost out on so much. The fact that this little boy is now losing out on his own birthday party is TOO MUCH. And I’m not the only one that thinks so.
Commenters came out in droves to support JJ.
And said that this is exactly the reason why they ALWAYS show up. No matter what.
Many let Dawn know she wasn’t alone and shared their own stories of the same thing happening to them.
Others gave suggestions on how to avoid it in the future. One commenter recommended inviting only those you know for sure you can depend on.
Another said they choose to do an out-of-town experience over a party instead.
And one begged the question that we are ALL asking, “Does nobody RSVP anymore?”
Apparently not.
Because what is glaringly obvious in this sad tale is that this could have been prevented. If Dawn had known that no one was planning to come to the party in advance she could have made alternate plans. But she wasn’t given that luxury.
In a follow-up TikTok, Dawn tells viewers that she is grateful for the outpouring of love and gift offers but that JJ doesn’t need toys.
No, what he needed were friends.
But JJ isn’t letting this take him down. Instead of being bitter, he’s turning others’ wrongs into something right.
And OMG, we seriously could not love this kid more.
JJ asked that any toys people wanted to gift him be given as donations to a nearby children’s hospital instead. And for those wondering what they should donate in his honor, he loves dinosaurs, dragons, puzzles, books, and coloring supplies.
“All the comments and offers to buy JJ presents, they are greatly appreciated but JJ doesn’t need any toys.
He has asked very politely that you guys would send any extra gifts to the children’s hospital closest to you.”
@dawners86 Reply to @hales1320 #blessed #birthday #replytocomments #helpothers #childrenshospital #donate
As for the actual party, Dawn was able to salvage it by frantically calling up family friends and some of her old daycare parents that she used to have.
In the end, JJ had 6 friends roll up to save the day.
However what really made it special was all of the love and birthday wishes he received from a whole whack of strangers on the internet, proving kindness isn’t dead.
And JJ? He turned 6 feeling like the rockstar he is.
You can see the original video she shared here:
@dawners86 heart broken. #heartbroken #sosad #hurt #wow #lonely #poorguy #sadboy #birthday #happybirthday #omg #cry