Inappropriate present, hideous bookends and me in drag!!!!

[confusedgoldilocks]

I love christmas, and I love christmas presents, I got my best friend a lovely calendar showing photos that were precious to me throughout the year of all the good times we have shared, in return, and this is so strange, I got two bookends, which have obviously been handmade, but look like my face, but in a grotesque punch and judy way, I'm not sure whether they are supposed to look so scary, but they are hideous, I actually had nightmares about them last night, and on top of that, a smaller 3D figurine which is basically me looking like a drag queen in hideous blonde hair and a massive red bow, they obviously took a long time and I get that, but I wonder what they are trying to tell me, they have sent me a message asking what I think of them and I really don't know what to say, to be honest, Im quite upset they see me that way. Im just a normal person who loves christmas, I was hoping for tickets to see a christmas carol or something like that.

Hence what generous presents?

What value have you placed on the unseen bookends and the worthless little bust of Bette Davis in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

This is what she wanted tickets to.

www.oldvictheatre.com/?_gl=11jeij17_gcl_awR0NMLjE3NjY3NjQzMzkuRUFJYUlRb2JDaE1Jd09HYWc4N2JrUU1Wb1pGUUJoMVJ5UmJyRUFBWUFTQUFFZ0tkUlBEX0J3RQ.._gcl_au*OTgzNDA3NjQ2LjE3NjY3NjQzMzg.

This is very true. I’d hate this calendar present as

1. we use a family calendar on our phones - haven’t used a hanging one for years.
2. I don’t particularly like looking at photos of me. Very picky what I put up in the house and on FB.

Your present to her is clearly all about you, maybe they’re trying to make a point in that it’s a bit grotesque.

OP please can you come back and explain how it came about that you offered to pay for a meal out in the first place? It’s an extraordinarily generous thing to do and in my circle of friends and family has only happened a small handful of times eg a special birthday, and even then often the host has only done it because they have known that people who they really wanted to be there wouldn’t otherwise have had the means to attend. And if your finances are so tight that multiple cards were rejected on the night, why didn’t you check the prices before you offered this gift? This is before I even start on the logic of you then expecting really expensive theatre tickets when they were already so out of pocket, I just cannot get my head around this!

This is before I even start on the logic of you then expecting really expensive theatre tickets when they were already so out of pocket, I just cannot get my head around this!

@Poutingtrout tnis is what is blowing my mind too! I cannot fathom how OP had this experience in the restaurant, admitted she knows it was highly embarassing for her friends, yet is still assuming they’ll buy her £300 concert tickets for Christmas, when all she’s got them is a £30 photo calendar (made up of HER fave pics, not the recipients!).

I feel like theres a lot of back story to this and maybe the OP has form for being a cheapskate/cf/pisstaker and is known for this in her friends and family circle. And this is a mean joke to get you back. It would explain asking the brother to film it.

Maybe they are not very good at hand made stuff.I have gifts that wont see the light of day as well.I would reply that they are a bit of a laugh .and clear a nice space in the back of my drawer for them!

I think it was a jokey present. If you had just gone out for a meal b4 Christmas I really feel that the bookends had already been done. I have a 3d printer it takes effort to size things right to print, to create a print , and the print process can take sometimes days. It’s not something you could turn out in say a day! Plus the painting finishing . The bookends kind of seem to me like a caricature type thing.

Please come back OP! This thread is helping my hangover

Seriously- you are being really odd about this.

You said you would pay, then they had to pay because you had no money?

The book end is fantastic, but you clearly lack a sense of humour.

I'm almost certain I have read this exact story before on mumsnet? With the same photo posted. Anyone else have deja vu?

Have they given everyone a toby jug-style book end of themselves?...they might be finding it all hilarious putting pics through the 3D printer and seeing how the caricatures turn out

Many thanks for the replies, all of which gave good food for thought, I should provide some background, I guess I am just a normal everyday person that got caught in a whirlwind of doubt and anxiety over this, and the replies gave a good balanced view which was actually quite helpful. To give some background, we are good friends, and we do have a history of playing practical jokes on each other, so I can see the funny side of it now, we tend to take turns over christmas with one of us buying an expensive present, and the other a cheap one on alternate years, so I should have probably explained this was my year for the cheap present, during the meal they were both laughing because I am a bit scatterbrained about money but I guess next day, sometimes everything can look glass half empty instead of half full .

No I am not Trans.

This morning I was about to throw the box out that had the bookends and I found half hidden away my ticket for the old vic, so they came down and there were hugs and all the sillyness was swept away.

It was interesting watching you all play devils advocate and all opinions were taken on board.

Thanks everyone for your contribution,

Happy New Year xx

Did ye, aye?

Hmm, happy ever after then

This has got to be the weirdest MN thread ever

Is someone trying out some material for a comedy show?

Needs work if so

😂

Everything sorted now

If this is true, and not just the OP saving face and shutting down, the friends paid for dinner and the ticket?

There are still some weird power dynamics going on.

This whole thread is so bizarre and also you’ve got a very low opinion of your friend that you think she’d do some weird, time consuming bullying just because you buggered up a Christmas meal.

Are you going to pay them back for the meal now?

I’ve just read OP’s last post and… what? Hours of desperate upset to then magically remember they get each other joke presents. Rightyo

I somehow don't buy that, sorry @confusedgoldilocks Your friends sound weirdly generous, but also just weird.

None of it makes sense.

After seeing the recording of you, why didn't your friend message you to ask if you'd seen the theatre ticket?