Pricey Christmas gifts shouldn’t be “reimbursed.”

The following story involves a man whose mother-in-law chooses to give material things rather than money as Christmas presents.

She bought his daughter an expensive hair tool and asked him to pay for it.

Arguments followed when he stood his ground and told her she could have chosen a cheaper gift.

Let’s take a closer look!

AITA For Refusing To Pay My MIL For A Christmas Present She Bought For My Kid

I (42M) am the father of two children (16M and 13F).

For the past few years, my children have been very conflicted about what they want for Christmas.

They struggle to come up with present ideas for our family.

They often will just ask for money.

This man’s mother-in-law doesn’t believe in giving money as a Christmas gift.

Lots of my family is perfectly fine with just giving them some money.

Or something small just to have something to unwrap on Christmas.

However, my MIL does not believe in giving out money.

She bought my son a reasonably priced baseball bat.

She also gave him one of his grandfather’s nice golden watches.

His MIL bought an expensive hair dryer and was asking them to pay her back.

On the other hand, she bought my daughter a $450 Dyson hair dryer.

While my daughter was obviously very happy about this, both my wife and I realized the price of the gift.

When my wife confronted her about this, she claimed that she had expected a form of reimbursement.

She said it was the only thing she could find that she expected my daughter to enjoy.

He told her they are not paying for it.

This is when I stepped in.

I said she could have gotten something much cheaper if she was not looking to spend lots of money.

I made it very clear that we were not paying for her purchase.

This led to a small fight that lingered for the rest of the day.

Now, he’s wondering if he was in the wrong.

I am obviously very grateful for everything she does for my family.

And I know she truly does care about the kids and just wanted to make them happy.

But I feel I have no obligation to pay for something she chose to buy.

AITA?

Let’s find out what others have to say about this.

That’s not how a gift works, says this one.

Here’s a similar thought from this user.

This one shares their personal thoughts.

Here’s a perfect response to MIL.

Finally, short and simple.

A gift with a receipt attached isn’t really a gift at all.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.