Homeowner outraged after neighbor's gender reveal: 'They should pay for it'

Whatever your opinion on gender reveal parties, we can all agree that littering is not an appropriate way to mark the occasion.

One Redditor was outraged when their neighbors' party resulted in a cleanup operation in their own garden. 

"[They] blasted a bunch of confetti into my backyard," they told the r/neighborsfromhell community. "They refuse to clean it claiming it was the wind's fault for blowing it over."

The wind is responsible for a lot of things, but it certainly didn't release the confetti from a cannon in the first place. The original poster shared a video of the aftermath and noted that it took over eight hours for their gardener to clean up the mess with a leaf blower. Some items that landed on plants also had to be removed by hand.

"Can I file a small claims against them for the cleanup and replacing our mulch?" the OP, who is based in Los Angeles, asked. 

"Littering is illegal and carries huge fines," one person replied. "Call your local non emergency number and ask if your situation qualifies your neighbor for $500 to $1000 fines for public littering."

While a gender reveal party might seem like a sweet way to celebrate the upcoming arrival of a little one, it can have severe consequences. 

In British Columbia, Canada, for example, a gender reveal stunt resulted in a brushfire. Elsewhere, similar confetti blasts have littered public parks, which can have grave consequences for local wildlife.

The brightly colored strips are often made of plastic and can be mistaken by animals for food. If they eat it, it might get stuck in their digestive system and cause health problems or even death. Otherwise, that plastic won't degrade for decades — even centuries — and it leaches harmful chemicals into the soil that will negatively impact future growth.

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Since it doesn't break down naturally, it will break into smaller and smaller pieces, eventually becoming microplastics, which are becoming an increasing threat to human health.

Redditors were furious with this shameful act of littering.

"I would NEVER say, 'tough luck' if my neighbor came to me asking me to clean up my OWN mess on their property," one said. "What is wrong with people today? Where did courtesy go?"

"They can blame the wind all they want but it wasn't the wind that let off the confetti in the first place," another added. "They made the mess, they should pay for it."

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