Bride’s Sister Turns Pre-Wedding Party Into Birthday Celebration for Her Son

The sister of a bride commandeered one of the couple’s pre-wedding celebrations so that it could also serve as her son’s birthday.

One of the partygoers criticized the bride’s sister in a post on Reddit’s “Wedding Shaming” forum, adding that it wasn’t a one-off. From taking over holiday parties to gender reveals, the bride’s sister has a long history of making family events about herself or her children. She does so “basically every year,” and her sister’s “engagement party”-like event last year was no different.

Ahead of the party meant to “celebrate the happy couple,” the bride’s sister, who hosted the celebration, texted all 40 invitees that her son’s birthday was coming up.

Because the little boy’s birthday happened to be two weeks after the party, the woman “decided to make that her son’s birthday too.” She “made everyone coming bring gifts,” writing “a small essay about what her son likes.” An official “gift table” was even set up among the wedding-themed decor.

“We also had to stop the festivities to sing ‘happy birthday’ to her son when the attention should have been on the couple,” the guest wrote.

The guest, who is a cousin of the bride, pointed out that the sister is financially well-off, living in a “McMansion” with a “huge (and gaudy) finished basement.”

“You’d think if they can afford upkeep on that beast they can afford to throw their son a birthday party, but I guess not,” the individual said. “Also find it unfair that she has birthdays for her daughter, but not her son.”

Fellow Redditors also shamed the bride’s sister in the comments section, writing that “the audacity is off the charts” and it’s “stealing the spotlight at someone else’s big day.”

They partially blamed the bride for allowing her sister to “double up the party themes” because she should know by now what was going to happen “if she does this all the time.” The party guests were also chastised for “enabling this behavior.”

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“If this is happening every year, either most of the family doesn’t care, or it’s just a whole family of ‘peace keepers,’ ” one person wrote. “I just feel bad for the son who seemingly never gets his own day to celebrate him, and he just kinda gets tacked on because the family is already gathering.”

Another Reddit user agreed, commenting, “People only continue to behave that way because all of you (including the bride) enabled the behavior in the first place.”