I was really looking forward to my son's birthday party. I had invited 20 kids, but only 3 of them RSVP'd to indicate that they were actually coming.

The other 17? Static.

17 kids is a lot to plan for, especially when you don't know confirmed attendees. How am I supposed to plan? It's not like I can read minds.

As I furiously jot down a to-do list for the party that is the NEXT day, I can't help but feel a bit resentful. So many little details to plan and now there's a possibility that a lot of the kids may or may not show up. Just another thing to add to my mounting pile of stress. I heave a sigh and try to refocus on the task at hand.

Even if most of them decide to come at the last minute, I'll be prepared.

After much deliberation, I decided that 15 would be my maximum number of children to prepare for. This was no small feat, but I was up for the challenge. I wanted to make sure that every child had a blast, knowing that there was no conceivable way that all 17 no-responses found a way to show up.

I bought a cake that would at least feed 20, but that was an easy decision. What about snacks? Grazing little tummies all day long can quickly turn into one big headache. So, I also picked up some pretzels, chips, and of course, beverages. Things that were easy to put out and didn't require much prep.

I couldn't help but think that this could all be so much more personalized for the 3 kids if they were the actual only ones showing up. This has quickly turned into a generic free-fall of party organizations.

Pretzels, chips, and soda. Yay.

At least there would be plenty of cake, the one thing I would be able to fall back on.

What about activities? Games? Entertainment? The stress of dealing with the satisfactory score of children was quickly building up inside of my head. What kind of hell am I living in at the moment? This just isn't real.

And when the big day finally arrived?

3 kids.

Yep. All 3 that responded made it, and the rest were MIA, just like their responses.

Needless to say, I was now overprepared, but able to handle this situation with ease.

Out of all the lessons I've learned from this experience, the biggest one is as follows.

I realized that I should have followed up with those who didn't respond. If I had just sent them a quick message, I could have avoided the whole situation (granted they even responded to that one!) Lesson learned! From now on, I'm going to make sure to follow up with people who don't respond to my invitations. It'll help me avoid any last-minute stress and/or disappointment.

However, parents. Can you do us all a favor and just RESPOND to the RSVP? Of course, it's not always easy to respond to an RSVP promptly. Life gets busy and things come up. But when you're the one doing the inviting, it's hard to NOT look at things through your own lens. The stresses of responding to an invitation will never outweigh the stresses of planning a party that a bunch of children could potentially be attending.

In the end, my son and his 3 friends had a great time and there was PLENTY of food and cake to eat. But next time you're the parent that receives one of these invitations, please keep in mind the mother that is on the other end of it.

We can only be mind-readers to a certain extent.

‍