No parent particularly looks forward to hosting their children’s birthday party.
You have to come up with fun birthday party ideas and themes, sort out all the party food and then there’s the party entertainment, which you know is always going to be impossible because you can never please everyone.
While one’s scared of clowns and zoo animals, the other’s allergic to face paint. And obviously there’s then the cost of it all, because for some reason the little ones never choose the cheap party options.
So it’s always a welcome relief to send the kids off to someone else’s party, so that the other parents can deal with the stress and the cost while you’re relaxing in a quiet home with a glass of wine.
However, one mum revealed that she was asked to contribute money to another child’s birthday party, in order for her daughter to attend. The anonymous mum posted on a forum on Netmums, saying that she was asked to pay £25 for her 10-year-old to attend a friend’s birthday party, just two days before the big event.
She wrote that she received a message from the child’s mother inviting her daughter to the party, before telling her she’d have to contribute towards the bill.
'My 10 year old daughter has been invited out for a friend’s birthday, there’s about 10 of them going and we’ve only been given 2 days notice,’ wrote the troubled mother.
‘The mum messaged me and asked if she could go to which I said yes, she then replied with a price it would cost. Altogether I’m going to be expected to pay around £25. I wouldn’t have minded so much if the cost was made clear in the beginning but it was only after I accepted the invite.’
Understandably, the bemused mum was unsure as to whether she still needed to send along a gift.
She continued: ‘Maybe this is a done thing but I personally wouldn’t dream of inviting my DD’s friends to a party and asking for a contribution! If I couldn’t afford for her to do something with that many friends we wouldn’t do it or we’d cut the guest list down! Opinions? Maybe I’m just being unreasonable!’
She wasn’t alone in thinking that it was an odd request as other users were quick to comment and agree that this was unreasonable.
One responded saying that it’s ‘odd’ and that if she was throwing a party for her son she ‘would fully expect to foot the bill’ and another agreed saying she ‘would never have the cheek to ask for guests to pay towards it’.
Others were even more perturbed by the situation with the one saying that she would ‘decline the invitation and also diplomatically tell them why’ and another echoing this, saying ‘I’d decline the invite and tell her why.’
Better start saving for the next birthday bash!
