August 26, 2025 at 7:55 am

Her Younger Sister Turned Her Engagement Into A Competition, So One Fed-Up Older Sister Confronted The Pettiness Head-On At A Birthday Dinner

by Benjamin Cottrell

woman looking annoyed drinking wine

Pexels/Reddit

Overly competitive people tend to turn even the most personal moments into opportunities to one-up those around them.

So when her younger sister rushed into an engagement with a guy she barely knew just to hold it over her older sister, it set the stage for a birthday dinner neither of them would forget.

You’ll want to read on for this one.

AITA for telling off my sister at her birthday dinner.

My sister (28F) recently got engaged to her now-fiancé (28M).

We only recently found out about the engagement, even though they’ve been engaged for two months. Before their engagement, they were only dating for a month or so.

Despite the family’s surprise, they tired to be happy for her.

When my sister announced her engagement, we were all shocked to say the least—but we congratulated her and we celebrated.

But her younger sister didn’t handle it all with grace.

However, she has now made it a point to start making fun of the fact that she got engaged before me (25F), even though I’ve been in a long-distance relationship with my boyfriend (28M) for four years.

In fact, everyone was surprised that she got engaged before me. I’ve told her multiple times that I’m not bothered that she got engaged before me, since she is the older sister, so it only makes sense.

Now here is where I might be the AH.

So at her sister’s birthday dinner, the truth came out.

We were at her birthday dinner a few days ago. Once again, at this birthday dinner, she started the whole thing of how she got engaged before me.

I was just going to let it slide, since it was her birthday dinner and her fiancé was there and I don’t really know him that well.

However, she then said that apparently they were planning that if they found out that my boyfriend was going to propose to me, they were going to get engaged the day before just to beat me to it.

Finally, she had reached her limit on patience.

As soon as I heard that, I lost it and told her that she’s making it seem as though she only got engaged just to spite me. The mood turned sour and eventually we all went home.

My parents think I overreacted, since according to my sister, that comment was only a joke.

So, AITA for telling off my sister at her birthday dinner?

She was done pretending she was okay with her sister’s mind games.

What did Reddit think?

You don’t just get to claim something as a “joke” when a comment doesn’t land the way you expected.

Screenshot 2025 07 18 at 2.34.19 PM Her Younger Sister Turned Her Engagement Into A Competition, So One Fed Up Older Sister Confronted The Pettiness Head On At A Birthday Dinner

She could have been even more cutting in her response.

Screenshot 2025 07 18 at 2.34.56 PM Her Younger Sister Turned Her Engagement Into A Competition, So One Fed Up Older Sister Confronted The Pettiness Head On At A Birthday Dinner

Her sister’s insistence on being first at everything could really only stand to hurt her.

Screenshot 2025 07 18 at 2.35.20 PM Her Younger Sister Turned Her Engagement Into A Competition, So One Fed Up Older Sister Confronted The Pettiness Head On At A Birthday Dinner

An engagement really isn’t something to one-up someone over.

Screenshot 2025 07 18 at 2.35.50 PM Her Younger Sister Turned Her Engagement Into A Competition, So One Fed Up Older Sister Confronted The Pettiness Head On At A Birthday Dinner

It wasn’t a joke — it was a pattern of manipulative behavior her sister decided to pass off as humor.

Eventually, even the most patient people will snap.

If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.