Would you have a birthday party for your child, but only let a handful of the guests spend the night?

I don’t understand why parents do this. I just picked up our daughter from a birthday party and the birthday girl was allowed to have four of the guests sleep over. Our daughter was not one of them. We are now consoling our daughter because she is in tears.

Do these parents not understand how upsetting this can be for the children who were not invited to stay the night?

This is something I wouldn’t do, so I’m trying to understand. I would hate to have children leaving my daughter’s party knowing they were missing out on more fun.