Pregnant Woman Upset Her Sister Bought Her A 'Useless' Gift Instead Of Something From Her Registry To 'Help Her Out'
She got her onesies and changing pads.
FamVeld/Shutterstock & Pavel Danilyuk / Pexels When it comes to bringing out family drama, nothing quite compares to a wedding—but a baby shower is a close second. Just ask anyone who's planned one.
And for one woman on Reddit, her sister's baby shower got so heated she's been left mystified by how it went down. As she described in a post to the "r/AmITheA--hole" subReddit, it all began with her choice in gifts for her sister's baby. She thought what she bought was special and meaningful. But her sister vehemently disagreed.
The pregnant woman called her sister's baby shower gift 'useless' because it didn't come from her registry.
It's not like her sister bought a toy or something the new mom won't be able to use until the kid's a toddler. She bought her basic supplies. But somehow, it seemed to anger the mom-to-be more than anything.
The sister opted for a personalized gift that would be unique and thoughtful.
The woman writes that she doesn't have much money, especially since she has a geriatric dog who requires lots of veterinarian visits.
But she also figured that with all the guests attending the baby shower who'd be buying off of her sister's registry, she'd get most of what she needed for the baby taken care of. So instead, she opted for a personalized set of onesies with the baby's name on it, and a changing pad, thinking it was "cute" and "meaningful."
Instead, the woman's sister scolded her for not buying something she 'actually needs.'
As any new parent will tell you—or aunt or uncle or anyone who's ever even held a baby for any length of time—you can never have too many onesies or changing pads for new babies. After all, they spit up and poop on any and everything in their vicinity on a regular basis for basically the entirety of their baby-hood. It's kind of babies' whole thing!
But the sister says she got a stern talking-to about her gift. "After the baby shower my sister pulled me aside and asked why I didn’t pick nothing out off her registry," she writes. She explained that she thought the gift was cute and figured the registry was just a suggestion.
"My sister got annoyed and said the registry is stuff they actually need and that I gave her useless things," she went on to say. Then her sister abruptly walked away.
The women's mom agreed that the sister should have bought off the registry.
"I guess she talked to my mom," she writes, "because my mom also said to me I should’ve just picked something from there because I know how my sister is and it would’ve helped her out."
Of course, even if there was a valid reason to be upset about the gift, the pregnant woman could have just been gracious, said thank you, and returned it for something else.
Instead, her sister has now been left "upset" by the whole experience of buying a gift for her new niece—and confused besides.
"I was excited about my gift," she says, "and wasn’t aware that the registry was so important."
RELATED: Woman Refuses To Attend Baby Showers & Weddings For People Who Just Seem To Invite Her 'For Gifts'
Many people on Reddit were just as confused as she was, and agreed she'd done nothing wrong.
Not only that, but many couldn't help but find the pregnant woman rather rude.
"Registry IS just a suggestion," one person wrote. "Gifts are supposed to be given freely and accepted graciously. She's acting entitled."
But some agreed with the pregnant woman, and thought her sister was in the wrong for ignoring the registry.
"[Registries are] so people don’t buy 5 toasters or 4 diaper genies. For a holiday or birthday? Sure get your own gift," one person said. "But weddings and baby showers you buy what’s on the registry or give a cash gift. There’s likely a reason they don’t put certain items on the list - they already have one or don’t want one."
But some still couldn't believe the pregnant woman actually got angry about the gift her sister bought, especially given her budgetary limitations.
And as a woman on TikTok pointed out, the most affordable things on baby registries are always the first thing to get snatched up, so this woman may not have had many options to choose from that she could afford.
Whatever the situation, several people felt that the pregnant woman at least could have been more polite.
"All [the people agreeing with the pregnant woman] are making me wonder if I've dropped onto an alien planet," one person quipped. "Being gracious is still the most basic of good manners," another user added. "Her sister was rude."
Another Redditor whole-heartedly agreed. "As long as a gift isn't just outright insulting, even if it's something you don't need or weren't super enthusiastic about receiving, the polite thing to do is thank someone graciously and then decide later what you'll do with a gift that isn't your style/what you want."
At the end of the day, it's called a gift, not an entitlement, right?
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.