9 year old served ‘birthday drinks’ at sleepover

[Calpi]

My daughter recently attended a birthday sleepover. The girls are 9 years old which I thought was slightly on the young side so I was a little hesitant but agreed.

I have just seen some pictures and I really am not happy. The girls were given ‘birthday drinks’. They were only squash and obviously no alcohol was used but they were served in actual plastic flutes. The drink was bright pink with fizzy sweets in the glass but I’m not happy.

The mum in question parents very differently. Her 9 year old gets bought VERY expensive skincare products. And her daughter acts like a
full on teen - we’re talking crop tops, Stanley cups, skincare, TikTok dances, eyeshadow etc. I have been in the girl’s bedroom and she has a dressing table completely covered in drunk elephant etc. The mum is into that overconsumption stuff she sees online. Fine, parent how you want but I want my daughter to have a childhood and to not be adultified.

AIBU in thinking this was massively inappropriate? Why couldn’t they have just made milkshakes or smoothies? Or an ice cream sundae?

Christ when I was a kid ,you could buy sweetie cigarettes and liquorice pipes !

I remember my niece having a ‘kids cocktail’ at Centre Parcs in cocktail glass with a little umbrella and tinsel thing in it. 😂 She was about 7. They were aimed at kids and all good fun.

All the research shows that allowing children to have alcohol before the legal age does nothing to curb drinking in later life…

Good God, what a fun sponge you are. 9 year olds drinking mocktails at a party is a lovely, exciting way to mark the occasion. Allowing your own child to have a swig of wine every now and again is a tiny bit more disturbing.

Same! I thought the poster was going to say the kids had been at the vodka. OP is coming across as ever so slightly envious of the birthday girl’s mum…

WTF you let her drink sips of wine but are not happy with mocktails!
Thinking about it, mocktails are actually sending the message that alcohol is not required to have fun, so a good thing.

But she’s not making alcohol out to be glamorous - she’s making out that soft drinks can be fun and glamorous!

@TheWholeShackShimmies @Demonhunter I have now a hankering for one - with extra glacier cherries!

This brings back memories. When I was a child my mother used to give me a tonic (recommended by our GP) that tasted like sherry. She used to put it in a sherry glass, and say "Sherry dear?" in her best Hinge and Bracket style. 🤣

😂

OP ignore the haters it's a slippery slope. First it's squash in a flute with fizzy sweets and then it's heroin cut with haribo. Have you called the police yet ?

I have a nine year old DD and can't see anything wrong with pretend cocktails - it's a fun idea. The skincare and TikTok thing is depressing, but not your problem as she isn't your child.

LIquorice pipes were the best.

No YABU the best were the rice paper filled with cheap chocolate 'cigarettes'!

Seriously? Do you call yourself Ma Ingalls and grown your own turnips while your kids learn to sew by candlelight 🤣
OP come on, that sounds like a perfectly lovely sleepover to me, one that your Ds will remember for years. So your kid was pampered at a sleepover-it’s a treat! Surely you treat your kids sometimes? Do things you wouldn’t normally do for special occasions.
From the title I was expecting you to say something like they had a shot of Prosecco in the flutes 🤣

Sounds very much like the mum had put a lot of thought and effort into the girls sleepover which is such a lovely thing to do.

Seems such a shame you are looking down at her and judging her parenting.

I hate to break it to you but many young girls are very much into beauty, skincare, fashion etc. My dd16 has been into these things for years, including the mocktails and she hardly touches alcohol.

I think you are really overthinking this op.

Were they not chocolate cigars? 🤣

Yes. I stand corrected.

I also liked that they had a red tip too ,you have to be accurate 🤣

Did they snort the icing sugar on top of the cake OP?

For the girls’ parties at nine-years-old I used to serve Long Island Iced Teas, or Whiskey Sours for the more discerning child.

At the same age I used to set the boys yard of ale competitions.

So YANBU for yours being given such sugary drinks.

(The above is a joke. YABU, obviously, mocktails are harmless fun.)

I know what you mean OP with the drunk elephant thing. TikTokers love the bright packaging. But drinks are fine IMO

I keep thinking about the pretend 'cigarettes' we used to be able to buy in the '50s and it's turned me at 76 into an awful person who can't even handle an unopened packet of cigarettes or an ashtray, back when there were such things. I once burned a hole in the brand new carpet in the Officers' Mess because some Subby asked me to hold his cigarette while he went for a pee and dropped it on the floor!
She'll be fine

Well, I tend to agree with you OP on the drinks and make up front. But it was only one night, a once a year occasion. I think you should forget about it tbh. As you say, the other mum parents differently. That's fine.

Oooh! It's the maraschino cocktail cherries for me in the little jars with the almondy flavour syrup 😋