Where are all the manners?

So I don’t understand why people do not to R.S.V.P.?

When a person goes to the trouble of hand writing invitations to a party and having them delivered, whether by mail, in person, by pigeon or pony, the recipient should reply. It is just good manners.

Even if you don’t want to go to the party, at least call and make up some excuse.

Specifically, I am talking about kid birthday parties. I had one for my son this past weekend and am sadly disappointed with the lack of responses. Do people think, because it is a kid party it just doesn’t matter if they RSVP or not?

There is the likely possibility the invitations in question were lost in the guest children’s backpacks. That has actually happened to me before. The day before, or even the day of, I have found an invitation to a birthday party. Suddenly, I am on the phone calling the mom asking if it is too late for my child to attend. While I apologized for the late response, the mom is usually grateful for the response and of course, it is not too late. So we throw some money in a card on the way to the party and everybody is happy.

Some of my son's friends did not make it to the party on Saturday. My son had a good time with his friends that were there, but he did wonder where the other missing guys were and why they didn’t show up.

They are kids. By Monday at recess all was forgotten. I probably took it harder than my son. And I do have extra thank you gift bag items I can save for some unexpected gift I may need to throw together in the future.

But still, if you get invited to a party, whether by phone, in person, or an invitation asking for an R.S.V.P., you should at least call. Even if you have to make up a little excuse.

Where have all the manners gone?