
Blame it on our digital dependency or the lingering effects of the pandemic, whatever it is, people are having a harder time meeting in person. They may express interest in attending and then flake at the last minute. Or in the case of one boy’s birthday party, people sometimes don’t commit on the front end with an RSVP and then crash the party later on, showing up with no notice.
The father of the birthday boy was so appalled by the rudeness, he went to Reddit to explain what happened at his kid’s birthday party and express his very warranted frustrations.
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“My son’s birthday was recently and we decided to throw him a party at a local place that was kid focused and amazing,” he wrote. The rules of his son’s class dictate that in order for invitations to be distributed in the classroom, the whole class must be invited. So the original poster invited 24 kids. He didn’t receive a single RSVP. He double-checked the invite to ensure his name and phone number were on the invite. They were.
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The OP paid the deposit, but it wouldn’t be enough.
So his son wouldn’t be at his party alone, the OP started inviting other people: his coworkers, family friends, his husband’s coworkers, anyone who had kids. The plan worked. The OP had 11 children RSVP to his son’s party.
On the day of the party though, things started to get out of control. “I paid the entire deposit, paid for 15 kids to be there, and we got enough food for that number of kids plus some extra for the parents,” the OP wrote. “We get there, get settled in, and start seeing kids come in. A few of his classmates began showing up. I was fine with that and was excited kids started showing up for him.” But then more kids came.
People brought their kids and siblings, too.
“One family brought 7 kids total; 3 teens, 2 slightly older kids, a girl from his classmates, and their cousin,” he continued.. “Another family brought their son AND one of his friends because ‘they didn’t know if their son would know anyone there so we wanted to make sure he had a friend to play with.’ So many of them brought siblings.”
There were so many people coming in, it was hard for the OP to keep track of the number of guests. Eventually, an employee at the venue told the OP he’d have to pay the $11 admission for each additional child.
The extra children behaved poorly.
The OP said that most of the people who came didn’t bring presents and didn’t even speak to him or his son before they left — most of them after his announcement about having to pay. Instead, the kids played, ate the food and left. In addition to the failure to RSVP, many of the guests misbehaved once they got there. They threw food wrappers on the floor, one child climbed on a table and refused to get down.
The worst part of all is that the children were being unkind to an animal at the venue and intentionally trying to upset it. Their parents weren’t watching or correcting them.
Reddit users offered suggestions for the future.
Ultimately, the OP had to pay for everything. Some parents reimbursed him, but most did not. In addition to the admission fees, he also had to pay an additional $50 cleanup and $120 damage fee. The OP said he was in tears.
“My son is really upset that there were so many mean kids,” he wrote. “He said this was the worst party ever and asked to not have a party for next year.”
In the comments fellow Reddit users offered some solutions to prevent this from happening in the future.
“I had to be an a– and write – ONLY THIS KID IS INVITED. NO SIBLINGS,” one user wrote.
Another parent suggested that those who didn’t RSVP be denied entry.
One user offered advice for how he should treat his son. “Give your kid some love,” one user wrote. “Make sure your kid knows this isn’t their fault.”
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