How would you handle two conflicting important things?

Dear moms

I could use some advice. My mom friend’s son (godson’s birthday) falls on the 17th at 10am. And of course they asked us to go but my son’s preschool also had a pumpkin painting event along with us meeting the parents and kids in our son’s class. We really would have loved to meet them because we haven’t yet. The event is at 10:30am-11:30am. What would you do if you have both events on the same day. My friend is soo sensitive and gets hurt or upset so I’m concerned she might not take it well if it’s anything less than showing up.

How would you handle this, keeping in mind you have a sensitive friend who might upset incase you show up late. She has complained in the past that we don’t make them feel special because we asked to reschedule play dates.