What is it with children’s parties that makes some parents forget their manners?

I despaired at the fiasco reported last week about one mum invoicing her son’s five-year-old friend because he was a “no-show” at the birthday bash for her son Charlie which she’d planned and paid for at a local ski centre.

Julie Lawrence was annoyed that Alex Nash didn’t turn up to the event as expected and she was left out of pocket by £15.95p. When Alex’s parents Tanya and Alex found the invoice in his schoolbag, they were a bit miffed.

The ski party had clashed with a family visit to his grandparents and they were unable to contact Julie to let her know.

Snippy comments were exchanged on Facebook (where else) and then it all got out of hand with an angry exchange of words in the national press. Talk about parents behaving badly!

Isn’t it our job to remind our kids before they go to parties to mind their manners, to be polite, to say please and not forget “thank you for a lovely party”?

But the parents in this storm in a party tea cup have completely lost the plot. It’s not about the money it’s the principle.

Presumably Alex and Charlie are pals. Little five-year-old schoolmates who were excited about sharing the birthday treat at the Plymouth Ski Slope and Snowboard Centre. Now the spat between their parents may have spoiled that friendship and that’s a real shame.

The whole business of children’s parties is becoming way too fraught. Some schools suggest that if you can’t give every child in the class an invite you really shouldn’t hand out the invites at school because it would make the others feel “left out”.

Then there is the fierce competition to have a super-duper state-of-the-art party. This generally involves visits to sports centres, theme parks or at the very least hiring a hall with a bouncy castle and a visiting magician/comedian or a touring mini-zoo with small furry animals the children can hold.

Frankly, it makes me a little nostalgic for that old-fashioned jelly and ice cream party which was the summit of my efforts for my own kids. They were lucky if I organised invites to their pals, managed to bake a few dozen lopsided cupcakes, remembered to buy paper cups, filled bowls with crisps and stuck mini-sausages on sticks and then heaved a sigh of relief when the thing was over and the house was a disaster area.

It was tough being a mum back in the day before “competitive partying” become a parenting sport.

Whatever happens, it matters that parents don’t get so carried away by the need to impress that they forget what the celebration is all about letting your child have some fun with their pals on their birthday.

And most important of all, remembering your mummy manners.