Mother ‘fuming’ after parent returns goody bag given out at daughter’s birthday party

‘I’m mortified but also livid’

A mother has been left “fuming” after a parent returned a goody bag given to their child at her daughter’s birthday party, stating that the contents were “too generous”.

Yesterday, the mother in question wrote about her anger on Mumsnet, explaining why she felt so angered by the situation.

Over the weekend, the mother organised for her daughter to celebrate her 11th birthday with four friends by arranging an activity-filled sleepover.

The night involved enjoying pizza and birthday cake, watching a film, painting each other’s nails and fun games.

Preparations for the party cost the mother less than £50, far less than previous birthday parties had cost in the past.

With that in mind, she decided to put extra effort into each of the goody bags given to her daughter’s friends when they left the next morning.

“I didn’t know what to do about party bags so instead of little plastic ones I bought some gift bags and made up bags including some pens, a notepad with each of the girls’ initials, a little nail varnish set each, a book, a pair of novelty socks, some sweets and a piece of birthday cake,” she wrote.

Her daughter also made thank you notes to include in the bags, with the sum total of each bag reaching approximately £12.50.

While the mother assumed that the goody bags would go down a treat, a parent of one of the girls who attended the party was none too pleased with the offering.

When the birthday girl came home from school on Monday, she presented her mother with a letter that had been written by the parent in addition to a returned goody bag.

“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,” the mother wrote on Mumsnet.

The parent who wrote the letter had allegedly told her daughter that the mother of the birthday girl tries “too hard”, which left the mother feeling “mortified”, “livid” and her daughter “embarrassed.”

“I definitely don’t want to impress her or anyone else! I have been internally fuming since 4pm yesterday!” she wrote.

She then asked other Mumsnet users whether she had reason to feel angry, or whether the other mother was in the right for returning the goody bag.

The majority of commenters stated that they found the other parent’s actions “rude”, even if the contents of the bag were perhaps overly lavish.

“Massively rude and odd!!!” one person wrote. “Feel sorry for her daughter!!!”

Another person commented: “That is really sad. You put all that effort in. I think she was really rude."