It was meant to be the best day of Teddy’s childhood, but for him, it turned out to be a horrible one. For his sixth birthday, his parents planned to take him to Disney World or Lego Land, but he wanted to spend it with his friends. Teddy’s mother picked out a table at Peter Piper Pizza about two weeks before the big day, and she gave Teddy’s teacher thirty-two invitations, asking her to distribute one to each student in the class. More than half of the child’s parents said they would bring their children to the celebration.

On Teddy’s birthday, Teddy’s mother, Sia, packed gift bags for her son’s friends and placed an order for a huge pizza. Despite everyone’s expectations that it would be an absolute joy, not a single student spoke out. After more than sixty minutes of waiting, the buddies were no longer visible. After this, Sia was crushed. She was heartbroken for her kid, who was having a very trying day on what ought to have been a fun one. Teddy’s father told the New York Post, “I was bummed; I was bummed out for sure.”

In an attempt to cheer up their kid, the parents tried to distract him with activities like arcade games. Sia decided to take a photo of Teddy and share it online to spread awareness that something similar should never happen to anyone.

Hundreds of individuals emailed Teddy birthday greetings, and many of them included gifts. To make Teddy’s day a little bit better, the Phoenix Suns and the Phoenix Rising MLS team invited the family to their next games. On behalf of all the other parents who chose not to bring their children to the celebration, only one parent expressed regret to Sia.