Birthday party CF!

[MrsRPoldark]

Went to my DN birthday party today and as part of her present, I attached 6 helium balloons. These all had printing on them as part of the present theme and were securely tied to the bag containing her presents. This was them placed with all of her other presents and away from the main party.

Around halfway through the party, I watched my SIL StepM (who has a history of CF behaviour) walk up to the present, untie a balloon and give it to her DGD!! The worst part was that because this LG had one, lots of other children wanted one so DN ended up with one balloon attached to her present!

AIBU to be shocked at her ridiculous Cheeky Fuckery?! Who the fuck does that?! I told my DB what had happened and he dismissed it as 'oh that's just her, just ignore her'

I'm fuming!

She was out of order, but it’s your brother and his wife who can choose to accept it or bring it up, if they’re happy to let her do stuff like that then there isn’t anything you can do.

If it were me, I’d have said loudly “don’t untie that; it’s part of her present” but that opportunity is gone now.

CF indeed - I'd be annoyed, I would have said when she first began untying the balloon that it was your DN's!

Why didn't you stop them and say something?

I wanted to but SIL has a funny relationship with her Dad and StepM so it would have caused upset.
I wanted to post to find out if I was being sensitive due to previous behaviour though and I'm glad to see someone agrees with me!

Cheeky bitch

What was the printing?

If I saw six balloons clustered together (they have to be tied to something...) at a kids party, I might think they were up for grabs. I mean, it really does depend on what they were. The novelty of a helium balloon doesn't go x6 just because there are six of them. Could she have asked someone who thought they were to share?

I'd be surprised if anyone disagrees with you, OP - What your SIL did was outrageous! It's obvious she'd use the, "Aw their just so little and DGD reeaally wanted one.." Maybe so but you don't get to distribute things that are clearly for the - also little! - birthday girl. Shameful behaviour.

Regardless of upset, I would’ve called her out on that. Cheeky bitch!

If I saw six balloons clustered together (they have to be tied to something...) at a kids party, I might think they were up for grabs
Really? But even if they were, surely you would ask the party hosts first before handing them out?

Seen that it was your gift to the child, why didn’t yu say smeth8ng straight away to the step um? Something along the lines of ‘oh excuse me but this IS the present for xxx’.

I wouod have stepped in tbh rather expect your SIL or DB To intervene, esp if you knew the stepmom has form to be hard work iyswim

YABU for giving not just one, but six environmentally toxic balloons as a present for a child. That really is much more about you looking impressive than anything else, isn't i?

It's really not that big of a deal, is it? Calling her a cheeky fucker and wondering 'what's wrong' with her seems a little much.

If I'd have taken six balloons to a party I'd have done so fully expecting them to be taken by six kids and played with

It’s cheeky of her to have done that but it’s a bit of an odd present to bring to a little one’s party because you’re guaranteed to have kids wanting them, one. But also, balloons are often times part of decorations and up for grabs so while an adult should have known better, kids mightn’t necessarily.

It seems a bit off to give six balloons tied to a gift in a situation where a child will be receiving a lot of gifts. Seems to guarantee that every other gift will look a bit shit in comparison. So maybe she was cringing on your behalf and trying to rectify the situation.

Why would you give her six balloons when shed of had loads of balloons at the party anyway. A balloon is a balloon. Im guessing she gave one to your niece as it was for her anyway and then just thought might as well give the rest out since no one really needs six balloons. But she had no right to do that, I agree.

What’s one kids going to do with 6 balloons? Maybe she should have asked but you are all in the same family. Surely you wouldn’t have said no to the little girl playing with a balloon?
Bit of an overreaction op so I’m saying Yabu.

Am guessing you don't have your own dc?
Six helium balloons at a birthday party are going to get played with regardless of how cheeky the adult was giving them out.
I agree with pp who stated that was just about you trying to look impressive

My ds is like, it's so exhausting.

To be clear I mean dsis not dson.

What is the point of six helium balloons? SIX

Balloons are decorations and generally end up being taken by kids

It would've annoyed me, OP. You should not untie balloons which are clearly tied to a present.

Yanbu but balloons at parties do tend to be grabbed by kids, it was a risky strategy.

Hmmm... never occurred to me that it would look flashy. There were 6 in the packet so I blew them all up and attached them. She had her card separately in the post so I thought she would be able to tell it was from us. Hadn't thought about it from the other point of you though.

They had unicorns on them, as did the bag of presents.

And I do have my own DC. Two In fact, with one being the same age as the birthday girl and one still in nappies. They would never ask for someone to give them part of what was clearly a birthday present.

Point taken about attaching all 6 though

Perhaps you could look at it as though you made her party even better, by providing unicorn balloons for the attendees. I bet they loved them.

That's a gift to her too. Sort of.

Were they part of the present or decoration though?
I don’t think taking a balloon is the same level of cf as letting the kid open the present for eg.