A family Christmas gift exchange didn't go according to plan in one household last month, after a couple decided that their gift was going to be a baby scan picture.
The annual exchange saw each adult participant agree to spend $20 on each other, with a Google document being shared around for ideas and inspiration.
However, writing on Reddit’s AITA forum, one family member was left shocked by her brother and sister-in-law’s idea of a ‘Christmas gift’.
“When it came to swapping presents, my sister-in-law Kelsey and brother Kyle asked to go last as they had something special they wanted everyone to open together,” the father-to-be’s sister revealed on the forum.
To the family’s alarm and confusion, Kelsey and Kyle “spent $5 per person” on a “sonogram picture in a cheap dollar store frame.”
There was also “a note saying ‘$35 has been donated to the baby in your name’ and a 2XL shirt with puffy paint that said BABY BELLA 2022.”
“‘Do you want to finish the exchange? This is great news, but we have to be heading home so if you want to get the rest of the presents,” he said he told the couple.
To their surprise, Kelsey responded: “‘That is the gift.’”
According to the Reddit post, this caused an argument to break out between Kyle and his dad.
The father returned to the room where the family had gathered and announced: “Everyone can take their gifts back for Kyle and Kelsey, because this is bulls**t, and they knew exactly what they were doing.”
“A few people did take their gifts back and left,” the Redditor added. “But the rest of us sort of sat there until it calmed down and then went home.”
A “real” gift was subsequently delivered by Kyle a few days later to apologise for the stunt, although it's safe to say that didn't exact diffuse the situation completely.
“‘Kelsey has been crying about it for days now, so thank Dad for ruining the surprise,’” he said, before asking his sister whether she liked the surprise to which she bluntly responded, “no”.
The Redditor slammed their idea at the gift exchange as “cheap”, saying that it “ ruined the spirit of the exchange.”
The vast majority of replies on Reddit appeared to be in agreement, with one person stating the “dad was correct that it was a BS move”.
