A Difficult Morning

I knew it would happen, but I was powerless to stop it.... this morning Son 1 announced he wanted a Birthday Party. What's so unusual about that? Well for a start, it's his birthday TOMORROW and we've been asking him for about 3 weeks now whether he wanted a party or not and he wouldn't answer.
So this morning there were floods of tears and temper tantrums as it finally dawned on him that it is now TOO LATE to organise a party. So what do we do now? (Apart from feeling guilty of course) I've sent him to school with a piece of paper on which to write the names of the boys he wants to invite - total so far.....3 names (minimum 12 required for the party at the Soft Play Centre). He refuses to invite any more people because he doesn't like them (or they are mean to him, fair enough) so we are at an impasse.
Life is tough when your 9 year old has the emotional intelligence of a 3 year old and you just can't help him. Maybe he'll have forgotten all about it when he comes home from school (I should be so lucky).
In the meantime I'm going out shopping and to look for Secret Pal gift ideas. I'm not in the mood to clean, tidy up or list on eBay so I think a little Retail Therapy is called for.....