Mum sparks debate after daughter charged $46 to attend kid's birthday party

A mother has taken to the internet for advice after being asked to contribute $46 for her 10-year-old daughter to attend a friend’s birthday party.

Posting anonymously to Netmums she explained that she had only been given two days notice ahead of the event and was asked to pay a fee after accepting the invitation.

She asked fellow parents if she should still bring a present to the upcoming event.

“I wouldn’t have minded so much if the cost was made clear in the beginning but it was only after I accepted the invite. Should I still bring a gift,” she asked.

“Maybe this is a done thing but I personally wouldn’t dream of inviting my [darling daughter’s] friends to a party and asking for a contribution! If I couldn’t afford for her to do something with that many friends we wouldn’t do it or we’d cut the guest list down! Opinions? Maybe I’m just being unreasonable!”

Unsurprisingly, a large number of users promptly took to the candid post to vent their frustration at the proposal.

“If I was inviting other kids to go out with my son for his birthday, then I would fully expect to foot the bill,” one person wrote. “If it was a case of one child being invited but you were going to take the other as it was somewhere like soft play, then it would be reasonable to pay for that child but as an invited guest, I wouldn’t expect to end up with a bill!”

“I would actually be embarrassed to ask somebody for money towards a party I’ve decided to throw,” another agreed. “How rude! I’m sorry but you just don’t do that. It’s entirely different if you all had a get together and decided that you would split the bill for an event you all organised but no way, not that. That’s just not on!”

Others later took to the site to vent their frustration at the growing “need” for children to have extravagant birthday parties.

“What happened to cake and juice and a party bag. Why are parents feeding in to this ‘need’ to give bigger, more extravagant birthday events and parties that cost a fortune for CHILDREN… JUST SAY NO,” one person wrote.

“I’m not being mean and would give my children and grandchildren the world but birthday parties are just getting ridiculous. It’s not a competition. What are we teaching our children. Where do we draw the line… Back to house parties, games and finger food. First big party should be 18… in my opinion.”

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