AIBU to be frustrated by repeated wolf-themed gifts?

I like owls but in the wild and I’m not a fan of tacky owl related paraphernalia - unfortunately my best friend seems to believe I am.

For years I’ve received owl candle holders, a handbag with a painted owl on (when I have a large handbag collection and wouldn’t ever use something like that) owl key rings with my name on in diamanté, stuffed toys, t shirts and tea towels and one year two enormous framed pictures with owls done using bright multi coloured diamond art.
The owls in the pictures looked possessed like they were preparing for attack and when the light hit the little gems it could have blinded someone.

My decor in my home is completely the opposite and chosen carefully, there was nowhere to put those two giant pictures and have them as an unwanted focal point

My DP suggested staging a robbery (If you ever watched the king of queens you’ll get it) and saying our taste is so boring they must have only wanted the stylish owl pictures but I just told my friend we were deciding on the best place to put them and then stashed them in a cupboard.
She mentioned it a few times but I
would stick to the story and say I still hadn’t decided and faked enthusiasm over the next load of unwanted tat!

A woman started where I work and somehow the rumour reached her about my owl “obsession” and on her second shift she presented me with a very expensive real gold owl necklace.

I have no idea why and tried to refuse it but she cried so I was forced to wear it to work every day and she complimented me on it every day.
I think she was just lonely and trying to do a nice thing to make friends but I was so relieved when I moved on from that job.
She did give me a lovely leaving card with an owl on it and suggested we stay in touch but I sadly “lost” her number 😆.

When we were first together (and very young) DH and I drove past some cows. I'd had a few drinks so I mooed out the window at them and told DH I like cows. Then MIL bought me cow stuff for years. Cow picture frames, bin, novelty items for the home. So awkward at Christmas unwrapping all the shit every year in front of everyone with DH secretly smirking at me.

I once said I liked kiwis to my dad the week before I went to uni. Week later her showed up, in Scotland to see how I was doing… with a fucking shit load of kiwis. Industrial quantities of them… he still always gives me them or has them in when I go to his. I’ve never had the heart to tell him I’m not actually that keen on them. I just liked them a bit when I was 17 because I heard they were good for your sleep. I think you either need to tell her or just accept that she’s trying to be nice.

You're going to have to tell her you've joined an anti-capitalist minimalist movement and now fundamentally oppose clutter and buying new stuff. You're having a clear out and all future birthday celebrations are limited to meals out together which she's welcome to give you as a gift. Anything else will go straight to the foodbank/charity shop

Your post made me howl with laughter! (See what i did there 😉)

Honestly it’s the funniest thing I’ve read in ages.

My mum really loved frogs so as kids me and db started buying her frog themed birthday presents. Her favourites were a frog shaped wicker waste paper basket and a frog ceramic holder for pot-scourers. Absolutely bonkers. I wonder if in the end it was a bit too much but bless her she always smiled and said she loved the gifts.

The only people I see wearing wolf fleeces are barmy old women who are rotund with straggely grey hair and a lack teeth. Is that how your Mother sees you?

Thats just an excuse for you to go out and howl at the full moon eh! 🤣

I’m sorry but this is cracking me up 😂
Could you tell her you used to love them but you’ve gone off them? Maybe you saw a documentary that traumatised you or something?!

At least it wasnt a furry wolf costume...maybe next year though! 🤣🤣🤣

I can relate to a point. As a kid I loved cats. They are still my favourite animal. So for years I got cat related things mainly from one sister. Fortunately she has stopped that now. My DD has always liked foxes and this same sister will buy her anything fox related. I did tell her a couple years ago that she’d pretty much grown out of the foxes fixation. I also told my other sister to remind her that she wasn’t 12 anymore…
Tell your mother you are no longer liking wolves and you already have too many themed gifts. If she’s offended? So what.

Have a sit-down talk and explain that you find it triggering to have wolf stuff given to you, because you change into a real wolf every lunar month.

As a child, I had an aunt and uncle who collected antique milk bottles, you know, like old glass milk bottles with the logo of the dairy on them. It’s a thing apparently. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Whole conventions dedicated to it as a hobby.

I made the mistake of feigning interest in their collection aged about 10. Big mistake.

Every birthday and Christmas until I was about 25, I got a milk bottle! 🤣 Now joke is probably on me because I still have them all somewhere packed away in boxes. They’re at least another 20 years older and rarer now and probably some are worth some money. But made me want to poke my eye out every birthday for many years. 😂

OP, this really made me laugh. Thank you for posting this.

(Although in all seriousness I can appreciate how annoying it must be to have all this random wolfie paraphernalia which you don't want!)

Yep, pretty much. She didn’t want them in her flat because she didn’t have enough space. Then, she proceeded to palm them off to DP, whose flat was even smaller!

That reminds me, I’ll have to ask if she wants them back…

Isn't it lucky there's so much cool and stylish wolf stuff out there 😂

Sorry but this is really, really funny.

When I was a kid my dad did the same thing with Hello Kitty. I liked it for a few months as a young teen but went off it fairly quickly. He thought I still liked it when I was 19 and was still buying me merch…

I‘m quite jealous of my son‘s parents-in-law as he likes them so much, so I was quite pleased when his wife said she wished I was in charge of choosing gifts from her mother, as I‘m so good at choosing what she likes

So she got all the fun of doing piss easy paintings and some other poor sucker had to store her works of genius.

Sorry OP, but I’m howling at this (pun intended).

My DP was in the same situation a few years ago when her DM went through a paint by numbers phase. Her DM loved paint by numbers, but didn’t want to keep any of the paintings herself, so she’d unload them onto DP.

DP didn’t want them either, so they’ve been stored in a cupboard for years. MIL got the hint eventually.

As she’s not listening, just start doing it back to her.

Pick something she mildly finds inoffensive like a garden gnome and then give her gnomes for every birthday and Christmas.

My ex sister in law got it in her head that my mum loved frogs 🐸, she has never loved frogs, she just had 1 frogs ornament in the garden by her water feature. For as long as she was married to my brother she bought my mum frog ornaments as "she collects them" she did not collect them, the only frogs ornaments she owned bar the garden one were the ones my sister in law had bought 🤣🤣. It did give us a good laugh watching these frogs multiply every bday and Christmas 😆. My mum never did tell her.

I'm sorry but your post reminded me of an episode of The Apprentice where the team had to market a "wolf spirit jacket" on a shopping channel.

I think you will feel a lot better if you just get rid of all that stuff down the charity shop. Keep one blanket you can chuck over the bed if your mum stays. Crackers to have a room stuffed full of stuff you don't like.