It’s almost like an unwritten rule that you get to choose the flavor of the cake when it is your birthday. Right? When he tried to buy a chocolate cake for his daughter’s 13th birthday, a father assumed that this was what he meant. His wife, who is a father to a 16-year old daughter from a previous marriage, saw things differently. The distressed father took to Reddit’s AITA to talk cake drama and ask whether or not he was in the right for returning a cake adjusted by his wife.
“I (M37) have a daughter (now 13) ‘Olivia’ from my former relationship. Currently, I’m married to my wife who has a daughter (16) ‘Britney’… Britney is the opposite of Olivia. For example, Britney’s a social kid, Olivia is [an] introvert. The list is long, but they’re just the complete opposite[s],” the father explained.
“Olivia’s 13th birthday was 2 days ago. When I contacted the bakery, I knew she loved chocolate so I chose this flavor. However, my wife objected since Britney absolutely hates chocolate and suggested we go with vanilla.”
This already feels strange. Sure, parents want to make sure that the cake flavor is one that most party guests like, but it feels like there is a lack of consideration for the OP’s daughter — AKA Birthday girl.
“I said no way because for one, Olivia hates vanilla and it’s also her birthday, so she gets to have her cake with her favorite flavor. My wife was furious and said that I didn’t care about Britney and we should choose another neutral flavor. I shut that down and said no more discussing this because I’d already decided to go with what Olivia wanted.”
It looks like OP did the right thing here. Plus, it’s not like his wife’s daughter is a toddler or younger child who won’t understand why her stepdad ordered his daughter’s favorite cake flavor for her birthday. And YET…
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“At the day of the birthday, I was supposed to go get the cake but I was surprised to see my wife coming home after picking up the cake from the bakery. I looked at it and discovered that it wasn’t a chocolate cake but a vanilla cake with small pieces of chocolate on top. I got pissed thinking they got my order wrong and was about to contact them, but my wife said there was no mistake and that she called the bakery the day before and made ‘slight changes’ to the cake to please both girls.”
Yeah. It’s one thing to go for a compromise, it’s another to go behind a partner’s back and call a change that is roughly 90% favoring one side a compromise.
“I was stunned I lost it on her and asked why the hell she did that. She got defensive saying that birthdays are no ‘excuse’ to show favoritism and that her daughter is ‘watching’ and ‘observing’ how I’m treating both girls. I told her off, as I was the one who had to pay. I then called the bakery and explained the situation. I had the cake returned and replaced with a chocolate cake,” explained the OP.
“My wife declined to take part in the celebration and later we got into a huge argument where she called me controlling and selfish for returning the cake instead of using this opportunity to teach Olivia to compromise so everyone’s happy,” OP continued. It seems like maybe, just maybe, the OP’s wife could have used this opportunity to teach Britney about compromising so everyone’s happy, because again, it was Olivia’s birthday. This disconnect is mind-boggling.
“Now I’m teaching her to be ‘selfish.’ I said that my daughter gets to act ‘selfish’ on her birthday and that [my wife] Her daughter was taught to be entitled. It led to a larger argument. We’re not talking as of now,” concluded the OP before asking if he was in the wrong throughout this whole cake debacle.
Most Redditors seemed to agree that Olivia’s birthday = Olivia’s choice of cake. Period.
“It’s Olivia’s birthday, not Britney’s birthday. The birthday child should choose the cake flavor. This is a special day for Olivia, therefore there doesn’t really need to be ‘fairness’ between your daughters. I don’t like chocolate, but when it’s my sister’s birthday, we get chocolate because it’s what she likes. I suck it up because it’s her special day,” reads the top comment.
“Your wife is an a–h— for going behind your back. Britney loved the vanilla cake with tiny pieces of chocolate as a birthday treat. Why can’t Britney learn to compromise? She’s older. And she should know that she can’t get what she wants on a day that’s NOT her birthday,” concludes the comment with a whopping 37,000 upvotes.
Others noted that the OP’s wife’s decision to remove herself from the festivities is a big red flag. “The wife is also an AH for declining to take part in the celebration when she didn’t get her way. What a manipulative and selfish person,” notes one Redditor.
Ultimately, it seemed like the OP’s wife was calling out the behavior she herself is demonstrating. This is classic projection! “I’m so curious if, because OP’s wife wanted a vanilla cake during Olivia’s birthday to please Britney, that that means Britney’s birthday cake would be chocolate to make things fair. I’m pretty sure we all know the answer though. She’s shouting at OP about favoritism because she’s doing it herself,” concluded another Redditor.
Y’all. It shouldn’t be this hard. The birthday child gets to choose the flavor of their cake. If parents run into any arguments with this, chances are they’ve got a lot more to talk about than whether a cake should be chocolate or vanilla.
These celebrities fathers are all proud to be “girl dads.”
/little-people-big-world-new-season-first-look-101122-1-50ea30c7242c48ecb2855b92ee6430f7.jpg "Tori Roloff's Birth of Baby No. 3 Shown in New LPBW Trailer 16")
