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!!

Oh I'm gutted on your behalf. I was given a Neom candle once. The best scented candle ever! Please find out where it's gone 🤞

Your DP has got to be behind this.

Yes, someone swapping the gifts and pinching the candle now seems the most likely thing. Even more so given the large price difference and the untidy (hasty?) wrapping.
So we now need a character list for all possible people, anyone at all who was in your house, after the arrival of the gift .
*dons monocle and tweed deerstalker

I now want both a box of HC chocs and a Neom candle, am off to browse..

Phew @PabloTescobar has solved it!

No other explanation!
This is so strange!!!

Have you tried messaging everyone to say thank you for the chocolates but as there was no name on the label you aren’t sure who they are from?

Yeah this is a load of shite 😂

A random and highly unlikely theory :

your friend is having money difficulties which she's really embarrassed about. She wanted to buy you a gift in the price range of the candle but really couldn't afford it so bought and wrapped the chocolates. She claimed she'd bought the candle to save fave knowing that you'll presume that either someone else has done something clever and swapped them or it's down to the paranormal and that there's no way you would suspect her.

• save face

Yes, someone swapping the gifts and pinching the candle now seems the most likely thing. Even more so given the large price difference and the untidy (hasty?) wrapping.

But how would the present-switcher know the value of the wrapped candle before they unwrapped it? You think they unwrapped it on the offchance?

And who would do that?!

Expensive present disappears, - cheaper present that looks hastily wrapped in same wrapping paper as missing present.

Who knew it was a candle? Who had access?

How many presents did you get for your birthday? I think the chocolates were from somebody else, and the wrapped candle is still in your house.

Have you properly searched - in the bins and stuff?

Something has happened to that candle.

My guess is that it will be found blood stained at the edge of the village green, not far away from the body of the cousin of the lord of the manor (played by a well known actor who has never been seen in the area before)

Sorry if I have missed this detail somewhere but was the candle giving friend at the house when you handed the chocolates around?

I want to know too... spooktacular

What about the friends you shared the chocolate with - could they have got to the candle?

If your friend chose the wrapping paper because it was a colour she knew you liked, someone else might have chosen the same paper for the same reason. I think someone has given you two presents, something plus the chocolates, and you thought that the chocolates were your friend's gift. Though that doesn't explain why your friends card was in the gift bag. I think you will find the still wrapped candle somewhere, and when you find it, you will remember what happened.

Could there be 2 presents.
1 candle from friend and 1 box of crocs from someone else coincidentally wrapped in the same paper and you put them both in the same room and only picked 1 up forgetting about the other?

Yep I know - long shot..

I had a 'friend' accidentally muddle up two presents and then refuse to hand over the correct present to the intended recipient. They were angry at the recipient and didn't think they deserved the present. They had to be forced to hand over the present.

A few years later they insisted on being responsible for buying my gift from a work collection. They bought me something very low value - others knew how much cash had been collected and insisted she take it back for a refund. They insisted she returned the money to them and got me something appropriate.

We don't know if she was in debt or something but both times it seemed she was upset with or jealous of the recipient and didn't feel they deserved a treat.

X post Arpafeelie, we're obviously geniuses 😁

You can get Hotel Chocolat stuff on ocado. In case that throws any light...

I agree with you both, Arpafeelie and Cleanermaidcook. The candle is somewhere in the house (maybe a bin) and the chocolates were from somebody else who has the same taste in wrapping paper as candle giver's friend, but not the same gift wrapping skills.

Your friend wrapped the candle and left it on the side to bring over to see you. Your friend's DP is having an affair, and had bought the chocolates for his ladyfriend, but decided he needed to impress her more than a £10 box of chocolates so he did the switch. Hence the poorly wrapped chocolates.

Good theory but Ariela but the friend lives alone. The switch seems to have happened at the OPs home.

your friend is having money difficulties which she's really embarrassed about

I have to say this was my first thought as well. Friend bought the chocs but pretended they were an expensive candle.