to bin DD's present

[CanStopWillStop]

A friend gave DD a gift for her birthday yesterday. It's a Christmas dress. Not particularly keen on it tbh, but I always appreciate any gifts for my kids and will almost always take a picture of the kids in the outfit, or bring the kids to see said friend wearing their gifted outfit.

The issue I have is the dress has a huge security tag on it. I don't believe my friend would have stolen it, but not sure what to do.

The tag is in a very obvious/uncomfortable place so DD can't wear it or even try it on really. I don't think I can donate a dress which has a security tag, and I feel awkward telling my friend as I don't want her to try to fix the situation by taking it back etc. It also feels wasteful to bin it, but not sure what to do without a receipt or asking for one. I've never taken a security tag off an item before, wouldn't even know where to start or if it's ethical.

Halp lol.

If she is your friend, close enough to give your daughter presents, why would you not ask her?

Cut around the security tag and sew/mwnd up the space left....ta da......I bought a top once the security tag left on I cut it off and stitchef up the gap.....

Just tell your friend, she can go back with it with the receipt and have the security tag removed. I had to return an item with one and it was no problem.

@AccidentalWhippet Don't go to the shop. I once went back to Sainsbury's (had lost the receipt) and the customer service desk person rather than removing the tag kept the item as they said I might have just picked it up from the shop. This was in spite of the security guy coming over and telling them that he had seen me walk straight from the entrance to the customer service desk. They weren't very nice about it either. Basically said I'd stolen the item

You had no proof of purchase and brought a tagged item to the service desk to ask for it to be removed?! Are you surprised that they thought that you could have just walked up with it from the shop floor?

Never stolen a thing in my life but used to shop at a place where they'd forget to take off the tags every so often.

If you don't mind keeping it, you can find videos how to take them off online, different tags will have different methods. Generally though, you don't need tools, usually a match/lighter and a knife.

Otherwise, just ask for the receipt claiming it's for them to take the tag off and hopefully you can go back and swap it, if not then the tag is off at the very least. You could always donate it.

I honestly thought that your issue would be that your friend bought a Xmas gift for your DD's birthday! I have 2 children with December birthdays, one is next week, and the fact that it was a Xmas dress would piss me off far more than the security tag! My aunt used to send DC1 birthday present wrapped in Xmas paper, his birthday is 3rd December. So after the third year this happened my mother insisted on keeping it back and when Aunt kicked off that I hadnt thanked her she said "Oh, Pyong and I assumed it was his Xmas present as it was wrapped in Xmas paper". The next year it was wrapped in birthday paper and the year after, gifts for everyones birthday stopped, at the Aunts insistence (a result for my mother, she had been fighting for this for years, we have a large family)

FWIW, its actually quite easy to remove a tag. I had to do it when I bought a dress in London and got home to the Midlands to realise that the (independent) shop hadnt removed it. A pair of tin snips or needle nose pliers do the job!

This!

Klepto friend aside, why are you being so sneery about a “novelty dress”? It’s Christmas for goodness sake, when better to wear a Christmas dress?? Your daughter will probably love it, or is she only allowed to wear tastefully curated neutrals to look good on the ‘gram?

The attitude that you just bin a perfectly serviceable outfit is everything that’s wrong with society today.

I take it that it’s a Cinderella dress or similar. Return the dress to your friend to get the tags removed. My dd loved dressing up when little. If your dd doesn’t like it, another will and we have enough clothes in landfill without adding more.

Oops. It’s a Christmas dress. Very cute.

This

I honestly thought that your issue would be that your friend bought a Xmas gift for your DD's birthday!

I'm embarrassed to say that I completely missed this very important point - although it appears that just about everybody else did too.

I don't want her to try to fix the situation by taking it back etc

But this is exactly what she should do! Why is that in any way awkward?

Yep, I agree.

But this is exactly what she should do! Why is that in any way awkward?

In case she nicked it. It would be the same asking somebody for a receipt to exchange a present for a different size or colour when they had no receipt - because they 'bought' it with five-finger discount.

So your first thought was your friend possibly stole the dress?! 😳 I have to say I would be questioning my friendships.

“Oh, hey friend, I went to put DD in your lovely Christmas dress but it’s got the tag still on - nightmare! YouTube says it’s easy to get off without going to the shop - can I borrow your pliers?”

Then she can either say ‘Shit! I’ve still got the receipt, I’ll take it back to the shop’ or ‘Shit! Shop must have forgot, no worries, I’ll pop round and get it off for you’.

No one is accused of stealing, all sorted.

Don’t put it in the bin whatever you do.

I once bought some gloves in a presentation box from a Ben Sherman outlet store for a present for a friend. She found a tag on it, gave it back to me and I took it back to be removed. No drama .

This sounds good to me!

Tell the friend. If she’s a real friend (seems she is, as she has a borrowable toolbox) she will get the tag removed. If she stole it, she’ll remove it herself. No problem.

Why on earth are you talking about binning it, it is really annoying but not unusual for shops to forget to remove tags and your friend obviously didn’t notice. My worst one was a DVD I bought for my kids when younger to watch on Christmas Eve (evening), I had just put it away in the bag it came in and when I took it out there was a tag. We managed to break the box and get it out but I was so pissed off. It was obviously a mistake.

So your first thought was your friend possibly stole the dress?! 😳 I have to say I would be questioning my friendships.

OP's initial thinking was "I don't believe my friend would have stolen it" - but then later conceded that it might have been a possibility.

How is this easier that "hey friend, you'll never guess what, there's a security tag on the dress you gave DD! Don't suppose you have the receipt so I can get it removed?"

If she nicked it, she'll say no and you can bin it. If she's got the receipt, she will probably offer to take care of it herself. Why would you pretend to have the dress already? It doesn't solve anything!

She didn’t say that at all!

Just tell her! What is wrong with people! I'd be annoyed if I had purchased something and the tag had been left on, then my friend didn't tell me about it. And if she stole it, and you tell her, well then it serves her right! It sounds like a mistake to me