Kind strangers turn up for girl with autism ninth birthday after all her friends cancel

When this Melbourne mum-of-two started planning a birthday party for her autistic daughter, Rhianna, she knew she had to make it a good one.

‘She gets bullied a lot and didn’t have any friends to invite,’ mum, Candy Butchers, explained to the Daily Mail.

‘I invited my friends and their children.’

But despite Candy doing her best to make sure her little girl’s day was a good one, all her guests started letting her down.

‘I invited 25 people. Of that 10 people said they were going to come, but everyone cancelled,’ she says.

She burst into tears, trying to figure out how she was going to tell her daughter that no one was going to show up.

'I felt so heartbroken. I felt like a failure as a mum.'

Posting about her disappointment in the Facebook group Midnight Mums Candy said her phone soon started blowing up with messages.

'People from all over the world were posting photos of their kids with signs, wishing Rhianna a happy birthday.'

Even better - nearby mums were packing up their kids in the car and heading on over!

Candy says: 'In the end there was at least 40 adults and children. My house was packed.’

The best part? Rhianna told her mum it was the best birthday she’d had.