Mother asking for 'handmade' gifts for baby's christening sparks huge online debate

The forum user labelled her friends 'cheeky, ungrateful f*****s?!'

A forum user has revealed their outrage after being invited to a christening that requests only 'handmade' gifts for the child.

The Mumsnet user, known only as Carrados, has sparked an online debate after describing the details of a christening gift request on the popular forum.

The user was left feeling angry after she felt that unreasonable requests were being made on her time and money when a fellow parent specified the kind of gifts wanted for their child.

Carrados wrote describing the request, 'Christening next week for 6mo. Parents have requested handmade gifts for DD.'

She went on, 'Clearly they want lots of unique and personalised gifts for their DD, which is lovely. But I'm sh*t at crafts and also find the request a bit hmm. If I was to go for it, I really would turn up with something monumentally sh*t that would get chucked away, and would be a waste of my time and effort'.

'I suggested to DD's mother, my friend, that I bring something else and she choked through the words 'something shop bought is fine' and 'precious DD has everything she needs'. Clearly it's not.'

Showing her outrage, Carrados finished the post, 'AIBU to think cheeky, ungrateful f*****s?!'

Users responded whole-heartedly agreeing that the request was unreasonable, causing quite a stir on the site. Hundreds of replies flooded in, with the current total standing at 247.

One user replied, 'How bloody rude. I just wouldnt bring anything, just a card - handmade with scrap paper and crayon' while another chimed in, 'Holy moly. Since when do people get to make gift requests at christenings anyway. This absolutely takes the piss as far as I'm concerned and YADNBU'

Some forum users tried to offer an alternative idea such as baking or buying something hand made. One user offered, 'Go on etsy or similar and buy something that someone else has made. Doesn't say that it has to be handmade by you' while another agreed, 'Can you bake? When I'm asked for handmade stuff I usually just bake biscuits and shove them in a favour bag. I'm shit at crafts too.'

But Carrados was still struggling to find an option, 'I think handmade really means handmade.I don't want to have to lie and pretend something is handmade by me as it's been handmade by an independent seller who runs a small business and should take credit for it. Maybe I'll bake something. I'm not great but maybe some baby cookies. Still feel a bit resentful at the time and faff to do it.'

What would you do in a similar situation? Do you think it's unreasonable to ask for a specific gift for a child? Let us know in the comments below!

GoodtoKnow

Trusted, informative, and empathetic – GoodToKnow is the ultimate online destination for mums. Established in 2007, our 15-year-strong archive of content includes more than 18,000 articles, 1,500 how-to videos, and 7,000 recipes.