Emily King, a mother from California, either has the largest venue to host her daughter's first birthday party—or she committed the most embarrassing faux pas in suburban history.
King divulged in a TikTok video that she accidentally sent an Evite to all 487 of her phone contacts.
She explained that she misunderstood Evite's prompts that asked if she wanted to "import contacts," thinking she could scroll and make selections.
"No," said King, adding:
"It imported all 487 of my contacts and invited them to this birthday party."
In addition to the close friends and family she intended to invite, she invited people she met once or occasionally, like her boss and all of her co-workers.
But the worst part was that everyone who received her text message invitation was based on how she labeled them in her contacts.
She told her followers:
"I want you to just take a second and think about how everyone stored in your phone and how they're stored in your phone."
Some of her Evite recipients included one for a "cute boy from the bar," an "old man neighbor," a "Derek" followed by an eye-roll emoji, and a "Jess hit her car in parking lot," designated for the person whose car she once hit in the grocery store parking lot.
The clip ended with her face-palming and saying:
"I have to quit or get a new identity."
You can watch the video here.
TikTokers felt her pain.
@twodachshundkings/TikTok
@twodachshundkings/TikTok
@twodachshundkings/TikTok
@twodachshundkings/TikTok
@twodachshundkings/TikTok
@twodachshundkings/TikTok
She opened up about the mortifying experience on Good Morning America.
King recalled the moment she realized things didn't go as planned when using the digital invitation platform for her daughter Ivy's party in June.
Said King:
"I kind of like, immediately knew. I was like, 'Wait, something's wrong. … This is not happening.' So like, all the blood rushes from my body,
She continued explaining her thought process.
"I see this tab and it says 'import guests from previous parties.' And I just had a St. Patrick's Day party so I was like, 'Oh, perfect.'"
"It took me to the actual invitation page, and it said 'Ivy's first birthday' -- and then at the bottom, it said, 'Guests: 487' … and I was mortified."
"I started to look at the list and it's everyone that I had ever put in my phone," King said.
"And not only that, it's everyone I put in my phone as they are stored in my phone … and everyone that I ever emailed through my job."
Some people tried to guess which of her contacts probably RSVP'd.
@twodachshundkings/TikTok
@twodachshundkings/TikTok
@twodachshundkings/TikTok
@twodachshundkings/TikTok
@twodachshundkings/TikTok
@twodachshundkings/TikTok
King told GMA she quickly deleted the Evite within minutes of realizing what happened but was unable to reverse the invitations that had already been sent out.
In retrospect, she was able to laugh it off with her friends.
"At first I was mortified, but I like to think I have a pretty good sense of humor," King said. "So I was like, I was embarrassed but then also cracking up, like I couldn't stop laughing that this had happened."
She imparted the wisdom she gained thanks to the invitation gaffe.
"Always double-check before you select anything that looks like it could be a 'Select All' button."
Noted.
You can hear King tell her story on GMA in the video below.
Mom accidentally invites all 487 contacts to daughter’s 1st birthday partyyoutu.be
When Evite became aware of the situation, they shared the following statement with GMA.
"We immediately reached out to Em as soon as we saw her post!"
"While we have several steps in place so that things like this don't occur for guests, Em's journey inspired something we call the 'Emily Hotfix' that removes the 'select all' function on iOS apps."
The company added:
"We're always learning from our users, and hope this update is a help for other users too!"
King said Ivy's birthday party, themed to Lord of the Rings, will continue as planned.
She also said she expanded the guest list from 50 to 70 invitees.
"It's going to be definitely a first birthday for the books," King said, adding, "I'm really excited when [Ivy's] older to be able to tell her the story."