AIBU to not enjoy other people’s “events”?

I like the social aspect of seeing people all together who you may not otherwise manage to catch up with. However I agree that it can get very tedious when the person makes the day too much about themselves. Things such as making guests stand around for hours, not having sufficient food or drink around or forcing guests to partake in games or creative exercises that aren't remotely fucking entertaining. Nobody is interested in coming up with lines of text or being forced to paint or draw something on the spot.

The other thing I cannot stand is the difficulty of leaving such events. Admittedly, the host isn't responsible for this, but big events are impossible to gracefully exit from. From the moment you decide to leave, you have to say goodbye to 20-50 people, and at any point you might get wrapped in more small talk. Worst still if you have a useless husband who cannot stop endless "final conversations" with any of the 50 people he needs to be saying goodbye to or an overtired, hyper child who constantly runs away and refuses to leave. And because it's impossible to get angry about it publicly, it's usually just me seething internally while we stand about for another 1-2 hours with nothing happening.

They do to those of us without much family.

I think loads of people feel the same - I never go to baby showers or hen dos because I find them by and large to be tacky and expensive. I don't go to christenings as I am not faintly religious. Weddings I do if I am close to people and same goes for birthdays. Other events it depends - I do go to our local theatre a couple of times a year with a couple of friends, plus I enjoy love music so also go along with one or two people. I prefer a low key trip to the pub or out to dinner most often. I am sociable and I am an extrovert, but there is stuff I just don't enjoy doing and as is so often said on here, an invitation is not a summons. I'm going to a wedding in London in October - it's a friend I haven't seen in ages, so it will be really nice to catch up with her, plus I lived in the city for over a decade so a good chance to spend a couple of days there and catch up with with other people.

It's fine not to be sociable but I do feel that family events are kind of what glues the family together and it's nice to show up and show your support for your family.

Friends don't matter so much

Fine to feel it, but don’t sneer at the very idea of the celebration.

I hate stuff like this too. I'll go to things that are important to the people I love, and I'll have a smile on my face about it, but I'd rather not.

And I get the horrors at the idea of summoning everyone to something like this on my behalf - even my wedding was 20 people. We'd originally planned a big thing but the thought of spending what was looking like 20k on the exact kind of thing I don't enjoy and then requiring everyone else to travel/get hotels for it felt very self-indulgent and rude (which I know is an unpopular view! But it's how I felt.)

But I'm an extreme introvert and I know that :)

You're not very sociable. There's nothing wrong with the events and lots of people do enjoy them, but there's no law on attending.

You are free to decline - but bear in mind the invitations might dry up.

Well unless you've never so much as sniffed Mumsnet before, you'll know you're certainly not alone.

A lot of people like to post about how they hate these sort of things.

Way more than people ever post about liking them.