Little Girl Squirms In Discomfort At Her 3rd Birthday Party As Her Dad Pours Champagne On Her Head To Celebrate
Why was there even champagne at a toddler’s birthday party?
FamVeld / Shutterstock A little girl was left drenched after her dad, in a misguided attempt to celebrate, poured champagne over her head. What was intended as a joyous occasion quickly turned sour and sparked widespread criticism over the appropriateness of such actions.
While champagne is a common element of celebration at parties, the toddler’s parents may have popped the bottle 20 years too early.
A woman reposted the video to TikTok, addressing the impropriety of pouring champagne on a toddler's head during her birthday party.
The woman, who goes by Aunt Karen, shared her response to the controversial video of the 3-year-old’s dad pouring the contents of a champagne bottle directly onto his daughter’s head as she squirmed uncomfortably.
“What were you thinking? We’re pouring champagne at a 3-year-old birthday party, on a 3-year-old,” Karen expressed. “This feels like too much to me.”
Karen characterized the unconventional tradition as an element of culture in the Black community. While many individuals disagreed and took offense to Karen’s generalization of their community, other people attributed the familiar tradition to their Haitian and Caribbean culture.
“This is not a Black people thing … This is not collective group behavior. Shame on you for getting on the internet with that mess,” someone argued in the comments. “Umm, I’m Black, and not one Black person I know does this, so don’t generalize. Thank you,” an individual expressed.
“In Haitian culture, parents will do this for great fortune/celebration,” another person shared.
“In the Caribbean, this is common, and I used to love it as a kid. She’s not hurt, lol,” another person suggested. “So am I the only Haitian [whose] mother opened a bottle of champagne over her head every birthday? She did it for 18 years,” someone else added.
Regardless of its cultural significance, TikTokers were alarmed by the exhibition.
Such a tradition is not uncommon for many birthday celebrations, but the activity is usually reserved for adults older than 18, not younger.
Karen shamed the parents and attending adults alike for watching such an event unfold without addressing its tastelessness. Most individuals in the comments agreed the parents’ celebratory intentions were in poor taste.
“I’m not sure if this is real champagne, but [whether] it’s sparkling water or whatever, that’s so rude,” one person commented. “Her poor hair and her beautiful dress.”
While all the girl needs to do is shower to wash off the effects of this champagne tradition, and it’s not exactly harmful, it still feels unnecessary to do such a thing to a 3-year-old.
It’s one thing to serve champagne or other alcoholic beverages to the adults present at a child’s party, but exposing a young child to a bottle of champagne at their own party just feels… wrong — on many levels.
“I will never understand alcohol being served/present at a kid's function,” someone shared in the comments.
Champagne has no place being used in such a manner at a toddler’s birthday party.
While every family celebrates birthday traditions differently, it would have been significantly less inappropriate if the parents had at least considered pouring juice over the girl’s head instead of champagne or just opted for the family-friendly tradition of dunking the child’s face into her birthday cake. There’s nothing necessarily harmful about getting some frosting on your face, but the sticky discomfort of champagne all over your hair, face, and head is uncomfortable for most adults, let alone a toddler.
There are many kid-friendly, appropriate approaches to celebrating your child’s birthday, such as arts and crafts, face painting, or having a scavenger hunt. Any toddler would enjoy these activities as a birthday tradition much more than having a champagne bottle spilled all over them.
The parents’ actions seemed more for their own entertainment rather than for their daughter’s joy. Because what toddler finds it enjoyable to have some mysterious pungent liquid — from their perspective — dumped all over them?
Cultures and traditions are varied in the U.S., and it's part of what makes us unique, but this is certainly a tradition that has yet to be widely known.
Every family is different; what one might consider inappropriate, another will find fun and harmless. At the end of the day, the girl is not hurt, and at least her parents love her enough to throw her a birthday party, no matter how concerning their celebratory actions appear to others.
Francesca Duarte is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team based in Orlando, FL. She covers lifestyle, human-interest, adventure, and spirituality topics.