I had to cancel my youngest DD's b-day party.. - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
I am so upset. I had put together this FANTASTIC birthday for my babygirl..
It was supposed to be at the childrens museum in Hartford..
I ordered the coolest Tinkerbell cake and a few months ago, I came across the best tink party supplies... I guess I am taking this harder than she is...LOL
I sent the invites the last day of school. Both DD's and I made 25 invitations. Out of 25, we got 3 RSVP's-2 NO's and 1 YES. I dont understand this. I always RSVP whether we can attend or not. It only takes a second!
I had to cancel the party last night.. I waited until as late as possible with hopes that we would get a few more calls.
We called the 1 girl who said yes, and explained the situation.. I rescheduled her "party" until Friday night. I am going to take my DD & her friend to go see Harry Potter and then to DQ for ice cream!
Caitlin is a little dissapointed, but is taking it ok.
Next year, if we do a party with friends from school, we will celebrate it a month early- while school is still in for the year and just do something small at my house.
So sorry. I can relate though. DD's birthday is December 23rd. Neverwas I ever able to have her birthday even close to that time. Kids were on Christmas break or all going to Christmas parties. Plus, because we are in Maine it HAD to be indoors. It stunk. I'm sure it will be great anyway. Our theater here lets you bring your own cake & decorations so hopefully she will still have the Tink cake!
I'm with you in always RSVPing but I will say that I am the only one I know that still does it. In fact, for all of Josh and Chloe's parties I have never had a single parent RSVP. And I have thrown at least 4 baby showers that I can think of and have only ever had two people RSVP for those. I think it's incredibly rude not to, but it's just not something people think about now. I know how frustrated you must be....I put together a HUGE bash for Chloe's first birthday and only DH's mom, dad and sisters came. My entire family and extended family no-showed and REALLY hurt my feelings. Ahh well...hopefully next year something a little closer to school will help out like you said! HP and icecream sounds like a lot of fun and I'm sure they will have a blast!
RSVPing is certainly a lost skill. As a teacher, I always have parents who are planning parties coming up to me and asking if I have heard of families who are coming to their child's party because no one got back to them. It is very rude to the person who is planning the party. I am glad that you daughter at least gets to have a get together with one friend. I hope your DD has a great birthday.
I know how that feels! Similar happened to us for DD's birthday last year. We invited about 30 people (kids & adults) and only got about 5 replies to our RSVPs. Thankfully about 20 people showed up.
Surely EVERYONE who organises parties for their children would KNOW how difficult it can be to plan for a party and ensure you have enough food etc but don't order too much because of cost etc? So why oh why do they not bother to respond to an invitation? They don't like it when it happens to them!
I know how that feels! Similar happened to us for DD's birthday last year. We invited about 30 people (kids & adults) and only got about 5 replies to our RSVPs. Thankfully about 20 people showed up.
Surely EVERYONE who organises parties for their children would KNOW how difficult it can be to plan for a party and ensure you have enough food etc but don't order too much because of cost etc? So why oh why do they not bother to respond to an invitation? They don't like it when it happens to them!
I'm glad you had a good turnout for your DD's party..
My DH told me not to cancel because people would probably just show up today.. I thought, even more reason to cancel. Maybe they will learn a valuable lesson about RSVP'ING!!! I couldnt have this party with hopes that people would show up. It was going to be very expensive, I think the total was $375ish..A lot of money just for 2 girls! LOL!!
I thought I was going to lose my $100 deposit, but they said they would hold on to it, and see if I wanted to reschedule next month, or once the kids go back to school...
RSVPing is certainly a lost skill. As a teacher, I always have parents who are planning parties coming up to me and asking if I have heard of families who are coming to their child's party because no one got back to them. It is very rude to the person who is planning the party. I am glad that you daughter at least gets to have a get together with one friend. I hope your DD has a great birthday.
Thank you!
I have taught all my kids that an RSVP is a MUST!! also sending thank you cards for gifts/cards is also a must-do-
I guess I am really old fashioned.
I just don't understand why some people have a hard time responding to an invitation. I usually respond as soon as I get the invite,that way I don't forget. I am sorry that your DD's party is canceled, I hope she is not to upset and has a great day.
So sorry. We would have responded and attended I just love some of the fun opportunities that the kids have attending birthday parties and yours sounds like it would have been too cool!
I am so upset. I had put together this FANTASTIC birthday for my babygirl..
It was supposed to be at the childrens museum in Hartford..
I ordered the coolest Tinkerbell cake and a few months ago, I came across the best tink party supplies... I guess I am taking this harder than she is...LOL
I sent the invites the last day of school. Both DD's and I made 25 invitations. Out of 25, we got 3 RSVP's-2 NO's and 1 YES. I dont understand this. I always RSVP whether we can attend or not. It only takes a second!
I had to cancel the party last night.. I waited until as late as possible with hopes that we would get a few more calls.
We called the 1 girl who said yes, and explained the situation.. I rescheduled her "party" until Friday night. I am going to take my DD & her friend to go see Harry Potter and then to DQ for ice cream!
Caitlin is a little dissapointed, but is taking it ok.
Next year, if we do a party with friends from school, we will celebrate it a month early- while school is still in for the year and just do something small at my house.
I am glad you canceled the party. I would hate for Caitlin to go through what Autumn did last week. This seems to be epidemic...bad manners virus...would that there was an inoculation against it. Oh...wait a minute...there is...people doing the right thing and teaching their kids to do the same.
We had that problem last year with Aidan's birthday. Over the years, I have become very close with many of his friends' moms. So, I was lucky that they all called-- because we talk all the time anyway. But, there were so many that didn't call. I was ok, because I knew for sure that we'd at least have a small group. Some came (who didn't RSVP), some didn't. But, I didn't know how many goody bags to make, how big to order the cake, how many pizzas-- -don't people get that?? So I made way too many goody bags (actually enough to give out to all of the younger siblings who came with mom and dad to pick up kids). I'm done with birthday parties. Now, we all have our moments. I always rsvp, but last year I was in nursing school and it was a really stressful week, I have clinicals on the weekends, and my husband's weekends are crazy becuase of my sons' sports schedules. I RSVPd that we were going, and on the day of the party--- TOTALLY FORGOT! My son forgot too. Oh my gosh, I felt so bad, it hit me the next week when I was talking to the mom on the schoolyard. So, I try to give the benefit of the doubt-- everyone forgets things from time to time--- but, I think for most people, they just don't bother RSVPing, and that's sad. I told my kids-- pick what special thing you want to do, because the parties are really tough. Aidan picked going to Baltimore to the National Aquarium (since we've never been), and we'll get them more presents. We still always do a small family party.
I don't know what has become of manners. We were always taught to respond to invitations and be sure to send thank you cards for gifts received. You would think that these parents, who I am sure have had birthday parties for their children, would know how important it is to reply.
I hope Catilin has a wonderful birthday.
Sorry you have to go through this. I haven't attempted a 'party' for Peanut yet, except a trip to Chuck E Cheese, where most of the kids were children of our friends and therefore I see them all the time.
Last year, she was new in school (just started kindergarten) so we sent cupcakes to school and took her and her best friend (my best friend's daughter) to a movie rather than a party. This year, she thinks she'll be at grandma and grandpa's but she'll be having her birthday with Cinderella. =)
At the end of the school year we got two 'invitations' from classmates - one for a little boy whose birthday was right after the end of the school year, and didn't even include a phone number to rsvp, and a note from one girl's mom asking parents to contact her if they wanted an invite in August. I did wind up emailing her because Peanut became close with her daughter, and she just got back to me this morning thanking me for contacting her and that invites would go out in the mail shortly. When it arrives we'll rsvp.
Then again, I've spent the last six months applying and interviewing for jobs and haven't gotten a single 'thank you' or 'sorry, you weren't hired' letter, email or call...
I would have done the same thing in your shoes. I hope Caitlin has a wonderful day.
__________________
Heather ~ Peanut's Mommy!
Member of The Mickey Milers
Thank you!
I have taught all my kids that an RSVP is a MUST!! also sending thank you cards for gifts/cards is also a must-do-
I guess I am really old fashioned.
You are not old fashioned - you simply have manners and expect the same for your children I've had the same issues with parties and now I just plan something big for our family and one or two friends (day trip someplace fun!).
About This Page: 
I guess I am taking this harder than she is...LOL
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Lisa 
Danielle Harmon
I've had the same issues with parties and now I just plan something big for our family and one or two friends (day trip someplace fun!).
Linear Mode
