My sister is exactly six months behind me in her pregnancy, and when I sent her the link to my baby registry last Tuesday, I attached a short note: “Just so you can see what we still need, but absolutely zero pressure to buy anything x.”
A week later, I logged in to check the status of our essentials.
My heart stopped for a second when I saw that the top item on my list—the £650 UppaBaby travel system stroller—had been marked as "purchased." Overjoyed, I immediately shot my sister a text: “Oh my god, thank you so much! I never expected you to get the big item, you are far too generous.”
Her reply arrived with the cold, casual indifference of a corporate email. “Oh no, I bought that for myself. My shower isn’t until October, and since our due dates are so close, I figured you wouldn’t mind if I used your page as a personal shopping cart. Saves me the hassle of building my own registry.”
I stared at my phone, the room suddenly feeling very warm. “But you checked it off on my live list,” I replied, trying to keep my text from reading like a scream. “
My university friend Sarah is the one who actually paid for it. She thinks she bought a gift for my baby.”
My sister’s response was instantaneous: “Well, just tell her it was a duplicate order and process the return. Then you can just Venmo me the cash value. I already routed the shipping address to my house anyway.”