What’s the WORST birthday party experience you ever had?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, I had a 9 year old birthday party today... The Evite graphic clearly displayed "Pool Party" and the text said "we'll be celebrating pool-side"... Multiple kids showed up confused that it was a pool party. Parents ran back home to get suits. I didn't explicitly say "bring a swimsuit" but ??? Really? I mean, it must have been my fault, but...

Pool-side does not equal pool party to me. It’s next to the pool. Weird wording.

Seriously? It would need to say "we will be celebrating IN THE POOL" for you to grudgingly throw your kid's swimsuit in the bag?

Dp. I'm a third person, in addition to all of your unprepared party guests, who would be confused by this.

My kids have been to several pool parties. The invites don't say we will be celebrating "pool-side," nor do they say "we will be celebrating in the pool."

Usually people write the words "pool party" on the invite, and everyone shows up with swimsuits.

If there's even a whiff of a chance that there will be swimming, why not send the kid with a suit?

I would have been preparing my kid to not swim given the awkward wording. Where else does the celebration happen?

[Anonymous]

Worst birthday party was an over the top event (pony rides, bounce house, live children’s band, clowns making balloon animals, absurdly generous gift bags, more) with hundreds of guests for a shy 3-year old who wept with overwhelm the whole time.

It was so obviously about the parent not the kid. I felt so sorry for the child, and I felt bad being there.

[Anonymous]

When my older DD, now almost 13, was about 5 or 6 she went to an indoor pool party at a YMCA. After swimming, the children had cupcakes with purple frosting and then went to the hot tub. My DD was the physically smallest child and almost immediately didn’t feel well and got out. As I was toweling her off, one by one the kids started complaining of headaches, getting out of the tub, and started vomiting. Purple frosting was everywhere. My child was the only one not vomiting because she’d gotten out quickly. I yelled that I was concerned about some sort of gas / poisoning as the parents were starting to have headaches too. I sent one parent to get someone to open the doors / shut off the hot tub while the rest of us rushed our kids to the locker room to get them out of suits and showered. Eveyone was okay but it was stressful. I felt so bad for the hosts!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When my older DD, now almost 13, was about 5 or 6 she went to an indoor pool party at a YMCA. After swimming, the children had cupcakes with purple frosting and then went to the hot tub. My DD was the physically smallest child and almost immediately didn’t feel well and got out. As I was toweling her off, one by one the kids started complaining of headaches, getting out of the tub, and started vomiting. Purple frosting was everywhere. My child was the only one not vomiting because she’d gotten out quickly. I yelled that I was concerned about some sort of gas / poisoning as the parents were starting to have headaches too. I sent one parent to get someone to open the doors / shut off the hot tub while the rest of us rushed our kids to the locker room to get them out of suits and showered. Eveyone was okay but it was stressful. I felt so bad for the hosts!

Hot tubs are dangerous for kids. They aren’t supposed to go in them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When my older DD, now almost 13, was about 5 or 6 she went to an indoor pool party at a YMCA. After swimming, the children had cupcakes with purple frosting and then went to the hot tub. My DD was the physically smallest child and almost immediately didn’t feel well and got out. As I was toweling her off, one by one the kids started complaining of headaches, getting out of the tub, and started vomiting. Purple frosting was everywhere. My child was the only one not vomiting because she’d gotten out quickly. I yelled that I was concerned about some sort of gas / poisoning as the parents were starting to have headaches too. I sent one parent to get someone to open the doors / shut off the hot tub while the rest of us rushed our kids to the locker room to get them out of suits and showered. Eveyone was okay but it was stressful. I felt so bad for the hosts!

Hot tubs are dangerous for kids. They aren’t supposed to go in them.

I keep hearing this and all the hot tubs where I live ban kids "for health reasons" but my Japanese nephews have been bathing in scalding onsen since they were toddlers. What's the difference?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When my older DD, now almost 13, was about 5 or 6 she went to an indoor pool party at a YMCA. After swimming, the children had cupcakes with purple frosting and then went to the hot tub. My DD was the physically smallest child and almost immediately didn’t feel well and got out. As I was toweling her off, one by one the kids started complaining of headaches, getting out of the tub, and started vomiting. Purple frosting was everywhere. My child was the only one not vomiting because she’d gotten out quickly. I yelled that I was concerned about some sort of gas / poisoning as the parents were starting to have headaches too. I sent one parent to get someone to open the doors / shut off the hot tub while the rest of us rushed our kids to the locker room to get them out of suits and showered. Eveyone was okay but it was stressful. I felt so bad for the hosts!

Hot tubs are dangerous for kids. They aren’t supposed to go in them.

I keep hearing this and all the hot tubs where I live ban kids "for health reasons" but my Japanese nephews have been bathing in scalding onsen since they were toddlers. What's the difference?

The temperature is too high in most hot tubs. For a bath, I would guess that there is less water and it is fast. Plus it cools off. But if the temp is 104 and comes up to their necks and is maintained at that temp, it would be dangerous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When my older DD, now almost 13, was about 5 or 6 she went to an indoor pool party at a YMCA. After swimming, the children had cupcakes with purple frosting and then went to the hot tub. My DD was the physically smallest child and almost immediately didn’t feel well and got out. As I was toweling her off, one by one the kids started complaining of headaches, getting out of the tub, and started vomiting. Purple frosting was everywhere. My child was the only one not vomiting because she’d gotten out quickly. I yelled that I was concerned about some sort of gas / poisoning as the parents were starting to have headaches too. I sent one parent to get someone to open the doors / shut off the hot tub while the rest of us rushed our kids to the locker room to get them out of suits and showered. Eveyone was okay but it was stressful. I felt so bad for the hosts!

Hot tubs are dangerous for kids. They aren’t supposed to go in them.

I keep hearing this and all the hot tubs where I live ban kids "for health reasons" but my Japanese nephews have been bathing in scalding onsen since they were toddlers. What's the difference?

I don’t know if it’s dangerous, so won’t opine on that. Just wanted to say that people do dangerous things with no ill effect all the time; that does not make it safe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not the worst of us as guests, but the hosts had arranged a mobile petting zoo and the goat ate the birthday cake.

this is my favorite one. I literally LOL'd

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A family my kids and I had known since preschool invited my two kids to a laser tag birthday party when they were in elementary. I don't trust their judgement so I usually would go and hang at their kids birthday party and help. They insisted I drop my kids at their house. They planned to ferry all the kids to the laser tag place themselves but they only had one small sedan. I offered to help drive and they refused.

It was all a ruse to allow them to only take some of the kids to laser tag. 2 hours after dropping them off, my kids call for me to come pick them up at the host's home. The parents took most of the kids to the laser place but left some of the kids behind saying they'd be back to get them. The birthday kid's big sister stayed at the house with our kids and the other one or two unlucky ones. My kids had started to call me at the one hour mark but the big sister stopped them several times. I headed to their house but big sister heard my kids call me and called her parents. Dad hightailed it to get my kids - the other kids parents had already picked them up. I got to the laser tag place before the dad showed up with my kids. The party was over and I had to wait for my kids to be ferried there for no reason. The galling thing is that the mom was furious with me because she got caught. They never apologized and were angry at me for discovering their dishonesty. They knew they couldn't get all the kids there and didn't want to pay for laser tag for all of them so they just left some of the kids.

I'm so glad they moved so I never have to see them again.

That is one of the most mind boggling insane things I have ever read on this site! Why bother inviting your kids?

Same. There are some really strange, rude individuals out there in the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My husband banned us from doing piñatas. Always some drama. Kids and I would make them together and have so much fun planning and constructing and 90% of kids loved it but pretty much every time it was an incredibly stressful activity to run and often someone ended up in tears.

My child once was standing near a piñata when it broke. She got knocked over by / trampled by children, some of whom then fell on her. We were yelling at trying to get her out. Others were still pushing forward for candy, not realizing the problem. She was okay, pretty banged up/ very bruised. The party overall was great, but I hadn’t realized how quickly piñatas can turn into a stampede.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A family my kids and I had known since preschool invited my two kids to a laser tag birthday party when they were in elementary. I don't trust their judgement so I usually would go and hang at their kids birthday party and help. They insisted I drop my kids at their house. They planned to ferry all the kids to the laser tag place themselves but they only had one small sedan. I offered to help drive and they refused.

It was all a ruse to allow them to only take some of the kids to laser tag. 2 hours after dropping them off, my kids call for me to come pick them up at the host's home. The parents took most of the kids to the laser place but left some of the kids behind saying they'd be back to get them. The birthday kid's big sister stayed at the house with our kids and the other one or two unlucky ones. My kids had started to call me at the one hour mark but the big sister stopped them several times. I headed to their house but big sister heard my kids call me and called her parents. Dad hightailed it to get my kids - the other kids parents had already picked them up. I got to the laser tag place before the dad showed up with my kids. The party was over and I had to wait for my kids to be ferried there for no reason. The galling thing is that the mom was furious with me because she got caught. They never apologized and were angry at me for discovering their dishonesty. They knew they couldn't get all the kids there and didn't want to pay for laser tag for all of them so they just left some of the kids.

I'm so glad they moved so I never have to see them again.

This one is fake.

No, it's very real and the a@@holes were angry that my spouse and I showed up at the laser tag place. The only reason they invited my kids is that we are generous in our gift giving.

Another fun anecdote about them, they would bankrupt themselves to buy stupid things for their kids. They were not financially secure and are the only adults I've known who have had their phones or electricity cut off. Despite this they spent over $350 on one little plush animal that was in at the time. They would pay a fortune for a McDonald's kid's happy meal toy that was "rare". They were certain these pieces of trash were going to be worth millions.

One school night when our youngest kids were in preschool, mom called because they wanted me to buy girl scout cookies so daughter could win a prize. It was after 10pm on a weeknight and our youngest were in preschool. I said I'd buy them the next day but mom explained daughter wanted to win a prize and the deadline was that day. She insisted upon coming over. My husband and kids were already asleep and I had fallen asleep on the couch watching tv. I didn't agree but they showed up at my door. I kept them on the porch and signed up for a few boxes but the daughter said she needed to use the bathroom. I let them in and the daughter sat her butt on my stairs in the foyer and lectured me because, this is the f'ing truth, she need me to buy at least 50 boxes. They would not leave after 10pm at night and kept trying to push me to buy a ridiculous amount of boxes so the daughter could get some crap plastic prize. No I didn't and we avoided them after that until the party fiasco.

No, your post just makes it even more clear that it's fake - of course the parents were going to find out about it when the kids told the parents they didn't go to laser tags. Nobody is tearing the phone out of your children's hands. Happy meals cost the same regardless of the toy inside. No little girl is going to lecture you to buy 50 boxes of cookies. Just stop, PP, your lies are ridiculous.

Nope, again not lies. This story is true. The parents didn't care that I'd know my kids didn't go because they weren't in school together anymore and we only rarely saw one another. They got the gifts and assumed they'd see us at their house for pick up and that would be it. I think they assumed they would get them there for one round of laser tag but then they didn't. They were furious we showed up at the laser tag place. No one was tearing phones out of my kids hands but the older sister would convince them the parents were on the way. In those days, people would sell happy meal toys on ebay that were considered rare and yes, their rude daughter lectured me and was inappropriate past 10 pm on a weeknight because she needed me to buy a ridiculous number of boxes of cookies to win some crappy prize. This family exists and I have even more stories about them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A family my kids and I had known since preschool invited my two kids to a laser tag birthday party when they were in elementary. I don't trust their judgement so I usually would go and hang at their kids birthday party and help. They insisted I drop my kids at their house. They planned to ferry all the kids to the laser tag place themselves but they only had one small sedan. I offered to help drive and they refused.

It was all a ruse to allow them to only take some of the kids to laser tag. 2 hours after dropping them off, my kids call for me to come pick them up at the host's home. The parents took most of the kids to the laser place but left some of the kids behind saying they'd be back to get them. The birthday kid's big sister stayed at the house with our kids and the other one or two unlucky ones. My kids had started to call me at the one hour mark but the big sister stopped them several times. I headed to their house but big sister heard my kids call me and called her parents. Dad hightailed it to get my kids - the other kids parents had already picked them up. I got to the laser tag place before the dad showed up with my kids. The party was over and I had to wait for my kids to be ferried there for no reason. The galling thing is that the mom was furious with me because she got caught. They never apologized and were angry at me for discovering their dishonesty. They knew they couldn't get all the kids there and didn't want to pay for laser tag for all of them so they just left some of the kids.

I'm so glad they moved so I never have to see them again.

That is one of the most mind boggling insane things I have ever read on this site! Why bother inviting your kids?

Same. There are some really strange, rude individuals out there in the world.

The other parents who had kids in class with them had a lot of stories about them. I was a rube and nice to everyone and our kids got along well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When my older DD, now almost 13, was about 5 or 6 she went to an indoor pool party at a YMCA. After swimming, the children had cupcakes with purple frosting and then went to the hot tub. My DD was the physically smallest child and almost immediately didn’t feel well and got out. As I was toweling her off, one by one the kids started complaining of headaches, getting out of the tub, and started vomiting. Purple frosting was everywhere. My child was the only one not vomiting because she’d gotten out quickly. I yelled that I was concerned about some sort of gas / poisoning as the parents were starting to have headaches too. I sent one parent to get someone to open the doors / shut off the hot tub while the rest of us rushed our kids to the locker room to get them out of suits and showered. Eveyone was okay but it was stressful. I felt so bad for the hosts!

Was there no one from the Y around? We've been to indoor pool parties at rec centers and there are always lifeguards and other personnel. My immediate thought would have been food poisoning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband banned us from doing piñatas. Always some drama. Kids and I would make them together and have so much fun planning and constructing and 90% of kids loved it but pretty much every time it was an incredibly stressful activity to run and often someone ended up in tears.

My child once was standing near a piñata when it broke. She got knocked over by / trampled by children, some of whom then fell on her. We were yelling at trying to get her out. Others were still pushing forward for candy, not realizing the problem. She was okay, pretty banged up/ very bruised. The party overall was great, but I hadn’t realized how quickly piñatas can turn into a stampede.

OMG! A crowd crush for a pinata!

[Anonymous]

This wasn’t so bad, but I had to reschedule DD’s party in 2022 because our whole family came down with Covid. Despite confirming the new date with all of the guests, a little less than half forgot. That’s on me for not sending a new invitation, I guess (original was sent via snail mail, updates were via text).

As a guest: we have neighbors who we love, but culturally, all of their parties start really late, even the toddler/little kid birthday parties. The grandmother will get offended if we leave before dinner/cake, but they’re frequently just setting out food at our kids’ bedtime!