Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth – or a gift-giving mother for that matter.
One mom has shared her outrage after being given an outline of what gifts were acceptable to bring to a three-year-old’s birthday party.
Shay, 37, posted a clip to TikTok, declaring children’s birthday parties were getting ‘out of control.’
In the clip, she explained her three-year-old had been invited to a birthday party which the family had RSVP’d yes to – only to receive a peculiar text from the mom just days before the party.
The message outlined strict guidelines to buying gifts for her child, advising against toys that were colorful, noisy or plastic.
They also urged parents to make sure the gifts were waste-free.
The mom said she searched for what a waste-free gift entails, finding out it means ‘nothing that comes in packaging that is plastic’ and ‘no plastic toys either.’
She then told parents if they ‘can’t abide’ by these guidelines, to just give the child a handmade card.
Shay, 37, posted a clip to TikTok, declaring children’s birthday parties were getting ‘out of control’
‘Don’t buy a card because that will produce waste,’ she said, mimicking the request from the other parent.
‘This is getting extreme,’ Shay said, adding after she got the text she no longer wanted to go to the party in case she broke the rules.
In an interview with Newsweek, the mom said they didn’t end up attending the party, as the request was ‘very specific and last minute.’
Users chimed in with their thoughts, many surprised at the rigid rules.
‘At that point the mom just needs to say «no gifts please,»‘ one person suggested.
‘Seems like they want wooden Montessori toys,’ another user wrote.
‘Kids need color in their lives. I get no waste (kinda). But what’s wrong with colors??’ objected another.
However, others said they could relate to the mom’s gift guidelines.
‘We have the EXACT same gift rules, we said we’d rather not receive a gift then receive a noisy colorful obnoxious toy that we will not use and donate. We don’t do toys that are to bright, have any sounds and we try to stick to recycled materials and such. Natural toys and materials like wooden toys etc. 100 percent relate to them,’ one parent wrote on the video.
She then told parents if they ‘can’t abide’ by these guidelines, to just give the child a handmade card (stock image)
Users chimed in with their thoughts, many surprised at the rigid rules
Earlier in the week, a resurfaced Reddit post went viral on TikTok sparking mass outrage.
The post outlined a scenario where the parents of one birthday girl invited her friends to a party at Build-A-Bear – then kept all the bears made by the guests.
TikTok user Unplugged Moments, who often shares wild stories she finds on Reddit, delved into a story about the controversial kid’s party, explaining it was originally posted by an aunt who was taking her seven-year-old niece to attend.
‘The plan is, meet at the food court at the mall, have lunch, then go down to Build-A-Bear, and afterwards, meet at the birthday girl’s house for cake and ice cream,’ she shared.
On the invite, it said, [every] child will be able to build a Build-A-Bear,’ she explained. ‘So I told my niece, «let’s be mindful, keep it at $35, and then anything else aunty will chip in for at my own expense.»‘
The party had been going smoothly, and the mom of the birthday girl paid for everything, with the aunt noting she paid for anything extra her niece purchased.
The group left the store and took a photo with their creations – which is when things started to go downhill.
‘[After the picture the mom said] ‘Okay, thank you everyone, but if you could now hand your bear over the Sarah, thank you so much for building a personal bear so that Sarah can remember you by,» the woman recounted.
Recalling that everyone at the party was visibly shocked by this, the woman admitted she didn’t know whether she was entitled to think the kids would be keeping the bear.
