Mother praised for making triplet daughters share a birthday party

Being a parent to triplets can be difficult, even more so when planning a birthday party.

In a recent Reddit post shared to the popular “Am I The A**hole?” subreddit, one mother to triplets explained why she decided to combine her daughters’ birthday parties for their milestone sweet 16. She explained that she typically gives $150 to each of her daughters to visit separate restaurants and have dinner with their friends. However, the three of them wanted to do something larger for their upcoming sixteenth birthday.

“For their sweet 16 they want a big party with a DJ, a venue, and lots of invites,” the mother wrote on Reddit. “A venue would be around $500 and with all the additional things like decorations, DJ, invites, food. It would be around $1,200-$1,400 and that’s the cheapest we can do. I can afford that once but they want three individual parties which would be over $4,000.”

Because of the high cost for three large parties, she put her foot down and told her daughters no. Although, she did offer some alternative options in case they still wanted separate parties.

“I could throw three smaller parties but it would be a huge hassle deciding who gets to have the party on their actual birthday, as I can’t plan three parties in one day and they have a lot of common family/friends,” she explained. “I was willing to do it anyway but a smaller party means no venue, no DJ, cheaper food and drinks and my daughters aren’t okay with that. I’ve tried explaining to them I can’t afford it but they just told me to get an extra job.”

The three girls were given a party budget of $1,200 to divide any way they want. However, the mother wondered if she should do what her daughters asked and get an extra job, or if she was being a bad parent.

Many people took to the comments section to maintain that she made the right decision, but did something wrong for her children to be “entitled” about the party.

“NTA but you definitely f***ed up raising your daughters. How can you be THAT entitled? Even $1,200 is a lot,” one comment began. “They are 16, old enough to get a job. if they wanna spend more money than what you have, they should work for it. This is insane. I’m actually pissed off just by reading that.”

Another commenter agreed, writing: “OK, I can see them wanting a big party, but I can also see the three of them getting an after school job to help host it if they want something outside your budget. I know at 16 years old people don’t have a whole frontal lobe yet but the entitlement is startling.”

“I think you did exactly the right thing. Give them the budget and let them figure out how to perform miracles. It’s a good lesson in adulting,” they added.

“Get an extra job? Yikes. At most, I’d give each of them the $150 they get every year and tell them they can plan their own parties,” a third commenter wrote. “If they want to pool their money for a slightly bigger bang, then they can work it out on their own. I would certainly nix any idea of a $1,200 budget.”

“NTA for not getting a second job, since that was your question. But you have raised some entitled little a**holes who are old enough to work part-time jobs to pay for extra things they want. So you get some of the blame for that.”