Mom doesn't invite 'class clown' to her daughter's Halloween party, asks if she was wrong not to

Parents are often actively involved while planning the guest list for their children's birthdays or any other fun parties. There are times when kids want to invite their entire class to their house parties or they might want to leave out some classmates for various reasons. u/Excellent-Berry5172 took to the Reddit community to share an instance where she allowed her daughter to make her guest list. However, the young girl ended up excluding one classmate from the Halloween party, leaving the mom to question if she was right for letting her daughter decide her guest list.

The mom started the post by mentioning that she has an 11-year-old daughter Emma who has recently planned her Halloween party. She is pretty close to all the girls in her class and has known them for many years so she invited all of them. Emma did not invite a girl called Lily who is known as the class clown. "She is new this year. My daughter greatly dislikes her and clearly doesn’t wish to invite her. I am fine with that, she is in middle school and can pick the guest list," the post reads. When Lily's mom found out about the party, she contacted Emma's mom and questioned why Lily wasn't invited like the other girls.

"She asked me to reconsider and invite Lily to avoid making her feel left out especially since they are new to the school," the woman wrote. "I told her that my daughter picked the guest list and she isn’t close to your daughter. She reiterated that she should be invited since most of the girls in the class are. I told her no again. She asked why and I told her the truth. That my daughter doesn’t like your daughter and finds her annoying. That she is the class clown and disruptive and my daughter doesn’t wish to deal with her outside of school." Lily's mom did not take the response lightly and called Emma's mom inconsiderate while other parents started contacting her too. Some parents took her side while others believed that Lily should be invited to the Halloween party. 

The comment section of the Reddit community was divided over this situation as well. A few people thought that Emma's mom did not handle the situation well enough and others spoke in her favor. u/WillLoveCoffee4Ever1 noted, "I'm sorry! Since when is it a rule to force a friendship between people, just because they are new in the area? This is your child's feelings, wishes and birthday party. This is a good teaching moment for her daughter on how she will have to deal with rejection in life and that she can't have everything her way. Remind this woman that not all children are invited to this party." u/PumpkinPowerful3292 wrote, "Emma doesn't want Lily at her party. Lily just didn't cut. It is not your responsibility or Emma's to have to invite everyone."

u/Wowfunhappy argued, "At the school where I teach, there's actually an official rule that if you have a party, you need to either invite everyone or invite only a minority of the class. It's a really good rule, we don't want a handful of students to feel like outcasts. I realize it's your daughter's party, but she's only 11. And besides—frankly this wouldn't fly for adults either! Imagine if you invited all of your coworkers to a party except for one or two colleagues! Your daughter needed to either significantly trim the guest list or invite all of the girls in her class. She has agency here but can't exclude just one person."