Ontario mom’s brutally honest birthday invite goes viral

Kingston, Ont. mom Carys Roberts wants it to be known that she’s not one to throw fancy, elaborate parties. In fact, she wants guests to her twins’ fifth birthday party to anticipate a “mediocre” event. That’s why she wrote the brutally honest invitations that have amassed millions of views — and laughs — on TikTok.

Fellow parent Natalie LeClaire shared the invitation her child received on the app, declaring “this is the kind of mom I can be friends with,” and thousands of commenters followed suit.

“This event is brought to you by Pinterest fails and the dollar store, so please set your expectations appropriately,” the invitation starts.

LeClaire’s TikTok has 5.4 million views.

“As requested the theme will be ‘unicorns but with rainbows and maybe bats but there should be princesses and also Minnie and we need dancing lights,’ so … dress accordingly,” it continues. “Please pack a bathing suit, sunscreen, puddle jumpers etc. in case your sweet baby angels decide our original plans sucks and the pool would be a better time.”

Finally, Roberts wrote that parents can “drop off and run” if they wish — but they can also stay and enjoy “adult juice.”

LeClaire told the Star she appreciated “how real” the invitation is and thought it “very down to earth,” noting it became clear that the parents didn’t expect any fancy gifts or attire.

She also found it helpful that “right out of the gate,” Roberts set the expectations for whether parents should stay or leave.

“Some parties you’re like, ‘Can the kids play by themselves? … Can they stay? Do we have to stay? Can we drop them off and leave?’” she said. “But she was very upfront with that.”

For Roberts, efficiency played a big role in how she decided to make the invitations for the July party.

“The girls are in junior kindergarten and … they’re pretty excited to have their friends over for the first time,” she said. With the end of the school year approaching and summer weekends filling up, she “needed to get an invite into their friend’s parents’ hands.”

After typing it up and printing the text onto cardstock, she packed the invites into her daughters’ backpacks and hoped their teachers would find and distribute them.

When it came to the message of the invitation, Roberts explained she wanted to “set the bar low.”

“Chances are, we’ll hit that medium that we’re aiming for, and that’ll be a step up — we’ll exceed expectations,” she said candidly.

But ultimately, Roberts said that children don’t need much to have a great time.

“When they see their friends outside of the classroom, they scream, they hug and they run around, and it’s the best day ever … That invite was really to say ‘don’t stress, we will really try to keep your kids alive for three and a half hours and you hope for the best outside of that.’”

Asked why she believes the invite has gotten so much love, Roberts said she doesn’t exactly think it’s comedic gold.

“On a scale of one to funny, (the invitation is) like a five to six,” she said. “I think people can just identify with not wanting to overdo it.”

While she’s received an “overwhelming” amount of positive feedback, Roberts is still unsure of how the party will play out.

“Whatever happens, happens.”

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