You’re invited! But there’s a catch. Receiving an invitation can brighten anyone’s mood, especially people who just want to feel welcome. However, not everyone is great at organizing events. Whether it’s a ‘friend’ trying to get over, or an engaged couple obsessed with the idea of having the ‘perfect’ day, an invitation can quickly turn into a ‘to-do’ list for guests with unreasonable demands! Here, guests share the most ridiculous request on an invitation they’ve ever received.
All stories have been edited for clarity.
How About Now?
“About 3 years ago, I received an invite for my son to attend his absent father’s wedding. Along with the demand for sixty bucks for his meal, and over two hundred bucks for the outfit they were going to purchase for my son to be in the wedding, I was also expected to drive my son to the wedding at a destination over fifteen hundred miles away. For the final touch, the email invite had a link to the gift registry.
I declined. My son had absolutely no problem either.
It was what followed that made the invite even more ridiculous.
Well, shortly after the invites were sent, it was brought to light that my ex, my son’s father, was caught cheating while on his honeymoon. To this day, he’s still paying off his thirty-thousand-dollar wedding. Then just before this past Christmas, I received another wedding invite from him. Our son didn’t even know he was engaged a second time. Again, his email demanded money for a plate, a tailored suit for my son, and a gift registry.
This time, I was invited along with my other child.
Of course, we refused to even respond. Not even a week later, we were informed that he was still cheating on his new fiance with the same woman.
I didn’t see the marriage lasting any longer than his last one.”
Everyone’s Invited!
“I got invited to a birthday party for a friend of mine. She managed to secure a reservation at a five-star restaurant that was quite popular at the time. I was humbled and loved her for the invite. I opened my schedule right away and marked the date on my calendar.
A few days before the party, my friend called and insisted I bring everyone, including my children and husband to the party. I was hesitant because I knew how expensive the restaurant was. If I were having a party at such a pricey place, I would not invite spouses and families out of fear of what the bill would be.
‘No,’ I said respectfully. ‘My husband is going to look after the kids that night.’
Unfortunately, my friend insisted, and I had to give in.
On the day of the birthday party, I bought an expensive gift for her as a token of appreciation.
I then got the kids ready and we left the house. We arrived on time and sat at the long table the waitstaff prepared for us. The servers were running left right and center to keep up with everyone’s orders. I remember how heavenly the food tasted. It was one of the best outings I had in a while.
At the same time, I tried to limit what my family ordered, assuming it would be a burden on my friend.
My friend, however, kept assuring me, ‘It’s okay! Order whatever you want!’
As the party came to an end, a server showed up with a leather folder and handed it to me.
Confused, I looked at my husband. He too had a panicked look on his face. Seeing that we had no option, I took the check from the waiter. I probably stared at the folder for half a lifetime before my husband motioned me to open it.
Inside was a bill for a few hundred bucks.
I looked at my husband again and he knew by the look on my face that I was not thrilled. Sighing with defeat, he nodded and pulled out his wallet to pay for it. We simply didn’t have a choice.
Now I love pay-for-your-own-food hangouts, but when people ‘invite’ guests for birthday parties and then insist on bringing anyone for their own fun, they should make things clear beforehand.
Thankfully, I had money and I could pay. But what if someone could not afford to pay and was caught off-guard?
Because that night, I know some were!”
The Word Is ‘Doormat’
“An acquaintance of mine hand-delivered an invitation to her daughter’s 7th birthday party. I was a bit confused because I didn’t have any kids at the time and I had never even met the birthday girl.
I opened the invitation to find a neatly written paragraph:
‘I’ve admired your art for a long time. My precious daughter is having a Princess Unicorn Fairy Mermaid party. I need you to make a large banner to go over the door with all the characters from her favorite television show. I don’t care about the placement as long as they are all there.
I need it in bright colors and sparkly with glitter. Then get balloon letters saying, ‘Happy Birthday!’
I also need the following:
A birthday mural with a mermaid in a pool.
A fairy in a tree with lightning bugs, a unicorn next to the tree, and a prince and princess walking next to the pool. This all needs to be big enough to cover our back wall.
Then we need a photo op cut out where the kids can put their faces in and it looks like a fairy, mermaid, and a princess.
Then we need you to set up a face painting booth for the kids. Of course, we want a unicorn, princess, mermaid, and fairy designs. Maybe you could do a prince, pirate, or dragon design for the boys? I didn’t really think about the boys. LOL!
We have around fifty kids coming. Could you pick a birthday princess crown, one hundred pastel balloons, pink streamers, and confetti for the table, too?
If you have any questions just call me. Thank you so so much!’
I honestly thought it must be a joke. The party was in three days and she expected me to do all that. I called this woman I barely knew and told her she got me with a laugh. When she didn’t return the laugh, I knew she was serious.
Stunned, I told her I was fast but to get everything done I was going to have to ask off from my day job and would have to charge my normal wages from there into the bill. She nearly choked.
‘A bill? Why are you charging me? It’s my her daughter’s birthday! It would make a wonderful gift!’
That’s right. She wanted me to foot the bill for all of the supplies, do all the work, take off from my actual job, and expected me to do it all for free!
I took a deep breath and told her while I love to do art, it does not pay the bills. I then advised her that if she wanted all that done, I would have to charge her. What I didn’t expect was for her to have a tantrum on the phone. She started crying and insisting I was ruining her daughter’s birthday, and saying a REAL friend would do it.
I told her I hadn’t spoken with her in years. I didn’t even know she had a kid, much less met her.
I told her the word she was looking for was ‘doormat’ and hung up.”
BYO Party!
“A friend of ours was getting married and asked my husband to attend the wedding party. Shortly after he agreed to go, we met his fiancée. We were aware that she was a handful of times, but never got to know her on a personal level. We had no idea what we were in for when our friend’s wife suggested a get-together at her house prior to the wedding. However, giving everyone who would be in the wedding a chance to get acquainted made sense.
A week later, I got an invitation in the mail for the party, as well as a note stating:
‘You are responsible for bringing ten bottles of soda that MUST be name brand. Also, bring homemade brownies for twenty-five people, and five bags of chips that MUST be name-brand. Each person can bring food to put on the grill but is limited to ONE hamburger each, or TWO hotdogs each, and ONE small piece of chicken.’
I had to read the invite ten times to believe it was real! We had to bring our own food to put on the grill as well as other food? Was she nuts?
That same day, I received phone calls from other skeptical guests. Everyone was comparing their roles assigned on the invite in disbelief. Our friend’s wife assigned one person to bring garbage bags and they were assigned as the ‘clean-up crew.’ Another person was assigned to handle decorations and linens.
I, along with several others, called our friend’s wife to decline.
Her response: ‘Okay. But you are still responsible for your list, so please drop those items off at my house ASAP.’
I told her that she is off her rocker and hung up.
Long story short, the party didn’t happen. The wedding was postponed for over a year. When it finally did happen, not many people showed up.
They divorced two years later.”