Birthdays are special occasions that only come once a year, so sharing the spotlight can quickly dim the sparkle — especially for a kid.

One girl was tired of her parties being overshadowed by her popular boy cousin and her cheapskate aunt, so she and her mom plan a party that’s filled with pink, princesses and perfectly timed revenge.

Read on for the full story!

Enjoy your princess cake

Me (30F) and my male cousin were born in July in the same week.

So this soon led to shared birthday parties.

My aunt was really cheap, so she would cry over how difficult their economic circumstances were and how she couldn’t afford a birthday party for my cousin.

My mom, being a kindhearted woman, agreed to have a joint party for my cousin and me since the attendees were mostly family.

But for a shared party, the effort wasn’t exactly equally distributed.

My aunt’s idea of a joint party was taking all the credit and asking for gifts while contributing as little as possible — think bringing a pack of paper plates and napkins.

On the first shared birthday, my mother decorated everything in clowns since it was a gender-neutral and kid-friendly option.

Of course, as a child, she wasn’t on board with this.

I was a little bit blindsided by why my cousin was put next to me when they brought out the cake and were singing happy birthday, since when my brothers had their cakes, they didn’t have to share with anybody else.

The next birthday, it happened again, and I started to feel bad.

She soon began feeling like a stranger at her own party.

My cousin was way more popular than me, had a lot of friends coming to the shared birthday party, and instead of it being my special day, it felt like I was the one interrupting his birthday.

So she decided she wanted to to the next party her way.

Next year comes around and 8-year-old me decides to throw a tantrum: I want a princess party!!!

So her mom obligated, at the expense of her boy cousin.

I cried until I got my mom to decorate with pink balloons, had a Disney princess on the paper invitations, and the best part — a pink, girly birthday cake in front of me and my cousin.

It was a bit awkward, but at least I got to feel like a princess on my day.

But it still wasn’t enough to get her cheapskate aunt to chip in.

You would think having your guests sing happy birthday to your kid in front of a princess cake would be enough for you to bring your own cake to a shared birthday party, but have I mentioned my aunt was cheap?

And she knew her aunt had the money.

She had money to pay for a private school for her children and go on annual trips to the beach, but was too poor for a birthday celebration.

Her mom had so much fun with the princess cake, that she decided to get an equally girly cake for the next year!

For my 9th birthday, I decided not to ask for any special decorations (no pink balloons this time) so that year my aunt could pretend it was her boy’s birthday party… until my mom brought my Barbie birthday cake to the table.

I didn’t even like Barbies at that point; I just asked for the girliest cake I could think of to embarrass my cousin.

Why not keep the tradition going another year?

For my 10th birthday, I was thinking about what other unabashedly feminine cake I could ask for until my mom told me she wasn’t doing shared birthdays anymore.

Sharing the cake is one thing, but sharing the spotlight is another.

Reddit is sure to get a kick out of this one.

Knowing when to stand your ground is one of the most important skills you can have!

Everyone deserves to feel special on their birthday — no matter what time of year it is.

What kind of crazy person takes issue with more opportunities to eat cake?

Shared birthday parties are just disasters waiting to happen.

Her aunt’s cheap tricks were no match for some perfectly timed revenge – and bright pink frosting.

Now this revenge was the icing on the cake.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a rude customer who got exactly what they wanted in their pizza.