to think this is so strange - present gone missing!

[whereismycandle]

Have name changed but frequent poster.

It was my birthday on Sunday & last week (Tuesday) I saw my best friend very briefly and she gave me my present to open on the day. I opened it on Sunday and she had bought me a nice box of chocolates – lovely, I like chocolates. Anyway I text her to say a generic thank you she text back have a lovely day – all’s well and I good. But I’ve just spoken to her and she didn’t get me chocolates. She bought me a very ‘naice’ candle.

How weird is that. She has absolute no reason to lie – we’ve know each other forever and don’t have ‘expectations’ in the sense that sometimes we spend a lot, sometimes we don’t. I asked if it could have got mixed up with someone else’s present and no, she had no other birthdays going on. The strangest part is the gift bag and wrapping paper were exactly what she had wrapped the candle in – but it was chocolates.

What the hell has happened to the candle? We had a laugh about it but honestly, it’s so weird!!

Right...

Biggest anticlimax ever.
It was like an episode of Johnathan creek and then...yeah, she wrapped the present whoops haha

Yes, Blanche the ends don't even tie together.

I call BS too if she’d never been to Hotel Chocolat.

🐂💩

(Sorry, only just found all the lovely emojis on my new phone! 😀)

I call bullshit...

Eh?
FFS what a let down!!

This thread still here?
Come on OP, confess all......

But she smelled the candle before wrapping it then left to get you straight away apparently. Had she actually smelled the candle then sat it down and wrapped the box of chocolates right beside it by accident..she would of a)found the candle still sitting their on her return home b) remembered she'd had two things infront of her when wrapping and instantly said perhaps I did mix the two up

UNLESS she actually only got your present en route to meeting you and it got mixed up when picked up by her or wrapped by the sales assistant and didn't want to admit she was so last minute getting and choosing you a present as it shows a lack of consideration.

Friend had your birthday and a minor event on the same week. She bought the candle and grabbed a box of chocolates with her normal shop (was it Ocado or Waitrose who stock them?). She has never been to Hotel Chocolat, and she didn't realise the box was of that brand, they just looked nice for a present and thought nothing else of it. She wrapped them both, smelled the candle and everything. Actually, chocolates might not even be for someone she knows, maybe her DH or DC got it instead, but the chocolates got wrapped with the same paper (maybe by someone else) and left around.

She took the parcel with the wrapping paper she knew, only that she did not realise they were chocolates. She called to check if you liked the candle and was super confused as in her mind she had given you the candle. She went back home and asked everyone. Someone did realise about the mix up but stayed quiet because the candle has already been given to the other person and it was £40+. Once that someone pretended not to know anything, there was not coming back from it within revealing they had lied. This someone orders that exact candle online, next working day delivery. "Look what I found! The candle!"

Surely it couldn't be that hidden away as to not find it for two days despite looking?... I think someone bought the candle again to cover the fact that they had not come forward with it and they felt embarrassed to admit the mix up.

Larry the friend is single and lives alone.

And anyway, how could friend have mistaken -even when wrapped - a chunky, heavy candle for light box of chocolates which would be approx 1x8x8 inches? Theres no resemblance whatsoever.

Biggest anticlimax ever.

Yep. It was bugging me not knowing but now I do I feel a bit deflated

It was the obvious conclusion but to deny she had wrapped the wrong present is ridiculous.

So the mystery now is where did the chocolates come from?
Friend has never bought those chocolates?
Conclusion: Friend is bonkers or OP made it up.

I see, CBA, I forgot about that.
Then... Friend bought candle as present for OP and chocolates with the grocery at another time. Some minor event was happening on the same week and she decided to wrap the chocolates and gift them. She was in a rush (hence bad wrapping). Candle into one gift bag, chocolates into another. Only that in the same rush, she took the candle to that other event. By the time she realised, she was embarrassed and pretended not to know, hoping it would go away. Presents had already been given so she was waiting for everyone to shrug it off. Once she read the thread, she realised how much of a big deal it was for OP to find out. So she bought another candle and pretended to play surprise.
Or she did indeed buy it for OP but other event came up for which she didn't have a present. She took the candle and hurrily wrapped the chocolates for OP. Later, on the phone, she forgot for a moment that she had swapped the presents and asked OP about the candle. OP mentioned the chocolates, friend was "fckfckityfck" and out of embarrassment pretended not to know what OP was talking about, mainly because the price difference was big and friend didn't want OP to think devalued with the present swap. Feeling a bit guilty, friend buys another candle and pretends to find it.

If she lives alone, there's less chance of misplacing items that were on sight at some point, since no one but her would have moved it. I definitely think friend bought a second candle and hence why it appeared only a couple of days later, despite a previous frantic search.

I had a friend who used to say something like, "I have got this for you, must remember to give it to you next time I see you." I would never see those things and it happened a few times.

Either the friend had changed her mind or wrapped the present while sleep walking but changing her mind doesn't make sense as she didn't tell the OP what was in the present. She had found out about it during a phone call. But then she doesn't remember where did she get the sweets from.

We need to call Mr Hercule Poirot to solve the mystery

Well done @whereismycandle I hope you're on commission. We'd have to be beyond stupid to spend £45 on a candle.

Sounds like she regifted and was too embarrassed to say...

Your friend probably regifted. The best before on the chocolates being close and/or it being a seasonal selection which doesn't appear to be currently available would be strong pointers in this regard (but they do have permanent ranges so not conclusive)

I feel a bit sorry for your friend as probably the only reason the candle has now appeared is because there's been a big fuss about it and chocolates are a perfectly nice gift, even if regifted, and even if a gift is totally crap, it's the gesture that counts....who knows, maybe she needs to save money?

One of 2 things has happened here:

1. Marketing ploy - OP realises she is rumbled and her continued silence is rousing further suspicion, so posts a quick, ill-thought through 'resolution' to 'prove' she was genuine.

1. @larrythecat is spot on, friend swapped the gift for some reason and momentarily forgot on the phone and enquired about the candle, too embarrassed to admit the swap she spun a tale about having wrapped the candle and having never ever bought HC chocolates, ever, honest guv.

So disappointing, I thought I had solved your mystery.

The dog ate the candle, candle smelt of chocolate when dog breathed or other! Dog walker panicked, took muddy feet off and replaced with chocs with what was left of gorgeous wrapping paper!

Oh. Really.