Reddit Stories - Feuding Over Food_ Banning Sibling's CULINARY CATASTROPHES from THANKSGIVING Feast!_

Episode Date: August 20, 2025

#redditstories #askreddit #aita #siblingsquabble #culinarydisaster #familyfeud #thanksgivingdrama #foodfightSummary:A Reddit user seeks advice on whether they are wrong for wanting to ban their sibling's constant culinary disasters from the Thanksgiving feast, sparking a family feud over food choices.Tags:redditstories, askreddit, reddit, aita, tifu, siblingsquabble, culinarydisaster, familyfeud, thanksgivingdrama, foodfightBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reddit-stories--6237355/support.

I hope you enjoy this story. Requested my sibling to refrain from bringing dishes to the Thanksgiving gathering due to her lack of culinary skills. This upset her, and she declared herself the primary cook, leading to my expulsion. The family group chat. Every year, our family does a big Thanksgiving dinner, and we all typically bring a dish or two. My sister, who's a lovely person in every other way, insists on cooking something homemade every time. The issue? She's. Not a great cook. And I don't mean just not great, I mean she has somehow managed to turn classic dishes into borderline and edible creations. For context, last Thanksgiving, she showed up with her special recipe stuffing that was over-seasoned with random spices like cinnamon and cardamom. It was dry, and the flavors were confusing and totally off for stuffing. Only one person took a small bite, and the rest went untouched. Another year, she brought a green bean casserole that had some kind of strange, chewy texture,

she later admitted she used coconut milk and almond flour to experiment. No one wanted seconds of that either. This year, I'm hosting Thanksgiving. Since I'm responsible for putting it all together, I wanted to keep the menu consistent so that people could actually enjoy a cohesive meal. I thought I'd avoid drama by asking her to bring non-food items instead, like wine, soda, or even some flowers. I explained to her, very kindly, I thought that I just wanted to make things easy and streamlined, and I'd handle the main dishes. But she didn't take it well. She got offended

and told me I was being controlling and shutting her out of the family gathering. She then accused me of making her feel inadequate and said that Thanksgiving is about everyone contributing, not me deciding what's acceptable. I told her that everyone appreciates her effort, but that she could contribute in other ways and still be part of it. She doubled down and said she's bringing her famous green bean casserole whether I like it or not. Now, my mom and a couple of other family members have chimed in, saying I should just let her bring whatever she wants because it's Thanksgiving and it's the thought that counts. They're acting like I'm committing some huge offense by wanting the food to be enjoyable for everyone and not have random experimental

dishes that no one will eat. But I feel like I'm just trying to keep the meal enjoyable and, frankly, edible. I don't think it's wrong to want guests to actually enjoy the food, especially since I'm putting in a lot of effort to host. Am I really being unreasonable here? Ida. Update 1. All right, well, things have escalated fast. Thanks to everyone who offered advice, I tried to compromise, but it's already turning into a whole thing. And Thanksgiving is still a few weeks away. After our last conversation, my sister was being pretty cagey about what she planned to make, so I reached out to my mom, hoping she could help smooth things over.

Instead, she got defensive, saying I'm overthinking and that it's just one dish. I told her I wasn't sure it was just one dish anymore, especially after hearing about my sister's grocery hall, including canned oysters and edible glitter. Then my mom let slip that my sister has been hard at work on some creative menu she's planning as her Thanksgiving surprise. Apparently, she's been telling the family group chat, which I wasn't included in, by the way, that I'm being controlling and that she wants to expand everyone's palette with something truly unique. To top it off, my cousin sent me a screenshot from the group chat where my sister said she's bringing not one but three dishes to Thanksgiving now. She's calling them her Thanksgiving trio experience, complete with their own place settings and little menu cards she's designing. I'm officially panicking because I have no idea what she's planning to serve, and from what I've heard, it's not remotely traditional.

At this point, half the family thinks I'm overreacting, while the other half is texting me with things like, is she really bringing glittered sweet potatoes? I feel stuck, if I try to control it anymore, I'm the bad guy, but if I do. don't, Thanksgiving might turn into a tasting event for my sisters of Ant Guard cooking. So yeah, Thanksgiving is weeks away, and it's already become a family spectacle. I don't know whether to brace myself or just preemptively order pizza. Update 2, November 14th, 2024. All right, so Thanksgiving is now just a little over two weeks away, and somehow, things have escalated even further than I thought possible.

I thought maybe my sister's Thanksgiving trio experience would be the peak of the drama, well, turns out I was wrong. Since the last update, my sister has become fully committed to making her dishes the main attraction. She's been dropping hints in the family group chat, which I'm still not included in, but shout out to my cousin for the screenshots about how this Thanksgiving will be one to remember and calling it her Thanksgiving debut. She's apparently been referring to herself as the Thanksgiving head chef has hinted that she's bringing some kind of culinary surprise centerpiece that will transform the whole

experience. From what I can piece together, she's planning a main statement dish in addition to her original three-side dishes. I'm picturing something equally bizarre but on a much larger scale, and honestly, I'm terrified. If her green bean casserole was already pushing it, I can't even imagine what she thinks is worthy of being the centerpiece. Then, to make things even weirder, my mom texted me privately and suggested that I step back this year and let my sister shine since she's so excited about her contributions. My mom thinks if we just give her this moment, it'll make her happy and she'll get it out of her system. She even hinted that maybe I should focus on decorations and drinks instead of the main dishes, which feels like an attempt to turn hosting over to my

sister without actually saying it. So now, I'm left with a choice, go along with my mom's plan and let my sister essentially hijack Thanksgiving or keep pushing back and risk a family showdown. I just wanted a nice Thanksgiving with dishes everyone would enjoy, but it seems like I'm either about to hand over the whole meal to her. Or prepare for some serious drama. Thanksgiving isn't even here yet, and it already feels like a circus. I'm half tempted to just sit back and see what chaos unfolds, but part of me is still worried about subjecting the whole family to whatever artistic statement she has been. planned. Comments where OPE has replied, YFUV Bath 1984. I cannot figure out why you still haven't cancelled hosting. If she wants to take over, let her do so in her own space. Why would you

go through all those trouble to host your family when your sister is actively planning sabotage? I would have already bowed out. Oop, honestly, I'm starting to feel the same way. At first, I thought I could manage the situation by setting boundaries, but it's pretty clear my sister is determined to turn Thanksgiving into her personal stage, no matter what I do. At this point, it's not even about the food, it's about the sheer amount of effort I'm putting in just to have it overshadowed by her artistic vision. Bowing out does sound tempting, and I'm seriously considering it. Letting her host would give her the spotlight she clearly wants, and I wouldn't have to deal with

the stress of trying to balance everyone's feelings. I guess I've just been holding out because I love hosting and didn't want to let her take that away from me. But maybe it's time to throw in the towel and let her take the reins. In her own house. You're definitely giving me something to think about. Thanks. Too complex, just let her do it and don't cook a damn thing. Oh, and eat before anyone shows up.

Oop, ha ha, that would be one way to handle it, right? Just let her have her Thanksgiving head chef moment and show up with a full stomach. No stress, and zero cooking on my part. I'm honestly so tempted to go this route, if she wants the spotlight that badly, I might as well let her handle everything and watch the chaos unfold from the sidelines. It might even be kind of satisfying to see her realize how much goes into hosting, especially if her creations don't quite go over as she hopes. Thanks for the idea.

This might just be the perfect hands-off Thanksgiving. Update 3, November 27th, 2024. Here we are, the day before Thanksgiving, and things have continued to spiral. I decided to let my sister move forward with her trio experience since pushing back more would only make things worse. I thought we had a plan, she'd bring her dishes, and I'd make sure there were plenty of other options to keep the peace. This morning, my mom let me know that my sister is now. adding a surprise dish to her contributions. She's been very secretive about what it is, which is everyone nervous after her past attempts. My mom thinks it's sweet that my sister is putting

in so much effort, but a few other family members are not as optimistic. My cousin texted me privately asking if I had backup food ready, and my dad casually mentioned bringing extra roles, just in case. At this point, I've decided to stick with the plan and let her have her moment. I'll still have a few traditional dishes on hand so no one goes hungry. Tomorrow will probably be chaotic, but it should at least make for a memorable holiday. Wish me luck, I'll update after Thanksgiving if anything noteworthy happens. Final update, November 28th, 2024. Thanksgiving dinner is officially over, and I genuinely don't know where to start. I feel like I just lived through a fever dream of culinary chaos and family drama, and I need a moment to breathe before I can even process everything.

My cousin and I are heading out for drinks to dissect all of it because honestly, what just happened deserves its own Netflix special. I'll post photos later when I get home, but for now, let me try to give you the rundown. So, my sister showed up earlier than expected, which I should have seen coming. She came in like a storm, carrying not just her three dishes but also this giant platter wrapped in foil, which she was clearly trying to make a big deal about. She immediately started rearranging the table, moving my dishes to the side so hers could take center stage. She even brought her own table runner and candles, saying something about setting the mood for a creative dining experience. I decided not to fight her on it because, at this point, I just wanted to get through the night without a bowl. blow up. Her trio experience was, well, let's just say it was everything I feared and more.

She started with a glittery sweet potato mash that somehow managed to taste like a mix of sugar and sand. The glitter wasn't even edible glitter, it was craft glitter, which I didn't realize until one of the kids said, this is crunchy, and I looked closer. Then there was the cranberry and oyster relish. Yes, oysters and cranberries. It looked at looked like someone had spilled jam into clam chowder, and the smell alone was enough to make me lose my appetite. Finally, she brought a pumpkin curry casserole that had raisins in it for some reason and this weird fishy smell that clung to the air for way too long. But the piece to resistance was her surprise centerpiece dish, which turned out to be a turkey gelatin mold. Yes, she took

ground turkey, mixed it with some kind of broth and seasonings, and turned it into a wobbly, translucent mold shaped like a turkey. She even garnished it with parsley and cherry tomatoes to make it festive. I wish I were kidding. The entire table went silent when she unveiled it, except for my cousin, who immediately started coughing to cover up what I'm pretty sure was a laugh. Things hit their peak when my mom, who has been defending her this entire time, took one bite of the gelatin mold and just, froze.

She didn't say anything, but you could see the regret on her. her face. My sister, noticing the lack of enthusiasm, decided to go on this long speech about how Thanksgiving food is too boring and how she's trying to challenge our palettes. She even called my ham and mashed potatoes uninspired, which was rich coming from someone serving glitter sand potatoes. The breaking point came when my aunt, who's usually the peacekeeper, tried the gelatin mold and actually gagged. She tried to be polite about it, but my sister saw her reaction and completely lost it. She started yelling about how nobody in the family supports her and how we're all stuck in the past with our unoriginal food. She even accused me of sabotaging her dishes by not

hyping them up enough to everyone. At this point, half the table was trying not to laugh, and the other half was just staring at their plates, probably wondering how we got here. My sister ended up storming out of the house, but not before saying something along the lines of, you'll regret not appreciating my vision when I'm famous. She left most of her food behind, which my cousin and I quietly threw out after dinner. The rest of the night actually turned out pretty nice once the tension was gone. My dad's emergency ham was a lifesaver, and everyone agreed that next year, we're either going to a restaurant or just skipping Thanksgiving altogether.

So now I'm sitting here wondering how this even became my life. I'll post photos later because you all need to see the turkey gelatin mold to believe it, but for now I'm off to grab a drink, or three, with my cousin to laugh slash cry over everything that went down. This Thanksgiving was truly something else, and I don't know whether to feel relieved it's over or brace myself for whatever fresh chaos my sister has planned for next year. Stay tuned for photos, it's going to be worth it. Next story, gave my daughter $50,000 because she had to pay.

her own college while her siblings got $100,000 each. Now my middle daughter demands the same amount for her wedding and won't talk to us. So I 50M have three kids, Sarah 35F, Jessica 25F, and Ben 23M. My wife and I had Sarah when we were both 16. It wasn't easy, but with both our parents' support, we could finish college while we raised her. When it was time for her to go to college, we didn't have the money help her. So she took out loans and paid for them herself. We learned from our mistakes and started saving for her siblings, Jessica and Ben, who got around a 100K college fund and had no debt. Through all of this, Sarah never complained. She finished her education, got a fantastic job, and could repay the loans in just three years while staying with us to save as much as

possible. She has also helped us a lot with babysitting her younger siblings and has always been selfless and helped out in any way she could, maybe even to a fault. So when she told me five years ago, she was getting married, I talked to my wife and told her how bad I felt. We never did anything for her and that I wanted to give her the inheritance I got from my grandmother, which was around 50k to help pay for her wedding and down payment on the house. Luckily, my wife agreed, and even though she didn't really need it, I know it meant a lot to her. The issue is this, Jessica is getting married next year and had assumed we would plan a similar gift for her. She was quite surprised when I told her that we never discuss such plans, and even if we wanted to, we didn't have the

budget for it. She told us it wasn't fair that we paid for her sister, but would not do the same for her. I tried to explain the situation, telling her that in the long run, we spend twice as much on her and her brother as we ever did on Sarah. However, she insisted that Sarah was already well off, noting that Sarah and her husband had paid off their house and were doing extremely well financially. I told her that this had nothing to do with how much money her sister had. This was us finally being able to do something for our oldest child,

who had to sacrifice so much because we had her at such a young age. She didn't take it well, left angry, and won't speak to us. My wife thinks we should maybe take out a small loan and give her the money because she isn't used to not talking to her kids and is sad she is being left out of the wedding preparations. She is even afraid of us not getting invited to the wedding. But I have put my foot down and won't budge because she is not entitled to our money. Now even Sarah is saying that this is getting out of hand and even offered to help pay half the money. But personally, I'm at a point where I'd rather burn the 50k than give it to her. Sarah and my wife think that this is not worth destroying our family over, but I think that

giving in will only make her more entitled in the long run. Update, November 24, 2024. Thank you all for the fantastic comments and personal messages from my last post. After reading the comments, I felt even more convinced that I was in the right, so I sat down with my wife to talk. Following many of your suggestions, I showed her the post and asked her to read it. She wasn't happy, especially when she saw how many people had read it, but she was also really curious. This has been on her mind a lot lately, and she wanted to know what all of you were thinking.

She had a few issues with my comments. She believes that when I said I would rather burn the money, it indicates I need to change my approach to problem solving. While it might be easy for people on the internet to suggest that parents cut off contact with their child, she is not ready to lose her little girl. Additionally, she thinks my statement about doing my duty and wanting to take care of myself comes across as selfish and is not something a parent should say. She believes there is a reasonable compromise. Instead of giving her the full 50K, we can offer her half for the wedding. This way, we can cover most of the expenses from our savings, borrow the rest from Sarah if

needed, and pay her back within a year. I told her right away that I was not going to do that. I told her that we could separate our finances and that she could return to work full-time to help Jessica pay for the wedding. However, I made it clear that I was done. As selfish as it may seem, I don't feel obligated to Jessica anymore, and I want to enjoy my life while I still can. She replied, as she always does, that I am stubborn, and she would take that step if it meant

keeping the family together. I told her it was fine but not to come to me complaining about her health when she went back to work full-time. A couple of days ago, she came to me and said that she agreed with my proposal. We made a plan to open a joint bank account where we would deposit our monthly expenses. After that, we can each use our personal money however we like. We decided on an amount to keep in our savings account for emergencies and agreed to split the remaining funds 50 to 50. I even agreed to cover 60% of the money needed for our joint expenses. This is the first time we will have more than one bank account, so I'm a bit nervous about how it will turn out.

I also believe she mentioned talking to her boss about working more hours, but I want to avoid getting involved in that discussion. I spoke with Sarah and expressed my concerns about giving Jessica any money, which I believe is a bad idea. However, Sarah insists that she wants to help. She mentioned that while she agrees with my viewpoint, she doesn't want their mom to return to work full-time. She clarified that her decision to help was aimed at supporting their mom, not Jessica. I told her that it was her money and she could do as she pleased, but like her mom, I wouldn't involve myself in the situation any further. Right before I wrote this post, I sent an email to Jessica expressing my feelings for her. I clarified where I stood and mentioned that she could

decide how involved I would be in her wedding. I don't expect to reply, but now I'll have to wait and see what happens. Comments where Op has replied. Op added this info in the comments. I forgot to mention this in my post, but part of our agreement is that she should not take out any loans with interest. If she decides to borrow money from friends or family, that's her choice, but I want to avoid having another bank loan under my name. However, I am confident that she won't need to borrow much if she only gives 25K for the wedding, especially since it appears that Sarah is planning to cover half of that amount. Which again, I still think is a bad idea. Commenter, you know these three are making a mess you will have to clean up.

Ideally you would nope out, but 50k in debt. This has so much potential to go sideways for you it's almost a guarantee. For example, since op isn't involved in this, we can use more than 50K. What happens if your wife can't work? What if she pays on the loan but only has 10,000, percent of the monthly bills. What if she resents you for this? Will you actually die on this hill and divorce? If not, you may as well go to the bank. Involving Sarah and this is a shitty thing for her to do. Your wife seems to believe she has a separate financial life. That's just not true. I don't know, I could write a 30k word report on this. Half would be petty BS but the other half involves creditors. That said, I do hope this settles things. NTA op, it's not 50k. I realize now that I

didn't explain something clearly. My wife wants to pay 25K for the wedding, which she and Sarah have agreed to split. She believes this is a reasonable compromise, but I disagree with her.