She Demanded He Return His Sister’s Custom Birthday Gift for Being “Inappropriate”—Then Got Publicly Exposed in Front of the Whole Family
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If you grew up watching The Parent Trap and the Olsen Twins’ movies, the chances are you longed for a twin at some point. A sibling who goes on adventures with you, has an intrinsic bond with you, with whom you can communicate on an almost subliminal level. But for most of us that was not reality – though of course, in the end we were able to find similar bonds with friends, pets, or romantic partners as we grew up.
The woman in this story though was fortunate to grow up with a twin brother, and they spent much of their childhood playing with Lego together. In fact, this was such a beloved past time that they were both inspired when it came to their recent shared birthday – but their gifts to one another were not to everybody’s taste.
Read on to find out what happened.
AITA for” showing up” my brother’s girlfriend by getting him a birthday gift he liked more and not warning her I was getting a big gift?
I (25, female) have a twin brother (25, male).
Growing up our favourite pastime was building Lego together. Our family couldn’t afford it often so the sets we had were treasured and we’d always buy bags of loose bricks from charity shops whenever we saw them.
It was a major bonding time for us making things together and my brother claims that those days of playing with Lego is what inspired him to go on and become an architect.
Let’s see how this childhood past time led to a heartwarming situation as adults.
It was our birthday on Friday and we had a small thing with family – my boyfriend of three years (27, male) was there and so was my brother’s girlfriend of two years (24, female).
During the gift exchange we left each other’s presents to last as we always have, and opened our respective gifts. They were very nice and enjoyable, nothing to complain about on either side.
When we exchanged gifts however it led to some laughs and delight on both sides. I got him the Neuschwanstein Castle Lego set and he got me the Notre Dame Lego set.
He clearly loved his gift and was going on about how excited he was to build it and how he’d be spending his next day off working on it. He showed a lot more enthusiasm for this than the watch his girlfriend got him, though he had clearly liked that too.
But her brother’s girlfriend wasn’t so charmed by the gift.
Since then his girlfriend has reached out to me insisting I tried to show her up deliberately by getting him a gift he’d like more, and how she was trying to treat him like an adult with her gift while I was encouraging him to be childish. She also thinks we somehow planned this gift exchange as we both got Lego for each other.
I had to tell her no, it is just something we have always enjoyed together and it’s just natural we’d do this. I also told her than I had no intention of showing her up but that if she really wanted to win the day with gifts she should have considered his interests and not worried about what seems appropriate for an adult.
She then pivoted to the fact that she is his girlfriend and I should have warned her I was getting an expensive gift. I pointed out my brother didn’t warn my boyfriend but she insists that doesn’t matter. That I should have.
Was I in the wrong for not giving her warning and leading to her feeling “shown up” as a result? I have never felt the need to give warning when my brother dated but maybe I should have?
AITA?
Honestly, this girlfriend is just jealous that her boyfriend was more excited about a gift he got from his sister than the gift he’d received from her.
Instead of joining in the fun and actually being happy for the twins on their birthday, she used the opportunity to be possessive and try to mark her territory. Perhaps she’s jealous that there is a woman in her boyfriend’s life who might always be just as close to him as she will be. But there is no way that this twin sister overstepped by getting her brother a gift that he loved.
Let’s see what folks on Reddit made of this.
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This person thought that the girlfriend was clearly showing who she was – and it was not a good look.
While this twin chimed in with her own advice.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a group trip that sours when additional guests are added without agreement.
Meanwhile, this Redditor showed a green flag partner response.
It’s very clear that the girlfriend is not only upset that her boyfriend wasn’t as giddy with excitement about the watch as he was with the Lego. And why would he be? A watch is a watch. Sure it might be a nice watch, but it’s not an interactive thing that you can get a lot of joy out of – it’s decorative, but it’s practical too. And she might want her boyfriend to act like an adult all the time, but repressing his inner child is unhealthy – actually letting him have fun (yes, even as an adult) is an important thing that if she cares about him she won’t try to limit.
But the main issue here is the jealousy she clearly holds towards his twin. Because the twin has been beside her boyfriend since the day they were both born and they know one another so well that a partner – particularly in the early years of a relationship – might always feel like they’re playing catch-up. The truth is though, they occupy very different roles in his life and that is just something that she needs to be okay with. If she can’t accept that her boyfriend has a twin sister that he’s close to, then she needs to reconsider whether she wants to be in a relationship with him at all.
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