Expecting Mom Was Let Down by Her Birthday Gifts From Her Mom

By Messy Marge · October 9, 2026

A woman expecting her first baby turned 29 and opened the birthday box her mom sent. Most of it was for the baby: two outfits and a couple of picture books. Her own present, a coloring book with a pack of cheap colored pencils, was tucked in tissue paper at the bottom. She told her mom she was disappointed, then wondered if she was just being ungrateful.

This story was reported by TwistedSifter and comes from a post on r/AmItheAsshole. It’s one side of one family, and nobody can verify it, so I’m judging the behavior described, not the people.

The Original Post

Here’s the story in the poster’s own words, embedded straight from Reddit. If it doesn’t load, the post may have been edited or deleted; the summary below still covers it.

The Short Version

Here’s the story as TwistedSifter summarized it from the Reddit post.

The poster is an only child, pregnant with her first baby, and had just turned 29. Her mom mailed a birthday box. Inside were two baby outfits (one a clearance find), a couple of baby books, and, at the bottom in tissue paper, a coloring book from TJ Maxx with dollar-store colored pencils for the birthday girl herself.

Her mom also forgot to say happy birthday and got her age wrong. When her mom called to ask how she liked everything, the poster admitted she was disappointed. She pointed out that her mom had just been talking about buying herself new Birkenstocks, while the one thing she’d wanted was a diaper bag. She told Reddit she felt ungrateful but wished her mom had tried harder.

What the Internet Said

According to TwistedSifter, commenters mostly took her side and zeroed in on effort rather than cost. The most-quoted line: “your birthday is about you, period.” Others said they understood exactly how she felt, and one said they couldn’t just forgive and forget.

Marge’s Ruling

The poster is not the villain here. Her mom called and asked how she liked the gifts. She answered honestly. That’s not a complaint campaign, that’s a straight answer to a direct question.

And the hurt isn’t about money. Baby clothes are sweet and baby books are fine, but a birthday is the one day the gift is supposed to be about the person turning a year older. A present buried at the bottom, plus a forgotten age, tells her she was an afterthought. Pregnancy makes that sting more, not less.

Where Marge winces a little: we only have one side, and we don’t know what’s going on in her mom’s life. Forgetting an age can be a rough month, not a grudge. A sharper move than “I’m disappointed” might have been “I felt overlooked this year, can we talk?” It’s the same truth with a softer landing.

How to say a gift missed the mark

1. Thank first. “Thanks for sending a box” is true and costs nothing.
2. Talk about feelings, not price tags. “I felt forgotten” lands better than “that was cheap.”
3. Name what would help. If you want something specific, like a diaper bag, say it before the next occasion.
4. Leave room for the other side. Ask what happened. Sometimes there’s a story you don’t know.

My final word: she was asked, she answered, and she’s wondering whether she’s allowed to feel it. She is.

Cast Your Vote

Marge has ruled. Now it’s your turn: pick a side below, then see how the Goblin Tavern on Discord voted.

This story was reported by TwistedSifter and comes from Reddit. It can’t be independently verified.

Keep digging: the twin birthday cake verdict, the water heater family verdict and more Reddit drama verdicts.

Sources

• TwistedSifter: One Mom-To-Be Was Underwhelmed By Her Birthday Presents (October 9, 2026)
• Original Reddit thread in r/AmItheAsshole (as linked by TwistedSifter)