Anonymous
Post 07/15/2025 19:17     Subject: What’s the WORST birthday party experience you ever had?
It wasn’t terrible, it was just weird. 4 year birthday party - big bash, families invited, at an event site, band hired, at peak dinner time for preschoolers, I think 5-7’ish and they served….speciality popsicles from a cart and small bags of popcorn. That’s it. I thanked Dad host and he commented on how Mom had spent the whole spring planning it.
Anonymous
Post 07/15/2025 18:52     Subject: What’s the WORST birthday party experience you ever had?
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 is the biggest WTF. I’d have ripped them a new one.
Anonymous
Post 07/15/2025 17:43     Subject: What’s the WORST birthday party experience you ever had?
*and saw you there
Anonymous
Post 07/15/2025 17:42     Subject: What’s the WORST birthday party experience you ever had?
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 is beyond. I can't imagine the dad's face when he showed up to the laser tag place. I would have lost my mind.
Anonymous
Post 07/15/2025 16:46     Subject: What’s the WORST birthday party experience you ever had?
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.



Anonymous
Post 07/15/2025 09:32     Subject: What’s the WORST birthday party experience you ever had?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:This was a five year old’s birthday party, and it was the first birthday party we attended after moving to nyc. Larla’s mom and aunt had arranged activities for the kids, which included going around the room and everyone saying what they liked best about Larla, including the parents. Mind you, this was an early September birthday and we were less than a week into a new school, so the kids barely knew Larla and most of the parents there had laid eyes on her for the first time. Then the kids played BINGO, except it was LARLA. Finally, they decorated paper plates with a photo of Larla printed on them. My husband was like wtf did we get ourselves into. On the plus side, larla’s party really bonded the other parents. We still talk about it and it was 11 years ago.


I'm guessing Larla is a total nightmare now. Am I right?


You can probably guess how Larla was as a child with that type of parenting. She is now at boarding school, and I hope she is thriving. Mom and Larla needed some separation!
Anonymous
Post 07/15/2025 08:01     Subject: What’s the WORST birthday party experience you ever had?
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.


Hahahaha
Anonymous
Post 07/15/2025 07:52     Subject: What’s the WORST birthday party experience you ever had?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I previously wrote about the Elsa who was hungover and 90 minutes late to the party themed "Superheroes and Princesses." Adults and kids were invited to come in costume. I repressed this part... my husband bought a "Bane" mask from Batman off of Amazon to wear to this preschool party. It was terrifying. I told him we don't know these people, don't bring it. He said you always tell me I don't get into these things so guess what - I'm getting into it.

He ended up chickening out but it was a funny moment. I forgot about that horrible small talk at those preschool parties until this thread.


PP. I am reminded that my kid and I were recently discussing a childhood party where a dad played laser tag with the kids and they were zapped/tagged out immediately. Spoiler: the dad was an ex-Marine playing against early elementary schoolers.


Hilarious.
Anonymous
Post 07/14/2025 17:25     Subject: What’s the WORST birthday party experience you ever had?
Anonymous wrote:I previously wrote about the Elsa who was hungover and 90 minutes late to the party themed "Superheroes and Princesses." Adults and kids were invited to come in costume. I repressed this part... my husband bought a "Bane" mask from Batman off of Amazon to wear to this preschool party. It was terrifying. I told him we don't know these people, don't bring it. He said you always tell me I don't get into these things so guess what - I'm getting into it.

He ended up chickening out but it was a funny moment. I forgot about that horrible small talk at those preschool parties until this thread.


PP. I am reminded that my kid and I were recently discussing a childhood party where a dad played laser tag with the kids and they were zapped/tagged out immediately. Spoiler: the dad was an ex-Marine playing against early elementary schoolers.
Anonymous
Post 07/14/2025 17:11     Subject: What’s the WORST birthday party experience you ever had?
I previously wrote about the Elsa who was hungover and 90 minutes late to the party themed "Superheroes and Princesses." Adults and kids were invited to come in costume. I repressed this part... my husband bought a "Bane" mask from Batman off of Amazon to wear to this preschool party. It was terrifying. I told him we don't know these people, don't bring it. He said you always tell me I don't get into these things so guess what - I'm getting into it.

He ended up chickening out but it was a funny moment. I forgot about that horrible small talk at those preschool parties until this thread.
Anonymous
Post 07/14/2025 16:37     Subject: What’s the WORST birthday party experience you ever had?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Kid sad over smashed pinata that grandma had him make with her to match the theme of the party. I expected this would go badly and it did.

😂 This is the most judgmental description of a grandparent/grandchild activity that I have ever seen (most people would have written that kid was sad over smashed piñata that was made with grandma). 🤣🤣


OK, you plan an entire party that was ruined because grandma didn't listen to you when you said that your kindly, sweet little boy would cry when forced to ruin something he spent hours making in the shape of a character he loved. I also had to keep the battered pinata around for a while until it could be thrown out without more sadness.

Grandma often was more concerned with what she wants to do than how others feel about it. The little guests were pretty vicious and greedy about it as well. The meanest kid scooped up about half the candy while my kid hung back crying.

Also you just haven't lived if my sad pinata story is the judgiest grandparent/grandchild story you've ever read. If grandma had made a ball or a star instead of an animal, it would have not been a problem at all. Making a character pinata gave the whole thing an unnecessary "clubbing a baby harp seal" vibe. But no. She had to make one to match the party theme. Because that was more important than my kid's potential sadness. I was a tougher kid. I would have told her I would not make a character.

Also I'm partly at fault because I did not want to keep a 2x2 ft paper mache pinata forever. So I required it to be used for the intended purpose.

How old was your child and did he not know what a Piñata was?


He was a first-grader, and the purpose of a pinata was fully explained. In fact, Grandma brought a book that showed the entire process of creating a swan pinata and kids gleefully breaking a pinata and enjoying the process. The child in question understood intellectually what was about to happen a week after creating the pinata. I told grandma this was a bad idea and asked her to reconsider, because it was like hitting an animal.

She was visiting to babysit/bond with grandkids while I was working. As I recall, they made the pinata while I was at work, and it was larger and fancier than I expected. As mentioned, I fully documented the pinata's existence/aesthetics, although that did not help. I was expecting that being able to look at the pictures would be fine since it showed how nice it was when finished.

The child in question grew up and is a successful rising sophomore at a selective college, lol. Nothing beyond a pinata and feelings (temporarily) were harmed during this incident. It was, however, the worst birthday party we had across my two children. Which was a pity because it was an at-home themed party that I put a lot of work into. After that I decided to cop out and do external to the home parties or family-only cake and present celebrations. Not just because of the pinata sadness but also because the little boy guests were wilder and ruder than I expected. My efforts to get fun, nice favors (Pokemon book, Pokemon character toy) and plan Pokemon-themed games were not appreciated by the guests. Although my boys liked them.
Anonymous
Post 07/14/2025 14:53     Subject: Re:What’s the WORST birthday party experience you ever had?
This thread is bringing back memories of saving a broken pinata because my son didn't want to throw it out after the party.

I also remember intending to stay only for a few minutes to chat with the hosts at a couple of drop off parties and then, ending up staying the whole time. The parents were overwhelmed by the number of kids/lack of activities and needed help. My teen years as a camp counselor definitely came in handy.
Anonymous
Post 07/14/2025 14:42     Subject: Re:What’s the WORST birthday party experience you ever had?
My DD was invited to a sleepover 13th birthday party at a local hotel. Fine - except there were 14 girls at the party (plus the birthday girl's Mom) but only one room. There wasn't even room for everyone to lay on the floor and girls were sleeping in the bathroom. I'm shocked the hotel didn't catch on and kick them out.
Anonymous
Post 07/14/2025 14:30     Subject: What’s the WORST birthday party experience you ever had?
Anonymous wrote:Outdoor playground party in July. So dang hot to stand around. But it was less than 2 hours so we all survived.

Another one I went too that was weird was when the people hosting wouldn't let anyone inside their house, even though it started raining and was thundering? We left because my kid was freaked out. This was a preschool party though, and I'm not sad to see those end. So much awkward small talk.

Another one has a pinata but only the biggest, rudest kids got candy because they hoarded it all. Having a bowl where you hand some out to other kids is a good idea. The rest of the party was fine.

These were all preschool. I found elementary parties got smaller and more drop off style, which is awesome.


This is why I don’t understand fully outside parties-it’s so weather dependent and just not worth it. And yeah I don’t want a bunch of kids in my house either-that’s why i’ve never done a house party for my kids ever. I don’t understand why some parents do that to themselves!
Anonymous
Post 07/14/2025 12:34     Subject: What’s the WORST birthday party experience you ever had?
Outdoor playground party in July. So dang hot to stand around. But it was less than 2 hours so we all survived.

Another one I went too that was weird was when the people hosting wouldn't let anyone inside their house, even though it started raining and was thundering? We left because my kid was freaked out. This was a preschool party though, and I'm not sad to see those end. So much awkward small talk.

Another one has a pinata but only the biggest, rudest kids got candy because they hoarded it all. Having a bowl where you hand some out to other kids is a good idea. The rest of the party was fine.

These were all preschool. I found elementary parties got smaller and more drop off style, which is awesome.