An autistic girl who was left heartbroken after almost no one showed up to her birthday is smiling once again after more than 150 people threw her a surprise party.
Mia McKay, eight, from the Gold Coast, Queensland, had been looking forward to her McDonald’s birthday party all month, sending out invitations to about 15 kids from her school.
But many of the children didn’t even respond to the RSVP, and only two children actually showed up to the party.
‘Mia was just looking at me like, “Where is everybody?'” her mum Sarah told Daily Mail Australia.
Mia McKay, eight, broke down into happy tears in her mum Sarah’s arms when more than 150 people in her Gold Coast community threw her a surprise birthday party
The party came a week after Mia (pictured with a unicorn gifted by a stranger) was left devastated after only two children from her school showed up to her birthday party
‘I told her, “Oh, they’ll be here soon, they’re stuck in traffic, and told her to play with the friends who are here and worry about everyone later.'”
But those friends never came, leaving tons of cheeseburgers to go to waste.
Sarah, 38, decided to post about the free food on her Gold Coast community’s ‘Buy and Swap’ page on Facebook.
She wrote that some children hadn’t shown up to her daughter’s birthday party, and told anyone to feel free and come by and pick up the meals up.
Then Sarah took her Mia home, where she seemed to fully realise just how many people had skipped her party.
That’s when Mia sat down and drew a picture of herself, standing alone and holding a balloon. In a speech bubble above her head she wrote one word: ‘Sniff’.
Mia, had been looking forward to her McDonald’s birthday party all month, sending out invitations to about 15 kids from her school. Few even bothered to RSVP
Mia put on a brave face during her McDonald’s birthday (pictured). Meanwhile, her mum Sarah posted that there were free cheeseburgers on her community’s ‘Buy and Swap’ Facebook page
On the other side of the page she drew a group of children, writing ‘Me’ under her picture and ‘Kids’ under the group.
When Mia got home she drew a picture of herself crying and standing alone
‘That broke my heart, because I knew she knows,’ Sarah said. ‘She knows she feels alone, she knows she’s different.’
Mia was diagnosed with autism when she was around two years old, when the bright and bubbly little girl suddenly stopped talking and started throwing tantrums.
For a time Mia’s vocabulary was limited to only 25 words. Her parents put her in an early intervention preschool and had her begin speech therapy.
Now Mia’s vocabulary is up to 1,000 words, but she still continues to struggle socially at her mainstream public school.
‘She has trouble conveying her emotions to words, so she gets upset a lot, cries a lot, gets angry and has a bit of a meltdown,’ Sarah said.
‘She tends to not understand what her peers want from her in regards to play and just general interaction.’
But Mia also loves to sing, dance, and play around and is ‘the funniest kid you’ll ever meet’, her 21-year-old sister Ashley said.
So her family were shocked when only two children from her school showed up for Mia’s special day.
But when people saw Sarah’s Facebook page they decided to band together and throw Mia an incredible birthday, donating everything from jumping castles to tables and a cake
Mia was completely taken by surprise when she realised that the big birthday in the park was for her, and that everyone there wanted to be her friend
Yet they were even more surprised when, hours after Sarah posted on the public Facebook page, her little girl received an outpouring of support.
People wrote wishing Mia a happy birthday and asked if they could set up play dates with their children and take her to the movies, beach, or miniature golfing.
And then a group of women proposed throwing Mia a birthday party, and the idea completely took off.
‘I thought it would be a couple of families and we’d have a barbie in the park, and it just exploded from there,’ Sarah said.
One woman donated two jumping castles for the day, people lent out chairs and tables, a makeup artist came, someone brought a sensory table for the kids to play with.
Community members chipped in to help serve barbeque food donated by a local butchery
The slides, marquees and decorations were also all donated by local businesses and more than 60 children were in attendance
‘Two professional photographers took pictures for free, a local butchery donated meat, drinks were donated, it was amazing,’ Sarah said.
Mia spent the day riding around on her toy unicorn and was ‘over the moon’ as she played with her new friends
‘It was a big party for the kids and everyone brought a plate. Grandparents from Brisbane who had gotten wind of it made the trip just to wish Mia a happy birthday and join the party.’
Sarah said that ‘well over’ 150 people came and went through during the party on Sunday, and that at least 60 children from two to 12 years old were in attendance.
Mia spent the day riding around on a toy unicorn a woman had brought for her and was ‘over the moon’ as she played with all her new friends.
But it wasn’t until the cake came out that Mia realised that all those people in the park were there just for her.
‘Right at the end she looked up at everyone and said, “Thank you everyone for coming to the party, this is the best birthday ever”. And then she bust into tears,’ Sarah recalled.
‘I said, “What’s wrong?” and she said, “I’m just so happy, these are happy tears mumma.”‘
‘She really understood then and there that it was for her, and that these were all people who wanted to be her friends.’
Ashley, who lives in Melbourne, said she cried when she found out about the beautiful day.
Mia was diagnosed with autism when she was around two years old, when the bright and bubbly little girl suddenly stopped talking and started throwing tantrums
‘Knowing my best friend was going to have the best day of her life and meet new people and friends and have the attention on her,’ she said.
Sarah said she was especially touched to see disabled adult and children come out to show support for Mia.
‘It showed Mia that it doesn’t matter how different you are,’ she said. ‘Nobody is normal, there is no such thing as normal.’
‘Every single one of us is a human being and are capable of showing love and being kind to each other. I think that really hit us.’
Sarah said she was beyond grateful for everyone’s support and that the day restored her faith in humanity.
‘It turned from one post offering some cheeseburgers to this big birthday party from the love and kindness of strangers,’ she said.
‘I wish people would pick up that it’s okay to be kind to strangers cause you’ll never know what you find in this world.’
‘It we all treated each other like that, the world would be a better place.’
Sarah said she was especially touched to see disabled adult and children come out to support Mia and show her daughter that it ‘doesn’t matter how different you are’