When organizing a birthday party, we typically imagine a day of joy, laughter, and cherished moments. However, in this particular story, things veered unexpectedly when a pregnant woman took center stage, transforming what was supposed to be a joyful celebration into a chaotic disaster.
Here’s how everything played out.
Yesterday was my birthday, and my husband decided to have a BBQ with his best friend, Matt, and Matt’s girlfriend, Jane, who is pregnant. Matt and Jane live just two houses away from us. It was a small gathering with just us, our three kids, and them with their three kids.
I bought about $90 worth of hamburgers and hotdogs for the BBQ. Matt also brought over 2 lbs of hamburger meat. While the guys were grilling, I took all the kids swimming in our pond. Jane sat with the guys while they cooked, mostly on her phone.
Around 5:30, the guys called the kids over for food. My middle child, who is 9, and I weren’t hungry yet, so we stayed in the water swimming on our tubes for an extra 40 minutes or so. I wasn’t paying much attention to what was happening near the grill.
By 6:15, my husband mentioned he needed to run to the store, so I suggested to my son that we should eat now. By the time we got up to the grill, both my husband and Matt had left, and so had Jane. When we reached the grill, we found that all the food was gone — every bit of it.
I called my husband and asked him where all the food went, and he said it should still be on the grill. I explained that everything had disappeared. There was a long silence before he admitted, “Jane asked if she could take some leftovers, but I didn’t think she’d take it all.” He mentioned there were at least 8 burgers, 10 hot dogs, and macaroni salad left when he left for the store just 10 minutes earlier.
I asked him to call Matt and find out what happened to the food. After he spoke with Matt, he called me back and said Matt claimed Jane only took “a few things” and that they were already eaten. But my oldest son, who is 13, bluntly told me he saw Jane leave our property carrying the entire large foil BBQ dish.
I was upset by then. Neither my son nor I had eaten anything, and my husband was annoyed too, but he just grabbed something for us from the store instead of making a scene. I didn’t blame him, considering he and Matt work together.
To my surprise, Jane and her kids returned over 45 minutes later and asked if they could have some cake. I told Jane her kids could, but not her. When she asked why, I said, “I’m pretty sure you’ve eaten enough, considering you took off with my entire BBQ dinner before my son and I could even have a bite.”
She tried to argue that my husband said she could have it, that “half of it was hers” because they brought 2 lbs of hamburger meat, and she “didn’t realize” my son and I hadn’t eaten yet (even though she was right next to the grill the whole time). I just shrugged and walked away. She told her kids, “Let’s go,” and they left without any cake. At that moment, I started feeling like maybe I had overreacted. No one has mentioned anything since, but I can feel the tension.
Others supported her.
- “I’ve never even asked a host if I could take leftovers. It used to be that anything you brought to contribute to the party was up to the discretion of the host to dole out afterward, and in some ways, a thank you to the host for letting their home and equipment be used. The host would generally offer back unused items, or that had a significant amount left over. Many hosts would package up leftovers, but it was always small amounts—a little taste of whatever had a lot left.” HappyLucyD / Reddit
- “She probably could have taken half of what was there, and you wouldn’t have noticed. Especially with a teenage boy around, you might have just figured everyone was hungry.” hard_tyrant_dinosaur / Reddit
- “Don’t feel bad. You were nicer than I would have been. I wouldn’t have even offered cake to the kids. She knew what she was doing. It sounds like her husband was the ONLY reason they brought something at all.” ArtUnique2827 / Reddit
- “I wouldn’t even have a second burger/hotdog or a second food item full stop until everyone else has had their first serving.” ridik_ulass / Reddit
- “It sounds like she went home and immediately ate all the food.” TongueTwistingTiger / Reddit
- “My husband and I only got the bit of wedding cake we fed each other. At our own wedding. Because his aunt took the rest of the cake to a picnic after we left. She never apologized, and his whole family didn’t see why I was angry.” Gallifrey912 / Reddit
- “If the party is still going on, there aren’t leftovers yet, it’s just food. Why would she leave and then come back? That’s just weird.” cassowary32 / Reddit
- “She used your party as an opportunity to feed her family the next day.” cheemzpleamz / Reddit
- “Bringing meat is a considerate gesture that is intended to help the host, like bringing wine. You leave it as a gift, and it doesn’t entitle you to anything unless you preface that as you hand it over.” JustCoffee123 / Reddit
- “She left on purpose to take the food home. She felt like it was theirs, and she was still hungry and didn’t want to keep eating in front of everyone. That’s a lot of food and selfish to not leave anything for your hosts.” RavenLunatyk / Reddit
