CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Lauren Sassmannshausen planned a big birthday party for her daughter, invited 30 people, and no one showed up. She took to Facebook to try and save the day.
Sassmannshausen sent out Facebook invitations to her daughter Taliyah's fifth birthday party at her mother's house in Spring Hill. She followed up with RSVP requests. Thirty people said they were going to attended the party.
"The day before the party I posted it on facebook one last time for a head count, everybody said they were coming," Sassmannshausen explained.
But Saturday afternoon, no one showed up.
"When she kept coming up to me, and asking where all her friends were, when were they going to be there, I had to run to a different room because I just started crying and I didn't want her to see that," the mom said.
Sassmannshausen decided to go to the I Heart Spring Hill Y'all Facebook page and posted a plea for people to come out to her daughter's party.
"She wouldn't know the difference. She's so friendly, she can make new friends," said Sassmannshausen.
The little girl's parents had no idea what type of response the community would have to the post. Then people started to show up for the party.
"We only thought it was going to five, or six, and it ended up being 75 to 100 total, with adults and kids," said Jeff Sassmannshausen.
Members of the community who came to the party stayed for hours. Some did bring gifts, even though the parents said that was not necessary.
The response to the Facebook plea was such a great story, it went viral over the weekend.
"People.com had contacted me, Yahoo, CBS News. I mean it's just all over the place. I never expected it to go this far, like ever," Taliyah's mom said.
Soon after the story of what happened in Spring Hill started reaching across the globe, people started to criticize Sassmannshausen.
"It was the bad mother this, bad mother that. They don't even know her or what she does for the kids. It was just automatically bad on her," the father explained.
Sassmannshausen said the backlash did not sit well with her, but she will not let it ruin what happened that day.
"It was very upsetting, but you know, you have to take the negative with the positive. There's always going to be somebody who's negative about stuff," she said.
People lashed out about everything from the size of Taliyah's birthday cake, to the fact they felt the mother did it just to collect gifts for her daughter.
"That's why it hurt me so bad - when people were saying that I am doing this for attention, and getting gifts and money, and all this - because that is not what I am doing," Sassmannshausen said. "I try to teach my children the gift of presence - being there - not the presents that they bring."
The family will remember the good that happened that Saturday in Spring Hill, not the some of the comments that followed after their story went viral.
"No matter what negative comments, I had a good memory from it, and I know they did. The girls were astounded by it," said Jeff Sassmannshausen.
People have contacted Sassmannshausen in the days since the story went viral asking where they can send gifts. She has politely declined their offers.
Taliyah is currently working on handmade thank you cards to give to everyone who did bring a gift to her birthday party.
