The problem when your child’s birthday falls right at Communion season

My son is a May baby.

In the past, we've had small get-togethers with a couple of cousins or a day trip out to celebrate his birthday. This year however we decided to throw him a proper birthday party so that he could invite all of his school friends, as many of them will be changing school next year. Unfortunately though RSVP after RSVP is coming back with the same thing 'sorry, we have a Communion that day.' It was something that hadn't occurred to me at first but of course, the start of May is Communion season. With even his cousins, whom I thought were guaranteed to attend telling me they can't come, I am a bit worried that he could end up with an empty birthday party. Where once most people just attended the church for a child's Communion, with communion parties becoming increasingly popular, Communions have now become an all-day event for everyone. With just over a week until his party, it's stress central as I don't want him to be disappointed but there's not much I can do if no one can attend. Moving his birthday later in the month may not even remedy the situation. I'm still waiting to hear back from a lot of his classmates and I've got every finger crossed that some of them will be able to make it.