“He is loud, disobedient, and a nightmare in public,” she said. “When it came time to blow out the candles and cut the birthday cake, he came and stood directly next to my son.”

In fact she even asked her husband to stand behind him in case he did anything stupid.

“After we sang, this kid kept trying to blow out the candles. My husband kept blocking him and pulling him back and we could tell the kid was getting frustrated,” the mum said.

“Eventually my son blew out the candles and the kid absolutely lost it. He threw a tantrum and slammed his entire arm into the cake, knocking it into the table. It was so awkward, everyone gasped and got quiet. My son looked up at us and I could tell he was about to start crying. In an effort to not cause a bigger scene, my husband picked him up and whispered to him that we had another special cake just for him (we didn’t) and he seemed to calm down.”

If that wasn’t bad enough, his mum was nowhere to be seen. She was in another room and missed the whole thing.

“He screamed “NO!” in my face and then ran away,” she wrote.“My husband ended up running out to buy a sheet cake that we cut and served to everyone.”

Later, she decided to confront her cousin about what her son had done. “I spoke to my cousin after the party about what happened since she wasn’t in the room, and she brushed it off saying “kids will be kids”. I completely disagree. I’ve been to plenty of birthday parties where the other kids let the birthday boy/girl have their moment,” she said.

“I suggested she pay for the ruined cake and she looked at me like I was crazy. I told her how important it was to us that this birthday be special to my son since it would be the first one he remembered, and now all he would remember was that his cousin ruined his special moment. She got extremely defensive and refused to pay for anything. She then accused me of acting like “the perfect mom” and began to list the ways in which I was in fact NOT perfect. It was a hurtful conversation and we haven’t spoken since.”

Reddit users were quick to side with the mum, but said she shouldn’t expect to ever get her money back though. That ship had long sailed. 

“You’re not getting that money honey, swallow that pill now,” said one. “What I would suggest is moving on, and going forward excluding her and her child from things you do that he may ruin.

“You are not wrong for wanting a special moment for your child, everyone wants their birthday to be special.”

Another added: “The mother will never pay that bill. In the future, you just don’t invite them. If the mother asks why, you tell her because that she seems incapable of controlling her kid.”

“Being a single mum is not an excuse for your kid to act like that,” said another. “I’m a single mother and let me tell you, if I knew my child acted like that, I wouldn’t have brought him. If I did bring him I would have stayed close by to ensure something like this didn’t happen. And you bet your damn ass I’d be paying for both those cakes and probably more out of pure embarrassment.”