Dad’s 5-Year-Old Gets Two Different Birthday Invitations for the Same Kid

A dad felt uncomfortable when he realized the awkward truth behind his 5-year-old’s two birthday invitations.

The original poster (OP) shared his story on Reddit and explained that his 5-year-old son was invited to a birthday party next month for someone on his basketball team. Although their kids weren’t really friends, they get along well and OP didn’t already have something scheduled.

“It seemed like a good opportunity to expand my son’s social circle, so we accepted the invitation,” OP said.

However, a few days later, OP received another birthday invitation for a kid with the same first name. There was no last name listed, so OP didn’t initially know who it was for. But they did notice that the invite list included his son’s close friend, so they asked her parents to see if they knew who the party was for.

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“We learned from them that the parents are going through what sounds like a very messy divorce and the first invite was from the mom and the second invite was from the dad,” OP wrote.

OP explained that the second party, for which they haven’t RSVP’d for yet, is more inconvenient for them but he noted they could still make it. OP said he didn’t want it to seem like he’s picking one party over the other, but also felt weird about attending two parties.

He said his son doesn’t know the kid particularly well, but would be happy with back-to-back parties. “That said, the whole situation is making us uncomfortable,” OP wrote, noting that she wouldn’t know if they’d have to give two gifts.

One person commented on her post suggested that OP just pick one party to attend.

“I’d just pick one party and call it a day. If your son doesn’t know the kid super well, it’s totally reasonable to say yes to the one that works better for your schedule and politely decline the other,” one person wrote. “The parents know they’re in an awkward situation and nobody’s expecting every invitee to hit both parties.”

However, another said that OP should go to both parties and shared that the birthday kid probably needs extra support at the moment.

“I’d probably go to both unless had other plans. The kid is probably going though a lot too and extra play time with friends can’t hurt,” the person said. “And assuming it looked like a fun activity kid would enjoy, why not kill sometime. I’d probably bring a small gift to both. If it happened year after year, I might start picking just one.”

A third said OP and their family should just go to the first party.

“Just go to the first one. These parents are being ridiculous,” they said. “No kid needs two birthday parties. You already agreed to the first one so he goes to that one. At least rsvp No to the second one to be nice.”