Mother captures teenage daughter’s emotional reaction to birthday party invite

‘All I could do was laugh with her and then cry as I celebrated with her,’ teenager’s mother says

Brittany Miller
New York
Tuesday 04 June 2024 17:08 BST
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Mother captures teenage daughter’s reaction to birthday party invite
Mother captures teenage daughter’s reaction to birthday party invite (Getty Images)

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A mother has revealed how much it meant to her to see her daughter’s emotional reaction to getting invited to a birthday party.

Heather Avis recently took to Instagram to show her 15-year-old daughter Macy giving her an invitation she received for an upcoming birthday party. The clip showed Macy grinning from ear to ear as her mother asked her, “You got invited to a birthday party?”

Macy could hardly contain her excitement as she told her mother she did get invited to the party, before letting out a squeal of joy.

Her mother began to get choked up, before telling Macy how happy she is for her and how special it is to be invited.

“Yesterday Macy got in the car and showed me an invitation to a birthday party for a friend at school who is also in the life skills program,” Heather went on to detail in the post’s caption.

“Y’all! I’m not exaggerating when I tell you we can count on one hand the amount of birthday parties she’s been invited to by school peers/friends SINCE KINDERGARTEN! She is now in ninth grade. Her joy from this invitation is palpable. WOW! To me it spoke of a longing fulfilled. All I could do was laugh with her and then cry as I celebrated with her.”

After posting, many people took to the comments section to express how much they related to Macy’s excitement, either because of their own children’s similar lack of party invites or because of their own experiences.

“My heart is exploding! I can count on one hand how many times my girls have been invited to birthdays of friends with Down syndrome - they’ve never been invited to any other parties - so I feel like I can sincerely relate to how this feels!! So happy for Macy!!” one comment read.

Another commenter agreed, writing, “Her joy gives me joy and I so get this! My daughter Millen was never invited to a single birthday party during her entire childhood and adolescence. Thankfully now that she’s an adult she has peers who she shares genuine friendships (and birthday celebrations!) with, but those school years were hard.”

“MACY IS INVITED TO ALL OUR BIRTHDAY PARTIES jfc,” a third commenter wrote. “Disabled adult, former disabled student – had several birthday invitations given and then rescinded because parents got weird about my mobility and their ‘liability.’ My mom shielded me from as much of it as she could, but there’s only so much she could do. Anyway, visit Santa Cruz someday and Macy will have the best time.”

Others said Macy would be invited to any birthday party they have in the future.

“Macy, you’re invited to every birthday party I ever have, ever,” another comment read.

A few days later, Heather posted an update regarding how the birthday went and gushed over how much fun Macy had at the party as she told her mom “I love birthday parties!”

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