14-year-old niece claims aunt's expensive birthday gift is ‘lame’, aunt takes the gift back and gives it to 10-year-old nephew instead: ‘Maybe she’ll learn from this'

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Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Mar 21, 2025 6:00 AM EDT

Any aunt or uncle understands the struggle of buying a birthday present for their nieces and nephews, and believe me, the struggle is real.

There is a lot of pressure to get the perfect gift. As an aunt/uncle, you have the responsibility of being fun. You're not the parent, and you are not required to get them anything educational. It could simply be something they always wanted, but that their parents would never get them. However, figuring out what that something might be is a lot easier said than done. And you don't want anyone to end up disappointed with your gift, do you?

If you don't want to deal with this responsibility, you can always opt out by giving them money, but that is neither here nor there. It's not memorable, it's not fun, it's more of a last resort, and no fun aunt or uncle should take that route.

As much as you want to buy the right thing, we all know kids are fickle, and even if you did everything right, they still might end up disappointed. So what do you do next?

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  • Even if your birthday present wasn't what they dreamed of, they should still be grateful. You don't want them to act spoiled, or entitled, no matter how much you love them and want them to be happy.

    That is the struggle of the aunt in the story below, who is trying to teach her 14-year-old niece a lesson after she complained her birthday present wasn't what she wanted. Keep scrolling to read the full tale.

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    via BGStock72

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • "AITA for taking back my Niece’s birthday gift and giving it to her brother instead?"

    So my (32F) favorite niece (14F) is having her birthday this Sunday. I decided to buy her a nice Android phone worth about $400 using my credit card, thinking she could use it for school, communication, and
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  • social media. I was genuinely excited to give it to her, expecting she'd be happy. At first, she was excited too, until she saw the phone. Her reaction? "Why this? I wanted an
    via ItsFeline_
  • iPhone, Auntie." She then told me that most of her friends and classmates have iPhones. That stung, but I told her if she gets good grades next semester, maybe we can talk about it. She just said, "Okay."
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  • I thought that was the end of it, but as I was about to leave, I overheard her complaining: “This is so lame. I wish she just got me an iPhone." She even slammed something on the table in
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  • frustration. That honestly hurt because I worked hard to get her a decent phone, even more expensive than what I personally use. I ignored her messages after that because I needed time to cool off.
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  • The next day, I finally checked her messages. She apologized, but still insisted that she really wanted an iPhone. That's when I made a decision.
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  • I went to their house and asked for the phone back. She thought I was going to replace it with an iPhone, but I told her if she really wanted one, she could save up for it, get a part-time job, or use
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  • her allowance. (She sometimes does live selling of K-pop merch with her friends, and they use their earnings to go to fancy cafés, so I know she can save if she wants to.)
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  • Meanwhile, her younger brother (10M), who's a consistently high- achieving student, walked by, greeted me politely, and jokingly said, "Wow, new phone? Nice, I wish I had one." That made me laugh, and in the moment, I just
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  • handed him the phone and asked if he wanted it. He thought I was joking at first, but when he realized I was serious, he got so excited. He even said, "I'll pay you back when I grow up
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  • and get a job. Just don't be impatient, okay?" I laughed and told him he didn't have to. He thanked me a bunch of times and immediately asked if he could install Mobile Legends, but promised he'd still focus on school. I told him that was fine.
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    via Diana Sklarova
  • I stepped away to talk to my sister (their mom) about my niece's behavior, and she apologized, saying she'd talk to her. When I mentioned I gave the phone to her son instead, she seemed a bit surprised and
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  • said I didn't need to give him something that expensive-he would've been happy with a much cheaper one. But I told her it was fine. As I was leaving, I walked past the living room and saw my
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  • nephew happily playing on his new phone, completely absorbed in his game. His sister sat next to him, sulking. I even heard him casually say, "Auntie is so nice, she gave me a phone! I think it's expensive too."...
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  • completely unaware of how bitter his sister looked beside him. At that moment, I felt a mix of amusement and guilt. I didn't intend to be petty, I just didn't think it was right for her to act so entitled over a gift. But now I
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  • wonder if I overreacted by taking it back instead of just letting her deal with her disappointment. I don't regret giving it to my nephew, though. He was genuinely grateful, and I know
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  • he'll appreciate and take care of it. Still, I can't help but feel a little bad seeing my niece sulking. Maybe she'll learn from this, or maybe I should've handled it differently. So, AITA?
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  • Mollynoniiii You gave your niece a generous gift, and she acted entitled and ungrateful. A gift isn't a custom order. Your nephew appreciated it, so it went to the right person. Hopefully, your niece learns a lesson about gratitude
    via Mollynoniiii
  • Life_Scratch_2807 You just taught your neice a valuable lesson.
    via Life_Scratch_2807
  • Lexi_Barbie NTA, you taught your niece some manners and its very much fine. You can see how elated your nephew was over what your niece was not thankful for. Your nephew deserves it more than she does
    via Lexi_Barbie
  • RogueLacee Honestly, the fact that your nephew instantly valued it while she threw a tantrum says it all. Good call.
    via RogueLacee
  • ThrowaMac1234 NTA. Actions have consequences. Hopefully, she's learned this lesson now, and it's a permanent fix. Little brother got a bonus and great for him!
    via ThrowaMac1234

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family drama aita kids brother birthday mother siblings phone reddit story parenting aunt entitled family sister birthday present Reddit children iphone
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