Posted on 01/19/2015 9:47:19 AM PST by bgill
A five-year-old was billed for failing to attend a friend's birthday party - resulting in threats of legal action.
Alex Nash, from Cornwall, was invited to the party just before Christmas.
An invoice for £15.95 was sent by his schoolfriend's mother Julie Lawrence, who said Alex's non-attendance left her out of pocket and his parents had her details to tell her he was not going.
Alex's father Derek said he had been told he would be taken to the small claims court for refusing to pay.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
As often as not, that works the other way. Folks do not send the RSVP but just show up. This is such basic etiquette, hard to imagine folks can’t take a minute either to respond or to call to say they can’t make it after all. Terrible manners. I really don’t want anyone who’s that rude as a friend.
Yeah its going to be tough finding those Pounds to pay the mother back.
RSVP.............or else................................
An invitation, unless accepted and confirmed by the recipient, imparts no obligation whatsoever to the invitee.
I'm not a lawyer either, but from what I have read, the only important question here should be:
"Did the guest have a duty to either attend, or to call and tell that he isn't coming?"
As I can't imagine that the child (or his parents) signed a contract in order to attend a party, the mom in question should simply plan the events better, and tolerate the fact that when you deal with a bunch of people there will be issues. Always.
The lawsuit should not be for non arlttendance but for lying on the rsvp. That’s where the loss occurred. But I don’t think an rsvp constitutes a contract.
When my daughter turned 16 recently I was asked “at what hotel will her party be at”? And they expected most of her grade to be invited! No, she had her close friends and they had a mini-spa day and dinner. Still cost way to much!
Poor cat!
This is the reason we've always had "wedding crashers". Now it takes nerves of steel to show up at a wedding uninvited and pretend you are a "co-worker" or "friend" of the bride or groom as you take advantage of the open bar, but people have been successfully pulling that routine for decades.
Aunt Betty and Cousin Sue should have scooped up the leftovers and taken it home along with all the party favors, center pieces and tableware they stuffed in their purses. Seriously, someone should have taken it home. You could have had it for your one year anniversary along with the cake.
Are you kidding? Internet has nothing over a school gossip chain. That poor child. It’s not his fault.
“....and his parents had her details to tell her he was not going.”
Am I just dence or is that difficult to decipher.
Same here. Wear your swimsuit, eat homemade cake, play in the yard and bash a piñata. Show up or don’t show up. More cake for the rest of us if you don’t. One of our kids’ friend had the same birth day and his mama always dropped him off until she remembered to pick him up late. It was fine as I don’t know that he ever had a party. That British mama would have sent a babysitting bill rather than chalking it up to the kids having longer to play together.
If a 5 yo has a party (he won’t remember by the time he’s 15) that requires an RSVP, something is wrong. People have been inconsiderate about RSVPs for many, many years.
Our wedding was small and no “professionals” - witness the ceremony, eat great cake ($15), visit a bit and go home. Don’t remember if anyone didn’t show up, RSVPed or not, but it didn’t matter. It was much nicer than the overly dragged out one we went to two weeks later that was all frou-frou, cost a fortune, “professionals” very unprofessional, an u-g-l-y cake (that I had to pick up which cost more than my entire wedding from the gown to the venue to the delivered cake), and worries over every cup and fork being accounted for.
lots of extra pounds floating around the US these days, just not the paper kind
I despise the whole idea of “goody bags” and now they’ve grown up and have wedding “goody bags.” WHY? I’ve never understood it.
I don’t know how the goody bag thing started. I never participated. It felt like kids were so spoiled they couldn’t understand the concept of giving someone a gift WITHOUT receiving something in return.
I had a SIL with such a spoiled brat, she couldn’t purchase a birthday or Christmas gift for anyone else without buying two of whatever gift, as the little princess had to have one as well. Needless to say, she was NOT well liked by the rest of the kids.
What are the contents of wedding goody bags? I haven’t been to a wedding in years, so have yet to experience this. I know of the wedding “favour”, a small token gift to remember the happy (or not) event....usually tossed out around the first anniversary, full of dust.
I think now, depending on the couple, it’s a favor on steroids? Silver or crystal photo frames (that used to be thought of as a gift to the bride/groom). Some do give more modest token remembrances.
I don’t remember any of that from years ago. You’d go to a party/wedding, you’d bring (or send) a gift, you’d enjoy the party/wedding-reception, and go home.
Of course, in the time frame I’m thinking of, the couple hadn’t already lived together for several years accumulating a household full of furniture and furnishings. Now, they look more toward receiving wedding giftf that contribute to an exotic wedding trip.
This will increase the attendance to the next party! And make the kid popular.
I guess the price of F’ing up your kids just dropped below 16 pounds.
Yes, the kid should have called. But we are talking about kids, right?
I can think of half a dozen reasons why this happened. Most of them include a husband telling the party host their kid will show up...and then forgetting to tell the mom.
Not like I speak from experience or anything.
“Not like I speak from experience or anything.”
Nah!
Well, I don’t think the FIVE YEAR OLD should have called, but a parent. We’ve all been there, overwhelmed by raising kids, their schedules, work, etc.
To the extent people are just rude, with no care for anyone else ‘cept themselves, it makes me crazy. And it’s not a good example to set for your kids. In this case, there are no good parenting examples being shown.
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