Petty sister-in-law gives a woman an empty gift card for her birthday, stirring up years of gifting drama in the family

Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor

Jun 24, 2026 5:00 PM EDT

What should you get your sister-in-law for her birthday?

I'll tell you what you should NOT get her: an empty gift card.

There are a few gifts that are just downright insulting to give to someone. A $3 candle, an unfinished coffee shop punch card, or a gym membership are some of the most well-known "bad gifts," but the sister-in-law in this Reddit post from r/familydrama just reached a new low in the gift-giving department.

After the family agreed to "do gifts" this year, the first birthday date came looming around the corner. Unsure of how to gauge the price and quality of the gifts they were all expected to hand over, this sister-in-law cut corners most embarrassingly. Without as much as an apology, she gave her SIL a blank gift card to Sephora. With exactly $0 on this piece of black and white striped plastic, the SIL unwittingly went up to the check-out register and publicly embarrassed herself, insisting that there was at least a little value on the card she was given on her birthday, but boy was she wrong.

This not only stirred the pot in the family group chat, but it also blew up online as readers and witnesses marveled at the audacity of giving someone an empty gift card. Apparently, there is a gift worse than a thoughtless gift card: a thoughtless gift card with no actual money on it.

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The whole exchange is so awkward, and this is why I don't like doing forced gifts. If you don't have a good gift in mind, just don't get a gift!
I'm the type of person who, when I want something, I'll buy it for myself or save up for it. Gifts often end up as clutter pieces in my house that I can never get rid of, and the stress of receiving a useless gift that I don't want (or need) gives me more birthday anxi3ty than the dusty 1994 next to the date on my driver's license.
Gift cards are usually a great fallback for this sort of thing, but without money attached to it, what is that even worth?
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