A woman claims she was left "put out" after her friends' teenage children joined in with what she'd hoped would be a strictly adult dinner party. She and her husband had arranged to host four other couples, and were looking forward to catching up over "some nice food and wine."
Wanting the group to be able to relax and "chat freely", she decided it would be a "grown-ups only" evening, and her own teenage children happily agreed to arrange a sleepover elsewhere. She assumed the other couples had all made similar arrangements but was in for a surprise when, halfway through their meal, two of their friends' teenagers turned up at the door.
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Taking to Mumsnet, where she goes by the username VingtQuatreFaubourg, the disappointed mum recalled: "We were surprised but said hi, how are you, lovely to see you, etc and expected them to just be popping in for a few minutes (they said they were on their way out to a party).
"But they basically joined us, ended up staying for hours, eating and drinking, a bit of 'holding court' going on, and it just completely changed the dynamic as they were so dominant - it stopped being a grown-up conversation. They are lovely kids but it was not the evening I had planned."
Much to her frustration, their parents "completely indulged and encouraged" them, and didn't say anything to encourage them to leave. She says this isn't the first time this sort of thing has happened and feels their parents regard them as "special", under the belief that "adults-only boundaries don't apply to them".
Eventually, her husband gently asked them to get going, but by this point, the situation had become a bit "awkward". Now she's wondering whether she was being unreasonable to assume her pals would know a grown-ups-only evening meant no kids allowed.
One fellow Mumsnet user advised: "Unbelievably rude. Very sad how some adults cannot fathom how adults like to hang out together without children, likewise teens the same.
"There is no way my children would be off doing their own thing during an adult evening and a guest's kids holding court! Your friends are very rude and very disrespectful of your home. I would be unimpressed and I bet your other friends would be too.
"Next time forget to invite them. They were told it was adult only and made the choice to ignore your wishes, in your own home."
Another commented: "I have a young teen who really enjoys adult company when we have friends over. He is quite chatty and easygoing, and I'll usually let him hang around with us for a while at the start of the evening. It's lovely!
"But I am under no illusions whatsoever that adult guests do not want to spend an entire evening with someone else's teenager, so I always gently shoo him off out or upstairs after an hour."
Do you have a disastrous dinner party story to share? Email us at julia.banim@reachplc.com
