to cancel weekend plans with friends etc so we can go away and enjoy the sunshine...?

[wonderingwondering]

That's it really. Got a couple of birthday parties for children (we know the parents) and had invited some work colleagues over for dinner. But I'd really rather give my tent an airing while the sun is out!

Is it really bad to cancel and (as I'm going to cancel, just want to know how guilty I should feel) should I lie about the reason why (sick child? work commitments...?)? Or just be honest?

Also, why bother starting a thread if you're going to cancel?

I can't believe how many immature, self-important people there are out there.

The kids' parties have LOADS of people going, we were only calling in to each for a short period as they overlap. And I may be able to make it back for dinner, though it will mean takeway....

Perhaps I should have posted this in Camping.

''It's the first good weekend - we've tried over Easter, May Day holiday and so on but it was too cold. And the next month is fully booked with work commitments....''

Yep, and this weekend you have social commitments. Life sucks, eh?

Again, why start a thread. AIBU? Oh, I'm going to cancel anyhow and it's okay to lie about it all.

Haha! Yes, camping would have been safer. Seriously, it's just not a problem. It's your life, your friendships, your priorities.

grrr... i hate this crap.
I had a friend cancel on me last weekend for flaky reasons, it's bollocks.

Summer's just started, you have plenty of time.

expat - I think she said she wanted to know opinion? That's why she started a thread?

I think you're being mean tbh

I know fearnelinen. Not childish, self-important etc, I just honestly would not care if one of my friends cancelled coming to a child's party because they had decided to go away. And I wondered if others did.

Think I might go for the lie option in the light of these responses though.

I would just cancel and be honest about it. Life's too short IMHO.

But beware Karma - you will wake in the middle of the night to find your tent surrounded by malevolent cows who have shat all over the camping stove you left outside by mistake then your children will develop D&V and not be able to exit the tent in time.

YABVU.

Ah.

Lying.

Always always works.

People are always too stupid to catch you out aren't they? It's because you are much cleverer than they are.

Enjoy!

Family time (esp. away) takes precedence over ALL weekend friend commitments for me everytime. I LOVE my friends and mak time for everyone during the week. But the weekends are sacred family times. If the opportunity for an awesome memory-making weekend with the DCs comes up then that overrides kids parties.
There are so many kids parties and I just don't get this attitude of 'poor dc if no-one turns up'. DS's bday falls at the start of the easter hols. We always throw a big bash, but one year the weather was unusually good and it landed at the start of the hols. We had about 2 out of 20 people turn up. We all gorged on french fancies and hot footed it to the cinema. No bother. DS wasn't devastated - quite the opposite, he handled it and he learnt not to see it as rejection. He is undamaged!

very bad form, especially re: the friends you have invited to dinner.. but you clearly have the hide of a rhino so go for it!

People may have put off other plans they had to join you for dinner,and arranged child care so now they may be unable to do either.
You're being incredibly selfish but obviously don't give a damn that you are.

And don't lie. You should have the guts to tell the truth about why you're cancelling.I think you owe them that.

Selfish and thoughtless. And unless there's a lot they're not telling us on the news, this weekend won't be the last 48 hours of sunshine the UK gets

the thing about flaky people is that everyone knows they are flaky, but the people in question seem to think other people are stupid enough not to see that.

so if you lie, well, they'll know.

What you're being is really really rude - not so much for not going to the parties, but definitely for cancelling the dinner.

If family time is so sacrosanct, don't book dinner parties during it, or at least make it clear from the start that the dinner will be postponed if the weather turns out to be good (which would be OK really, done up front).

Basically what you're saying to your work colleagues is: "come for dinner unless I get a better offer".

YABU to do it. As already said, the dinner guests might have turned down other offers to come to see you, if they have children, arranged childcare etc.

The children who are having parties will likely have a set number of children going, and if like the party dd is having, some children who she wants to come cannot due to numbers. If you pull out now, it may well be too late to invite another to replace your children. The party might already have been paid for with your child included.

if, IF you decide to cancel anyway. Be truthful. Let them know that you want to take advantage of the sun. Better they be disappointed with the truth than find out some other way that you were off sunning yourself instead of spending time with them. If someone lied to me about this i would take it personally, like I had done something to warrant it.

Plus, I don't buy this 'sacred family time' tossycock. It's not about the family - they exist every weekend. It's because the sun is shining, like OMG! Sun LOLZ!!!!!111!!

very bad form
have dinner in the garden
and imagine if no-one turned up for your kids birthday parties because they suddenly decided they had something better to do

When I was about 9 I was the only one to turn up to a friends birthday party. All the others just didn't turn up. Her parents had worked their arses off getting everything ready as she was relatively new to the school. It was huliating for her. She made me swear that I wouldn't tell anyone at school that I was the only one.

huliating....

it is a bit like humiliating only a bit shorter

They're probably used to your flakiness and general lack of thought for other people.