One mum was left 'mortified' after her daughter's friend returned a party bag with 'unbelievably rude' note from her parent.
The party bag politics seemed to have kicked off for one mum, whose generous gesture got quite literally thrown right back in her face.
Originally extremely chuffed that her daughter fancied a sleepover for her 11th birthday with a handful of close pals instead of a full-blown extravaganza affair - the mum wanted to make sure it was a special occasion.
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She organised a lovely get-together for her daughter and her four friends and ended up spending £50 on some proper sleepover essentials; pizza, snacks, birthday cake, a film - all that jazz.
After saving a decent amount of cash going down the at-home DIY party route, the unnamed mum took it upon herself to spend the extra funds on party bags for her daughter's guests.
The bags contained a bunch of little trinkets and treats including a book, some funny socks, sweets, a nail varnish set, a notebook with each girls' initial on, pens and - of course - a nice slice of birthday cake.
All sounds super wholesome right?
Well, the mum would soon find out one of the girl's parents thought the exact opposite.
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Posting about the fiasco on Mumsnet, she explained: "The bags cost £12.50 each so about £50 in total but given the party was cheap in comparison to previous years, with soft play, hall hire, pass the parcel etc, and my daughter and I had fun making them up I wasn't bothered."
Days after the sleepover, however, the woman's daughter came back from school carrying one of the party bags.
However, there was another thing that had been added to it this time - a note written by the daughter's friend's mother.
"The letter basically says the bag was too generous as a party bag and her daughter was returning it as she (the mum) couldn't let her accept it." she continued.
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"My daughter is really embarrassed as her friend told her that her mum says I try too hard."
Yikes.
"I'm mortified but also livid," the mum admitted. "I don't do the school run so only know this mum to say hello to when dropping kids off at hobbies/parties/play dates etc - I definitely don't want to impress her or anyone else."
She then took to the platform to seek some advice regarding the sticky situation, leaving a fellow parent to reassure her: "That is so unbelievably rude of her. Omg. My jaw literally dropped."
"That is really sad," penned a second. "You put all that effort in. I think she was really rude. I’m not sure the best way to approach it. You've done nothing wrong except make an effort and been nice."
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Others, however, defended the mother who'd wrote the note instead.
One user said that they 'would feel absolutely mortified to receive a party bag that generous', adding that 'presents were usually £5-£7', so receiving a party bag which was worth twice that would make them feel 'extremely uncomfortable'.
However, they added that they would not have returned it, calling that 'ungracious'.
While another added that if they were being 'completely honest', they too would have found the bags to be 'overgenerous'.
What do you make of it?
Rhiannon Ingle