Bizarre birthday party invite charges guests $500 and comes with a whole set of rules, sparking debate

The plain-vanilla etiquette for inviting guests to a birthday celebration is to send them an invite, and when they arrive with a gift, acknowledge them with a thank-you note. However, one birthday girl is sparking heated discussions online after her friend posted the bizarre birthday invitation she had sent her. The friend, u/maricvz, took to Reddit to express how the birthday girl’s invite shocked her as she noticed that she was charging nearly $500 from people who wished to be a part of her birthday celebration.

Naturally, this woman had a choice before her. She could either pay a lofty sum to attend her friend’s birthday or save her money and miss the friend’s party. In the post, she shared the screenshot of this invite featuring a typical digital palette with glittery confetti flying in the background. Beneath the text “Join us to celebrate,” the birthday girl shared the program schedule. “Monday, February 3rd, 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm.” The word February was misspelled as “Februrary,” which caught the attention of many people on the platform.

But it was not the spelling that made the birthday girl’s friend cringe and fume with shock. Below the schedule was a text that read, “Friend: $499, Guest: $250.” Baffled by this strange request for money, the friend wrote, “Friend got elected for city council and purchased a new home and somehow this makes sense to her. Gotta pay the mortgage somehow.”

In the comments, more than 7,000 people came up with scenarios about what the birthday girl must have thought while she sent this insane invitation. “Are they...high on drugs?” u/LightningSharks quipped. u/deafvet68 replied, “No, that is what they need the money for... more and better drugs.” Many noticed how freakishly high the prices were. “$500 for 2 hours on a Monday?! Sounds like a lame party, even if it was free,” exclaimed u/EveningOkra1028. u/PrestigiousWeakness2 reflected, “High asking price for people that cannot spell February.”

Others tagged this weird birthday invite with expressions like “Conceited nonsense,” “bonkers,” “insane,” “so ugly it's terrifying,” “tacky” and “pathetic.” u/JennieSimms shared the screenshot of a promoted Reddit post where an account called u/Lisa_Dawson had written the copy, “I’m a savings guru. Here are the dumbest things people keep spending too much money on.” Referring to the connection between the birthday girl’s invite and this sponsored post, a user wrote, “Perfect ad for this post!”

Some people, however, pointed out that this unusual party invitation could simply be a fundraiser in disguise. “I work in political fundraising, and it looks to me like a classic fundraiser invite with donation levels, not for a social event,” said u/phantomswami99. In response, the woman replied, "She’s definitely structuring it to be like it so prices may not be a shocker to some, she’s backed up by one of my county’s political organizations. However, my partner helps run the organization and asked about the fees and while they might structure it as a fundraiser, the money is not going anywhere but her personal account, lol."