It was two days before my son?s fifth birthday. We?d invited 17 friends to his party at a local indoor play place, and on the invitation, I wrote in very clear, underlined, capitalized letters, ?RSVP?YES OR NO!? That was my not-very-subtle way of telling parents: don?t just tell me if you?re coming?please tell me if you?re not coming, too. Répondez s?il vous plaît.
Yet there we were, two days after the RSVP date, with 48 hours to go before the party, and we had only three kids confirmed to be attending.
I was certain we?d have no problem meeting the 10-kid minimum for the play place we booked. Yet with only two days until the party, I was waiting on 13 RSVPs. Thirteen!
One of my friends suggested I get loot bags for at least some of those 13 kids in case they showed up, but I was already gearing up to pay for not making the 10-kid minimum. I didn?t want to spend more money on loot bags for kids who were likely not coming. In the end, none of the kids whose parents hadn?t RSVP’d showed up. And somehow, with just 12 hours to spare, I managed to invite some friends? kids to fill up the extra spaces. 
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Stop the madness! No more invite-everyone birthday party school policies

You see, this isn?t the first birthday party I?ve thrown for my kids...