Parents Blame Facebook for 400 'Sweet 16' Party Crashers
by Lee Bains, posted Dec 3rd 2008 at 10:26AM
Earlier today, the UK's Independent reported that a 'Sweet 16' celebration for a Brighton girl devolved into a raging, crowded house party. And the parents blame Facebook.
After planning the party for their daughter Georgiana, and allowing her to send out 100 invitations on Facebook, Michael and Sylvia Hobday left their East Sussex mansion for the evening, trusting that the kids were alright. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Hobday received a phone call from police, who informed him that 300 "out of control" revelers were creating a disturbance at the townhouse.
Rushing back home, Mr. Hobday found his home in disarray, as he later -- hilariously -- described to the Independent:
The garden has been ruined, the grass is mud, people were walking through the pond and I heard one boy was trying to headbutt the mirror. Some people were climbing up the balcony and trying to get through the windows. My floor was blackened with dirt and there were cigarette burn marks around the bottom of the door.Figuring that these uninvited guests had caught wind of the party via the Internet and cell phones, Mr. Hobday was certain that "Facebook [was] a major cause, as well as texting." We find two distinct aspects of this story to be absolutely hilarious:
- For one, the fact that the Independent has written such a dry, factual story about a high school party getting crashed borders on absurdity. At first, we had to double-check to make sure that we weren't, in fact, reading the Onion.
- Secondly, Mr. Hobday's blaming of Facebook and texting is laughable. Anybody who has ever been a kid, or watched a John Hughes movie for that matter, knows better. Since long before the Internet or cell phones came into existence, teenagers have been to parties as hound dogs are to sides of bacon.
While 
