Only one child had returned an RSVP to the invite her elder sister had sent while planning Charlotte's first-ever birthday party.
Chloe Sexton lost her mom, Jennifer, to brain cancer on April 12, 2022. Even in grief, she had bigger shoes to fill. She had to be a mother to her younger sister, Charlotte.
It was Charlotte's first birthday without her mother in June. Chloe, who owns a cookie company called Bluff Cakes, wanted to throw a party for her little sister who was turning eight and had never had a party before.
"My mom was generally pretty sick and tired and had done radiation and chemo five and six times each," Chloe explained to TODAY. "There just wasn’t a lot of room for her to party plan."
But Chloe was devastated when just one kid had returned an RSVP. She also mentioned that after their mom's passing Charlotte transferred schools mid-year which could have been the reason for the silence from the kids.
Chloe was tearful as she said on TikTok, "My little sister turns 8 tomorrow. Her birthday party is going to be this weekend. Our mom died of brain cancer 83 days ago (and ) one child from her class RSVP'd. I haven't even told her that."
@chloebluffcakes Just go to the birthday party youre invited to 🥺 #birthday #grief #kids ♬ original sound - Chloe
At once, people from across the world reached out to Chloe offering to help and send gifts. While Chloe's "P.O. box has been packed to the brim every single day" with the cards people sent, what happened on the day of Charlotte's birthday is incredible.
"On the day of the party, kids just kind of showed up. Parents I had talked to just kept filing into my house and I was like, 'Welcome!'," she said. "We had our garage and yard full of people. It was a packed house."
As if that was not enough, twenty minutes into the party, the first surprise showed up. "Gracie the pony arrived with her owner Libby," Chloe said of the 22-year-old horse who arrived from Oxford, Mississippi. "She had pom-poms in her hair and glitter, and she just popped right out of the back of a trailer. Gracie gave everyone rides and they could feed her treats."
@chloebluffcakes Removed at 3 mil views 🥺💔 thank you cindy, libby, taylor, abby and nikki plus anyone else who made this magical day possible. You changed pur lives ♥️ #birthdayparty ♬ Paper Birds (3 min) - Jordan Halpern Schwartz
There was more in store for the birthday girl. The Mid-South Jeep Group organized a drive-by of more than thirty Jeeps! "They were handing out cash and throwing rubber duckies into the yard and had decorated their cars and were blasting happy birthday songs," Chloe said. "She even got a personalized Jeep of her own."
The surprises kept flowing and there was one more before the party could end. It was a visit from reptiles.
"They played with massive pythons and Charlotte let them wrap it around her neck," Chloe explained, adding it was handled by trained animal professionals. "Snakes, smaller lizards ... there must have been a dozen of them. All the kids learned about these animals and what they eat."
Charlotte was delighted about all the magical moments she had experienced during the day and "could not stop talking about" it. While this meant the world to Charlotte, Chloe said that her internet community's response "changed her life."
"It saved something in me that I was giving up on which is that nobody really sees you on social media. They think they see you, they like your video, but do they ever really see you and care or is it just pretty sentiments?" she explained.
"It’s that extra bit of love, where they didn't have to, but they did because they could. Everyone needs a bit more of that."
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Cover Image Source: TikTok | @chloebluffcakes
