Used to get event invites from NPCs (birthdays, playdates) but don't anymore?

Well, turns out complaining about things on the internet is an effective solution to my problems. Just since posting this, my sim got an invitation to a birthday party. First time this has happened to me in over a year (and an embarrassing number of hours on this game). Still kinda blows that only some players get them/they come really inconsistently (this current sim of mine has also had multiple super-close friends age up with no invites whereas I used to get them what felt like pretty much anytime a good enough friend was aging up). Super weird.