Kid’s birthday parties are always tricky, especially when dealing with the logistics around food and catering.
Whether it’s vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, or you name it, at least one child at any given party will have some sort of dietary requirement.
And that’s okay of course! They can’t help it. But where do we draw the line with picky eaters? Should we cater to them, or just let them fend for themselves?
A woman was faced with this exact situation recently after a mom of a child at her son’s birthday party demanded she order him a cheese pizza, as that’s “all he’ll eat.”
Adding an awkward layer to this dilemma — the child wasn’t even invited to the party in the first place.
Yes, an uninvited guest AND a picky eater! Oh, the joy…
The uninvited picky eater
Taking to the AITA forum, the birthday boy’s mom recalled the incident before asking people to weigh in about whether she was in the wrong.
She says the “intimate” birthday celebration was held at her son’s favorite pizza place. She ordered pepperoni and meat lovers’ pizzas and a veggie one for the vegetarian guests. She also ordered cheesy garlic bread, wings, an Italian salad, cake, and ice cream for dessert.
Basically, there was more than enough food.
But then her brother and his girlfriend showed up, uninvited, and with the girlfriend’s child whom the OP had never met, and they weren’t impressed with the spread that was on offer.
The girlfriend immediately scanned the table, looking for something her ‘picky’ kid could eat. After seeing nothing suitable, she demanded the mom order a cheese pizza as that’s the only sort of pizza her son likes.
“I said we have cheesy garlic bread, but the boy didn’t like that either. Then I suggested he could have an extra large piece of cake. It was white with sprinkles. Her kid only liked chocolate cake,” the OP explained.
The mom had her hands full with hosting duties and trying to wrangle eight other kids at the party, so was being pulled in ten different directions.
But the girlfriend persisted, asking her, again, to order a cheese pizza for her son.
“I snapped back, ‘Not everything is about your kid’,” the mom admitted.
Ultimately, the brother, his girlfriend and the boy left the party early, and the mom received a lengthy text later on accusing her of being insensitive and setting a bad example for her children.
But the mom defended her actions to the forum, stating, “I don’t feel like I was out of line as she was a rude guest.”
“Could have ordered it herself”
Reddit users largely supported the mom’s stance. One commenter noted, “If she really cared so much for her child, she would have bought him a cheese pizza. You don’t go to a birthday party and demand things especially when you were not invited to said party.”
Another added, “I have an extremely picky eater who also only eats cheese. If we were in that situation, the simple solution is for me to order my son a cheese pizza myself. It’s not that complicated. My son’s eating issues aren’t anyone else’s problem.”
“She was rude from the start, you already had your hands full with the kids, she or your brother could have ordered the pizza themself,” someone else agreed. “If her child is very picky, she should have had something with her that he can eat just in case.”
That last commenter added: “Your response was rude, but her trying to order you around at your kid’s party is disrespectful at best.”
