At first glance, it sounds like you require a pidyon haben, as the mitzva does not expire. However, first we have to try to determine if you definitely require it, and then we can discuss how to proceed.
Not every firstborn male needs a pidyon haben. The main exemptions are as follows: if either of your parents is the child of a male kohen or levi, if your mother had a miscarriage prior to your birth, or if you were born in a caesarean delivery. Also ascertain from your father if, after all these years, he is sure that there was no pidyon haben. It is possible that the rabbi/kohen who was to have done the pidyon did so in a quick, halachic procedure that your father may have forgotten about, while he remembers that the party was canceled. If there is uncertainty, please contact us again, as we cannot give a blanket rule in advance.
Assuming that you need a pidyon haben, we have to deal with an interesting, relevant dispute among halachic authorities. A father is required to redeem his son. However, if he fails to do so, the son becomes obligated to redeem himself once he is bar mitzva.[1] The question, though, is whether, at that point, only the son is obligated or if the father’s obligation remains. If a grown son does his own pidyon haben, the halachic obligation has certainly been discharged. However, differing opinions arise in a situation where the father is now willing to do this mitzva, which, for whatever reason, was delayed.
The Rashba[2] contends that since the mitzva of pidyon haben creates a monetary obligation upon the father’s property from the outset and nothing was done to remove it, the father’s obligation remains. The gemara[3] states that if one has enough money to redeem only himself or his son, he should redeem himself because the mitzva that relates directly to himself has precedence. From this, the Rivash[4] infers that the son’s obligation to redeem himself is the primary obligation, and the father’s practical responsibility to redeem his baby is due only to the fact that a small child is incapable of performing the pidyon haben himself. When the child grows up, he alone is obligated. Many later authorities have debated the matter, and it is difficult to say that one approach is more accepted or acceptable than the other.[5] How then should you proceed? Should you or your father do your pidyon haben?
We suggest the following. As you know your father better than we do, try to determine if he would want to be involved in the pidyon haben. If you think he wouldn’t mind, there is no problem doing it yourself. If he wants to do it, it is possible to ensure that the right person will end up doing the mitzva. One such halachic method is as follows: Your father gives you the money and says that if the mitzva is his, then you should be his agent to do the pidyon on his behalf.[6] You prepare another sum of your own money and physically give the two sums of money to the kohen with the appropriate blessings and statements. You just state that it is being done on condition that the halachic redemption should relate to the person who should rightfully be doing it and to his money. The process is slightly complicated. Since few kohanim have done a pidyon haben in a case where a person is doing it for himself, you will anyway need a learned kohen and/or a rabbi to make the appropriate adjustments in the text of the blessings and statements. We would be happy to provide an explanation to the kohen should he desire it.
In any case, it is both important (a full Torah law) and not as complicated as it might sound to do the pidyon haben. While it is customary to have a minyan present,[7] it can be done privately to avoid embarrassing your father.