We threw a bowling birthday party for DS 2 weeks ago. Everyone RSVP'd. Evite sent out reminders periodically. I confirmed with the facility on the headcount, they generated the final bill, I ordered cake and party favors based on the RSVP number.

The day of the party, 4 of the "YES"es didn't show up. One of them did get back to me and apologize. The other 3 are all DS' classmates. NONE of them emailed or texted me.

It is really no biggie in the grand scheme of things. Everyone had fun, we had less kids to share the lanes, less kids to manage, more food and cake enough for the parents. But it bugged me. I find it so rude that if something comes up, shouldn't you at least reach out and give me a heads up?

I met one of the moms in person a week later. She did come over and genuinely apologized that they didn't make it. Since she brought it up (and out of curiosity) I asked what happened. She said they weren't feeling very well that day. I said, oh, ok.

I had lunch with DS at school a few days afterwards. Another boy who also didn't come to the party came over and said hi to me (His mom and I are friendly acquaintances). I said we missed him at DS' birthday party. He said he didn't even know there was a party (but they did RSVP yes). He mumbled on a bunch of stuff that I didn't understand. Other kids overheard, and they told me that another boy, whose mom said they weren't feeling very well, told them that they missed the party because they had a sleepover that day. Hmm.

Am I over-reacting? Does that happen a lot and what do you feel about it?