Woman Slammed for Wanting to Cancel Baby Shower Over Children Attending

The internet has ripped a woman for wanting to cancel a baby shower due to a guest's children attending.

Published on Reddit's r/AmITheA**hole forum, a woman under the anonymous username u/Glittering_Party4188 shared her story to receive feedback from the "AITA" community. The viral post has over 4,000 upvotes and 2,000 comments.

The original poster (OP) began her story by explaining that she and her boyfriend are "strictly child-free." While she tolerates children politely, she doesn't want to be around them and tries to avoid children because she doesn't like them.

She wrote that her friend "Eva" is pregnant and is planning to visit her in a few months. The OP said that her other friend "Valerie" suggested they throw a small baby shower for Eva. While the OP agreed, they planned to have the party at either hers or Valerie's house due to financial reasons.

The OP said, "After briefly letting Eva know we may throw a small baby shower she asked if her friend Natalie could also come (we know Natalie but aren't close). Eva hasn't seen Nat in a while and as she's from outta town, she wanted to see Nat too. I didn't initially mind this until Eva mentioned that Natalie has a toddler of 4 and a baby of around 1.

"Natalie will most likely need to bring the babies as she struggles with finding a sitter especially on weekends. Valerie immediately said she doesn't want babies at her place and she knows how I feel about kids. I don't want to tell Natalie she can't come, so will I be a AH if I just cancel the shower ? It wasn't really confirmed but I can always have a nice dinner party for Eva," she concluded.

Newsweek has reached out to u/Glittering_Party4188 for comment.

How to plan a baby shower

Were you put in charge of planning a baby shower for a family member or friend and don't know where to start? According to Parents magazine, here are the steps for organizing a shower:

• Select a date and time for the shower
• Figure out how much you want to spend on the shower and the invitation list
• Select the location of the shower
• Send out the invitations
• Plan the menu and how you want to decorate
• Create a schedule with activities to have during the shower
• Pick out baby shower favors

Newsweek has published several articles regarding baby showers, including how a mother's extravagant three-day baby shower was branded as "breathtakingly self-absorbed," fury sparked after a pregnant woman shared her expensive baby shower gift list and a woman was backed online for not throwing her stepsister a baby shower.

Redditor reactions

U/carefullycareless135 questioned, receiving the top comment of over 19,000 upvotes, "Just to clarify, you're canceling a baby shower because a baby might come?"

"Um. Yeah, kinda. [You're the a**hole]. Being child-free as a couple doesn't really work as a get-out clause to drop plans the moment a kid is in the general vicinity. It's not like they asked you to put up a bouncy castle and invite the local school. Are you gonna flee from family gatherings or bring pepper spray if there's a flower girl at a wedding? It just seems a bit extreme. I'd get it if the kids had a rep for being destructive, but can't see that mentioned," u/Commercial-Pear-543 said.

"[You're the a**hole] You offered to throw someone a baby shower and now you are thinking of cancelling it altogether or uninviting one of the guests because a baby may be in your presence. It's ok to be child-free and it's ok to not like being around kids but this is another level," u/ghostofumich2005 commented.

U/ConfusedOldDude asked, "[You're the a**hole]. Do you expect to maintain a friendship with this person? If so she won't tolerate you treating her kids like something disgusting. Canceling the shower will send a very clear message that your friendship will not continue after the baby is born. Besides, these are human people you're talking about. Let's pretend it's a really annoying adult instead of a child. Would you cancel the shower in that situation?"