I made my daughter a strawberry cake for her birthday because that is what she asked for.
My mother in law showed up with a chocolate sheet cake from the grocery store because “kids expect chocolate.” My kid does not. She asked for strawberry. We discussed it for weeks.
Then MIL put her cake right in the middle of the table and moved mine to the side.
I moved it back.
She moved hers forward again.
We basically had a silent cake war in front of twelve children and a bowl of melting ice cream.
At the end I sent her whole cake home with her unopened. She called me ungrateful.
Was that petty? Yes. Do I regret it? Not really.
Sending it home unopened was cleaner than what I would have said.
She was not helping. She was staging a tiny grocery store coup.
You matched her energy with excellent frosting.
Petty does not always mean wrong.
The moving of the cake is where diplomacy officially died.
Some people cannot attend an event without becoming the event.
My mother in law would do this and then say she hates drama.