16-year-old eats half of 14-year-old cousin's $140 birthday cake before the party, doesn't get invited back the next year, mom refuses to step in: ‘[The cake] cost me around $140’

Author image for Brad Dickson
Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
May 7, 2025 12:00 PM EDT

Eating food that isn't yours, especially when you know the owner of it is looking forward to eating it, is never ok. This comes up all the time in roommate and house-sharing situations, and also in workplace break room fridges where grown adults will inexplicably help themselves to the lunch you brought yourself from home.

A birthday cake is an especially egregious example of this, possibly the most egregious. After all, a birthday is specifically intended to celebrate someone, and by eating it before they've had a chance to blow out their candles, you're committing the ethical crime of stealing their thunder and taking the chance to be recognized away from them. 

Based on how coddled this cousin seems to be and the fact that his mother can't possibly accept that he has done any wrong, it would lead one to believe that this is exactly what happened. At least in part, the older teen was trying to remove the chance of someone else 

This whole scenario is oddly reminiscent of that scene from the first Harry Potter where Dudley ends up with a tail, but I'm not sure whether or not this makes this an untrue account of events, or if it's just a weird coincidence. 

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  • 01

    "AITA for not inviting my nephew to my sons birthday party?"

    I (35f) have a son, Cillian (14m) who just recently had a birthday. The issue stems from his birthday from last year, where we invited all his cousins and his friends to celebrate him. The party went great for the first half, but when it came time to cut the cake I went over to fridge to go get it and saw it was half eaten. I was obviously upset about this because this had been a cake that I had made by a professional baker that cost me around $140 and my son really loved the design.
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  • 02

    "I went over to fridge to go get it and saw it was half eaten"

    Cheezburger Image 10502680064
    via screenrant
  • 03
    I asked who ate the cake and my sister (44f) laughed it off when her son, Robbie, (16m) told her that he ate the cake because he was hungry. To be clear the cake wasn't the only food at the party, throughout the party we served many different dishes such as wings, veggie platters, pizzas, chips, and sodas. I was obviously angry that my son couldn't have his cake and had to quickly go out
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  • 04
    and by one from Walmart. I'm honestly still shocked that with all the food at the party Robbie still managed to clear half of a huge cake, it was enough to produce about 20 slices. I called my sister later to tell her I wasn't happy with what her son had done and since I had spent so much money on the cake I expected it back. She then accused me of being fo phobic
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  • 05
    which absolutely is not true, I have never once discriminated against Robbie at any time, this was just a false accusation. To explain, Robbie has a wht problem and has been having issues with binging since he was around 13 which is why he is about 250 pounds and my sister has never failed to let anyone know of that and expects for everyone to bend over backwards for Robbie since he has it hard.
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  • 06
    This year Cillian wanted to have a friends only party with the exception of 2 cousins, one that only his friends and closest cousins could come to since he hated his party from last year. I asked why and he explained to me that he was embarrassed of Robbie since all he did was poke fun at his friends and him, bring his own uninvited plus one, and obviously he ate some of the cake.
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  • 07
    I complied and only invited his friends and allowed 2 of his cousins to join as well. Luckily some of my siblings were understanding, the only one who had an issue with this was my sister. She called me to ask why Robbie wasn't invited and I explained to her that Cillian doesn't want him there because of what he did last year, my sister was infuriated and said she knew
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  • 08
    we had an issue with her sons wt. Since then she has been ranting all over Facebook and I've been getting calls from relatives and this entire situation has been stressing me out. AITA?
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  • 09
    OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the ah le: This year I didn't invite my nephew to my sons birthday party and I think I might be in the wrong for that since he's pretty upset about it.
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  • 10
    HAPPY BIRTHDAY
    via Maryam Sicard

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 11
    Wil... NTA. It's your son's party. He's old enough to determine his own guest list, and he's entitled to do so. He picked the people he wanted to celebrate with. That's his prerogative. Also, this was a friends party, not a family party.
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  • 12
    Being family doesn't mean one is owed an invite, and his cousin's past poor behavior justifies him not being invited.
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  • 13
    Fe... NTA Your sister seems unable to distinguish between her son's weight and his behavior. Excluding him for weight would indeed make you an a h le, but you're excluding him for his terrible behavior. He could've been skinny as a beanpole and you'd still exclude him for his behavior.
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  • 14
    Your sister is really not helping her son by conflating these two things. Idk if he's too old to listen to you anymore (my guess - he's learned from Mom that he doesn't have to listen to anything critical), but if you get a chance to talk to him directly, he needs to be
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  • 15
    aware that his weight is a very different issue than his behavior, and the world at large is not going to excuse his behavior the way his mother does. But my guess is that such a conversation would be pointless at best, and would set off another tirade from your sister at worst, so your nephew is going to have to learn that lesson in other ways.
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  • 16
    afspouse123 NTA Your nephew is 16, and I double-checked because I thought surely he is just 6; but he is way too old for that behavior to be even remotely tolerated. Heck, I would have been appalled if my son had done that at 3 yrs old. Your son is allowed a birthday party that he enjoys without
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  • 17
    having to worry that his cousin is going to act inappropriately. I would tell anyone who asks that your son is having a close friends party and the guest list has been set. Repeat that to anyone who decides to stick their nose it and do not think for a second you have done
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  • 18
    anything wrong. Your sister allows her almost adult son to act very inappropriately and he is old enough to understand the consequences of those actions.
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  • 19
    Full_Prune7491 You should have taken a picture of the cake and respond to her posts with "because of this"
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