Student Says Her Flatmate Planned a “Small Birthday Party” — Then Added 200 People to a “Mega Rager” Group Chat
A university student says she thought she had agreed to a small birthday party in the shared flat. Then she got added to a group chat with more than 200 people, fake DJ set times, and the words “mega rager” attached to the plan.
The student shared the situation in a Reddit post, explaining that she lives in a flatshare with three other girls. One of them, “Melanie,” was already her friend before they moved in together. The other two, “Jenny” and “Jasmine,” were in the same year at university but mostly kept to themselves. The flat itself was a big part of why the poster panicked. It was in the center of town, had a large living room and balcony, and was only about a five-minute walk from the local student bars and clubs. She said they were lucky to get it and wanted to stay another year.
At first, Jenny asked in the flat group chat if she could have a small birthday party in the living room before Christmas break. Everyone said that was fine. A small birthday gathering sounded normal enough.
Then, a few days later, the poster and Melanie were added to a new group chat called “Jenny’s Birthday Bonanza.” According to the post, there were more than 200 people in it. The chat description described a “mega rager,” and there were even act timings listed for DJs who were supposedly performing throughout the night. To the poster, it looked less like a small flat party and more like someone trying to host a club night in their living room.
That was when she and Melanie panicked.
They were not only worried about noise. They were worried about strangers flooding their home, property damage, cleanup, neighbors, the balcony, and what could happen to their housing if the landlord found out after the fact. So the poster took screenshots of the group chat and sent them to the landlord.
The landlord responded immediately and told Jenny the party could not happen under any circumstances. He also said he would come for an inspection the day after the scheduled party date to make sure she had actually canceled it. After that, the group chat was dissolved and the party was canceled.
Jenny was furious.
She came to the poster and Melanie upset, asking why they had not just talked to her first. According to Jenny, almost everyone in the 200-person chat was actually a school friend from home. She said she is from overseas and that most of those people were never going to attend in person. Her explanation was that she thought it would be funny to make it look huge and maybe do a massive group video call during the party so her friends back home could feel included. She also claimed the DJs were not real.
The poster did not believe her.
From her side, Jenny had asked for a small party, then quietly built a huge public-looking event around their actual address and only added the flatmates after the plan already looked massive. Even if the DJ names were fake and most people were not coming, the poster felt Jenny had been irresponsible for making it look like an enormous party was happening in a shared flat.
Now Jenny is not speaking to them except to say they ruined her first birthday away from home.
The comments were divided, but plenty of people understood the panic. One commenter said if Jenny’s plan truly was a small party, she could still have one because the landlord only blocked the huge version. Another said the fact that everything was canceled so quickly made Jenny’s “it was just a joke” explanation feel suspicious.
Other commenters pointed out the math. If Jenny claimed 80 percent of the 200 people were not coming, that still left about 40 possible guests. And once people bring partners, flatmates, or extra friends, that number could climb fast. A flat with a balcony near student bars is not exactly the kind of place where a “small” gathering stays small once a party chat starts spreading.
Several people said the poster was protecting more than her own comfort. She had a deposit, belongings, neighbors, and housing at risk. One commenter noted that downstairs neighbors could have called the police quickly if the party got loud, while another raised the question of how many people the balcony could safely hold.
But not everyone agreed with how she handled it. Some commenters said going straight to the landlord was too much. They argued she should have talked to Jenny first and given her a chance to explain or cancel it herself. One person said it was fair to be stressed about the party, but the response put everyone’s housing situation in the landlord’s sights.
Others pushed back on that. They said Jenny should have talked to her flatmates before creating a giant party chat. One commenter said adding roommates to a 200-person group after the fact was more unhinged than alerting the landlord, because one choice created the risk of eviction while the other reduced it.
By the end of the thread, the conflict came down to trust. Jenny said it was all banter. The poster saw a 200-person “mega rager” chat tied to the flat where she lives, sleeps, studies, and keeps her stuff.
A small birthday gathering would have been one thing. But once the plan looked like a club night with hundreds of people, DJs, and strangers possibly showing up near Christmas break, the poster stopped treating it like roommate drama and treated it like a housing risk. And if Jenny really only wanted a tiny birthday night with a video call, the landlord’s warning should not have ruined that plan at all.
