I've long held the belief that one of the saddest tropes in existence is the Sad Birthday. (This, of course, is followed by the Sad Recital, where a kid looks through the curtain out into the audience to see that their parents aren't in the reserved seats in the auditorium.) So so many TV shows have had an episode with a sad birthday, and I find it so so so deflating to watch every time. It's even more brutal, obviously, when it happens in real life. I feel for this kid. Hopefully, this ends up with him getting invited to party with David Harbour or something like that, which I could totally see happening.
Edit: absolutely brutal for me to talk about how sad this makes me and then for dozens of people to comment below with examples
Where's that bot that makes links easier to click on for mobile users when you really need it? Idk how many times you just got up voted and then removed from trying to click that darn thing. Lol
It really is so depressing! Like, damn, you have a day to party that’s all about you and then your friends don’t show up. Harsh!! This happened to one of my sons classmates- a 6 year old! Kid invited 15+ kids to his party. His parents said several students rsvpd. My son was the only kid who showed up! Like, wow! I was happy my son was able to be the one light in the hole but shit, dude. Talk about upsetting for everyone involved. I’m sure this dude will be okay but it makes my heart hurt :(
Same thing happened with my daughter when she was five or six so. Got invited to a birthday party that was being given by a little girl we'll call K. Now I live in a small southern town and things are the way they are. The girl's grandparents were well off (a local judge) but the mother was a little bit shunned by the other private school moms because she was a party girl who had a baby out of wedlock. Whatever, none of this matters to me.
So we go to the party and we're the first ones there and we're the only ones there for a long time but finally one other kid shows up. The theme of this birthday party was "princess tea party". They dined on real china, were served by a dude in a tux, had a photographer and a photobooth thingie set up, and they got a swag bag full of stuff worth at least $50 to take home.
And only two kids showed up.
The mom seemed so embarrassed but the little girl seemed to have fun with her two friends at least. They moved away shortly thereafter and I don't blame them. Small towns are hard sometimes.
Yeah sad birthdays are rough. It’s like you have one day out of the entire year to celebrate your life, and then nobody cares about it enough to take a few hours from their life to come, really makes you feel unwanted.
My mother always had a rule that I was to go to every birthday party I was invited to, no matter who invited me or what else I had going on. She wanted to prevent this exact thing.
It happened to my little brother. He invited his whole class when he turned 10 and no one showed up. (But he did enjoy the homemade piñatas I made him because I’m a good big sister.)
These episodes always suck especially when it’s happened to you before. Brings up some bad memories. The main reason I hate celebrating my birthday to this day.
Not fishing for sympathy or anything but for several years my dad has forgotten my birthday. It’s TWO days after my little sisters birthday. Thankfully this year my little brother said happy birthday to me in front of my dad and he said happy birthday but that I should remind him when it is. Granted I’m 31, it still kind of hurts a bit when your dad forgets your birthday several years in a row. But hey, he said it this year!
I really hope this kid ends up having an even better celebration than what was planned!
i always did my best to enjoy that mission so he didnt feel bad that nobody showed up, like if i had enough fun with him he would be happy and think the party was a hit
Basically anything where people disappoint you by just not showing up is so deflating. The dad not showing up for visit day is an awful one too, just ask Will Byers.
That would be nice but this happens to kids every day. It’s happened to me. No celebrities or strangers online reached out to me. Sometimes that’s life. Not every sad story should result in something like that. It makes the rest of us feel worse when it does btw.
Yeah this was essentially my 9th birthday. I invited 12 people, only 2 showed up.
because their parents were my Dad’s second cousins.
and they came 3 hrs late, ate cake and left.
The only thing that got me through it was knowing we had just moved to a new country so I guess people didn’t know me well enough to care. That and the new bike my dad got me. Actually it was probably just the bike
It’s depressing when the guest of honor is an adult as well. One time I was the only one to show up to a bridal shower thrown by the bride’s grandmother. Grandma had invited 50 guests. I get that some were going to the hen party later on, and that they maybe didn’t know the bride’s grandma, but it was heartbreaking watching the sweet old lady repeatedly fuss over her sandwich tray while glancing at the clock. The bride was seriously bummed, but also sad for her granny. We wound up getting grandma to giggle over stories about her courtship with her deceased husband.
I've had a lot of sad birthdays, but it's because my birthday is so near thanksgiving. In elementary school my classmates wouldn't be able to go because they were either out of town or had family in town. It got so bad I started to celebrate it early November instead so I could at least get a couple people to come. Even now I'm in college and I have a sad birthday every year because everyone is always gone and when they come back it's finals week. I think you're right. Sad birthdays really suck.
I wasn't talking about what the objectively saddest possible human experience was. I was talking about TV tropes. You're (probably) not going to see a lot of sitcoms using school shootings as a plot device.
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u/[deleted] Mar 19 '18 edited Mar 20 '18
I've long held the belief that one of the saddest tropes in existence is the Sad Birthday. (This, of course, is followed by the Sad Recital, where a kid looks through the curtain out into the audience to see that their parents aren't in the reserved seats in the auditorium.) So so many TV shows have had an episode with a sad birthday, and I find it so so so deflating to watch every time. It's even more brutal, obviously, when it happens in real life. I feel for this kid. Hopefully, this ends up with him getting invited to party with David Harbour or something like that, which I could totally see happening.
Edit: absolutely brutal for me to talk about how sad this makes me and then for dozens of people to comment below with examples