Saturday was my twin daughters birthday. Their party was planned since July 2nd. They wanted to invite their classmates, cousins and friends from the neighborhood. We told them how it was impossible to invite such a big amount of people, but they begged. To plan in the early we asked them to tell us who they wanted to invite (name of people). Twenty friends from their class, 15 cousins, and 12 from the neigborhood. Outside of their friends were 18 adults. MIL was with us the same day when they told me how many people they wished to invite. MIL asked them if they wanted a jumping tent and then a water slide tent next to the pool. They said yes. MIL said ok, and she'll be responsible for the jumping tent and water slide tent. Planning with them, their father and I suggested we start from 12 and finish at 7.
Our daughters are 10 and wanted balloons, party bags for their guests, and a DJ. They also wanted two cakes each with their own individual style. Since MIL was planning the tents, we let her know what the girls wanted. She recommended a friend of hers who does spectacular cakes and would be best suited as she was also reasonable. MIL passed her name and number on to me. DH got the DJ. We bought the balloons last week. The girls bought the party bags they liked and what kind of candy to put in them. I had called the lady who MIL told me about and explained to her what my daughters wanted for both cakes. She had us come in for a consult, got the ideas from the girls and told us the costs. I was to pick up the cakes on Saturday morning. Apart from the cakes, the girls wanted cupcakes for everyone too. For the adults, I ordered cheesecake and and apple pie.
Saturday morning came and I was busy with preparing the food and cleaning the house to make it pleasant for the children and packing away ornaments to avoid any damage. So I told DH to go pick up the cakes, cupcakes, cheesecake and apple pie. When he got back home I went to see how they looked, and to place them on the tables we were using. Upon opening them, they were not the cakes the girls wanted. One was to be a Frozen character, the other was to be of a pic of the girls in the middle and have vanilla frosting. The cupcakes were to be of minions.
Instead of the cakes the girls wanted, they were a chocolate cheesecake with the girls in the middle, and the other, a rainbow pudding cake with vanilla. I was livid. It was so bad I had to hide them from the girls. I called the lady and asked her why she would do something so uunprofessional. She told me that MIL came in and asked her if the order was made yet. MIL wanted to surprise the girls with the cakes, instead of what they wanted. She told the lady how the parents were involved with the surprise.
DH and myself tried hiding the cakes from the girls. When MIL showed up we told her how furious we were on ruining the girls birthday and lying behind our backs. She stood by her stupid surprise comment and felt she did nothing wrong. I told her she ruined the day and when the girls ended up seeing the cake, they'll be sad. To her, a cake is a cake, and if they would be sad to feel the party was runied, then they are brats. We told her to leave as she did a lot of damage. She was so angry she went and took up one of the cakes to put in the box, and leave. One of the girls saw her and went to look at the cakes. She screamed and cried. MIL looked at her and told her to stop being an ungrateful brat. Our other daughter came to see what was going on. She asked MIL if those were the cakes in the boxes, and MIL said yes. Her sister told her how the cakes are not what they wanted. MIL allowed her to see the cake, and she cried. Instead of being respectful, she told them to stop being two brats, and suck it up. She said a cake is a cake, and asked if they wanted to keep the cakes. They said no. So she took the cakes and left.
The party went on, but it was humiliating as the girls did not have their cakes. Sunday, MIL came over to give them their gifts which she never got to do. The girls threw them outside telling her they wanted nothing from her. I told them they were out of line for doing it. Yesterday, I woke up to a long rant post from MIL on facebook. She complained at how spoiled my children are, they are brats, and couldn't even thank her for their presents, as they threw them outside, and then she talked about the cake. I commented telling her how wrong she was and what actually happened, so her friends and other family could see the truth.
Today, she came to me and said my two brats should use their piggy bank money to pay the final deposit for the tents which were used at the party. I told her I wasn't going to force them to pay for something she promised them. She thinks I have them spoiled and should have them apologize to her for what they did to her. I told her no. She called me a bad mother and how she doesn't know what her son sees in me.
What would you do?