My best friend invited me to Epcot Food & Wine. I’ve always wanted to go and was so excited. She invited me and two of her college friends who I don’t know but am ok traveling with. It’s a weekend trip Friday-Sunday and she told me it’d be roughly $500 which is doable.
She sends out a group text asking if we know anyone who wants to go because it would cut the hotel cost down(it’s currently $120/night per person). When no one had anyone she said she was going to throw it out to a women travel group she’s the chairperson for. Not super thrilled about staying with someone no one knows. My friend has run 3-4 events since becoming chair person so it’s possible she might have met them. My friend then sends out another text basically stating she’s going to Mickeys Halloween on Friday at Magic Kingdom and we’re welcome to join or do what we want. After agreeing to go and looking at costs it’s more than I should be spending right now. I was expecting to spend $500 or so but flights from my area are $400 or more. Mickeys Halloween is $150, Epcot is $140 and hotel is $240 total. I’ve not booked a thing because I was trying to figure out how to space the amounts out. I almost bought the Halloween ticket since everyone in the group is going and they apparently sell out super fast but I haven’t.
This past weekend we were home and my SIL said she wanted to have a friends get together for her husband who’s deploying. She went through her calendar and had 3-4 weekends that worked. One of them being this trip to Disney. I let her know I wasn’t around that weekend but my fiancé would be. She then says she’s going to talk to their mom because she needs her to babysit their child. My MIL says that the weekend of my trip is the only weekend that works for her. My SIL then tells me they’ll miss me but that’s the weekend my MIL can do. Later on she said “we could do xyz date but (BIL) has something on Sunday so he wouldn’t want to be hungover for it” and my fiancé told my SIL that date was a bad idea because of it. I speak to my fiancé later on and I explained I felt bad missing the going away party. He tells me it’s not a big deal and if I want to go to Disney to go and the decision is totally up to me.
I’m really struggling with which to attend. My friend is extremely excited about Disney and is group texting about the costume she’s going to wear to the Halloween Party, how the favors for the event are really cute and how she’s making pixi dust to spread around the parks(little trinkets for people to find). Flights are just out of my budget though and I don’t love how she basically decided on her own to do the Halloween thing and asked random people to join in on the trip. I feel bad missing the Friends going away party since he’ll be gone for a year or more. For context the trip to Disney is last weekend in September and the hotel has been booked. I don’t want to loose a friendship over me not going on this trip because I already said I’d go.
I’m literally having crazy anxiety over what to do. If I’m going to skip Disney I need to tell her tomorrow. One thought I had was just saying work wouldn’t give me Friday off. I also thought about letting her know about the deployment party in a “I feel bad, (SIL) is throwing a going away party for (BIL) the same weekend we’re in Disney” to see what her reaction is. She’s friends with my fiancés family/all their friends so would be invited.
Can anyone give advice?
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TLDR:
\-Best friend invites me to Epcot Food and Wine with her two college friends
\-Decides to invite others from a travel group she’s chapter head of to cut costs
\-Then decides she’s doing Mickeys Halloween that Friday and we can join or do what we want.
\-Says cost would be around $500 but it’ll cost me $900 not including food.
\-My BIL is deploying soon and my SIL wants to throw him a going away party with friends.
\-The weekend she chose was the weekend of Disney because it’s the only weekend my MIL can babysit.
\-I’m having severe anxiety over what to do.
\-Kinda want to skip as it’s out of budget but don’t want to lose a friend. I also feel like I should attend the going away party.
1 comment
The easiest way out of the trip is to tell her it’s out of your expected budget. That way it’s not personal and there’s no risk of her feeling like you’re prioritising the party ahead of her trip, etc.