My birthday is next week and some coworkers want to go out tonight for my birthday dinner. Apparently they have all planned this and just told me about it today. I asked one of my coworkers that I'm really close with, and most comfortable asking this, if I'm paying for my own dinner. She said yes, they just all want to get together with me to celebrate my birthday.

I don't have the money to go out to eat right now. On top of that, after working the last few days, I wanted to spend time with my husband tonight. I feel obligated to go because the whole point of this is my birthday, but I'm a little bothered. They all had this planned for at least a couple days, but did not mention it to me until today. Super late notice. On top of that, I find it a little weird to invite someone out for their own birthday dinner that they will have to pay for. Maybe I'm wrong here, but if I invite someone out to dinner, especially if it is their birthday, I do not expect them to pay. I feel as though that is common courtesy. And it's not like we are going to some fancy restaurant, we are going to Applebees, so each co-worker would just have to pitch in maybe $2-3 to cover my dinner. I just don't have the extra $15 right now.

I mean, I do have enough money to go out, but we really could use that money elsewhere right now (groceries, gas, etc.).

I appreciate the fact that they want to celebrate my birthday, but I find the way they are going about this to be a bit rude.