Andrew Costello (pictured with his wife and two of their children) felt sorry for the kids who missed out on birthday parties. Picture: News Corp.

The tragic tales of children who plan a big party with balloons and cake and no one shows up, or the kids who just always miss out on an invitation in the playground.

South Australian dad and media personality Andrew ‘Cosi’ Costello heard a similar story of a boy who had never been invited to a party and it touched him so much he decided to do something about it, reports Kidspot.

And boy is he doing something about it — on a large scale.

For his own birthday party on Saturday, December 17, he is inviting 100 children who have never had a party invitation to celebrate with him at Adelaide Zoo.

Cosi was hosting a charity night in Adelaide six months ago, when a mother got up and bravely spoke about her son’s battle with Muscular Dystrophy and the issues it causes the boy and their family.

While Cosi sat there listening intently and taking in how difficult it must be to have a child with special needs, it was one powerful line that stayed with him afterwards.

“It’s how she finished her selfless talk that haunts me,” Andrew says.

“She said ‘Do you know the hardest thing about my 12-year-old boy having MD?’ I was thinking she’d say the sleepless nights, the extra workload as a parent but no. She said, “for years I’ve picked him up from school and I’ve seen all the other kids waving birthday party invitations yet never once in his life has my child been invited to anyone’s birthday party”.

Cosi with wife Sam and two of his three children, Charli-Rose and Matilda. Picture: FacebookSource:Facebook

It absolutely crushed Cosi — who is a dad of three children.

“Well you could have knocked me off my chair with a finger. It was a knife through my heart.”

The mother went on to say she hoped just one day she’d like her son to be invited to another child’s birthday party.

This story made Cosi incredibly sad. Not only because the young boy was being left out, but because he had just been complaining to his wife about having to take his own children to birthday parties.

“That same day before I attended the show I had a conversation with my wife saying how annoying the upcoming weekend was going to be running our two little girls to four different parties,” he says.

“I even joked about how it sucks our kids have a better social life than we do. Here’s me whining about it and this mum stands before me just wanted one single invite for her son. I felt terrible.”

The dad-of-three kids, aged 16, 8 and 7, decided to open up his own birthday party to strangers, who had never been a guest at someone’s else’s party.

“As a parent of kids who are lucky enough to receive lots of invites to parties, it had never really occurred to me that some kids never get invited to birthday parties,” he says.

At his party on Saturday, December 17, he is inviting South Australian children who have never been to a birthday celebration before — or rarely been invited.

Adelaide Zoo has generously given Cosi 100 family passes so all kids can get in for free, and they will also receive their own personal birthday invitation in the mail.

Mums and dads who saw Cosi’s Facebook post online congratulated him for his awesome idea, parents shared their own stories of their children being forgotten on the party invite list.

One mum said; “This is just like my son also he’s almost 11. He’s never had friends attend his parties either. We’re hoping this year is the year.”

Another mum shared a heartbreaking message that all of her three boys had experienced being left out.

“My ASD son had been to two in his nearly 13 years,” she wrote. “I threw a massive farm party for my hearing-impaired son 10 and he’s had maybe one invite back in two years and my little one can’t bear to not invite his entire class and has been to maybe three parties in his eight years.

“It is hard when they ask why but I just say maybe no ones had parties this year.”

If you are a South Australian family and your child would love the be invited register here at the link.

This article originally appeared on Kidspot.