Reply to My mom didn’t like her birthday gift, wants me to buy her a new one. Normal?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I purchased a gift for my mom’s birthday at the end of November. The gift was something she’d talked about, and was for one of her hobbies.

She accepted the gift graciously then texted a few hours later to say it wasn’t quite what she wanted and I can return it while she’s away traveling for the next 3 weeks.

Fast forward one month later - after Christmas - my dad calls to ask if I’m  planning to buy my mom a different birthday gift to replace the gift that was returned. He said she’s still waiting for her gift and feeling forgotten. I can buy another gift… but now this just feels awkward.

Is this normal? Do people buy replacement gifts?  I grew up with this behavior around gift giving with parents and it caused a lot of anxiety for me. Looking for objective advice - Did I drop the ball here? 
[/quote]

buy your mom a miss manners book with a birthday card attached.

In future either don’t do gifts and take them out for a meal (or just write a card) or if you do, attach a gift receipt and she can return it herself and get what she wants.  She sounds very high maintenance.

My mom always buys me crap I don’t want/ need without a receipt.  I’m gracious but always donate it.  It would be much easier with a gift receipt or no gift at all!  I don’t ever mention to it to her because it’s rude and she’s proud of what she bought.  I started asking for specific things, like this year, I wanted new sheets in a certain color so I sent her three links with various price points and she didn’t get them. It’s fine I’ll buy them myself but I usually like to buy a luxury for a gift someone won’t buy for themselves.  It seems silly to buy myself expensive sheets. I have one set of sheets we got for our wedding shower 12 years ago.  We had one other set that ripped. She mentioned she didn’t like the color so didn’t order the sheets.

It’s hard to buy for her because she loves knick knacks and has more stuff than anyone I know.  I would rather get her an experience or take her on a short trip, but she wants stuff.

Set boundaries with your parents.  That behavior isn’t really normal, but who is normal I guess.  [/quote]

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