A couple were "annoyed" after finding out they were not invited to their friend's "real" 40th birthday after paying £200 to attend the earlier “surprise” party.
On the popular online forum Mumsnet, the woman explained how the couple were invited to a prestigious venue and expected to pay £100 each to be part of the party that was scheduled between 4pm and 8pm. However, later on in the evening, they found out there was an after-party which they were not invited to.
On the 'am I being unreasonable' thread, she wrote: "We are a married couple and we have friends, “Eva and Matt”. We invite them to our house frequently and are super-hospitable to them in our home. They have a close circle of friends who live near to them and we know they do a lot of entertaining and socialising without us (obviously fine, we’re all grownups). You can get more story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
"Matt recently invited us to Eva’s 40th birthday where we were asked to turn up at a prestigious venue for the “surprise” party and pay £100 each to be part of the party. We were very happy to do this, showed up early for the “surprise”, paid our £200 for the party, brought a present and wished her well.
"The party at the venue was at a slightly weird time- 4pm to 8pm on a Saturday - but we didn’t think much of this. We got a babysitter for our kids (he said 'no kids') and showed up to celebrate with her.
"Towards the end of the party (as we thought) we were looking for Matt to say goodbye and Eva told us that he had left. We thought this was a bit odd and wondered if they had had an argument. However, my husband called Matt and he was on his way home to their house to prepare for the “after party” to which we were clearly not invited.
"So Matt invited us to his wife’s surprise party- for which we paid £200 and couldn’t refuse 'because it’s her important birthday'- but didn’t invite us to the 'real' party which was clearly taking place from 8pm onwards at their house.
"Am I overreacting to be annoyed that we just got invited to “fill up the numbers” for the surprise in the fancy venue, but weren’t asked to be there at their house? I understand that they’d prefer to have the 'after party' with their 'real' friends, but it stings a bit that we were only invited to make up the numbers (and the money) at a prestigious venue."
Many Mumsnet users thought that this was a "horrible" situation. One user said: "Ouch, I'd be really hurt by this." Another added: "How bloody horrible." While others said: "These people are not your friends," and "I’d be p***ed off."
Some commenters said that they would confront them about the issue, saying: "That’s incredibly rude on their part. I’d be tempted to say something." While another user suggested to think of the situation like this: "Think of it as having cost you £200 to know they're both t***s."
Other users said they would distance themselves if this situation happened to them. One commenter said: "They hosted a party and expected people to pay to be there, I find that very odd. They sound like right users, I hope you won't be inviting them round for further dinner parties!" While another added: "I would massively distance myself from them."
However, most Mumsnet users were surprised how much the couple had to pay to attend the "early surprise" party. One said: "It’s also really cheeky to ask for £100 a head. In fact, I’ve never heard anything like it!" Another added: "I hope you got through £200 worth of nibbles and drinks. Lessons learnt. They sound awful."
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