Dad 'Furious' With Wife for Selling Daughter's Birthday Present Applauded

A mom who sold her daughter's birthday present as she claimed it was "too expensive" has been panned online.

Redditor u/Several_Champion3434, the girl's dad, shared the family drama to the site's Am I The A**hole forum on Wednesday, and it can be read here.

Entitled "AITA for being furious with my wife for returning our daughter's birthday gift?", the 40-year-old explained he and his wife, 41, have been married for 12 years and share a son and daughter.

His little girl, turning 8, wanted a Nintendo Switch, which didn't go down well with her mom, who was "more frugal with money" since recently losing her job.

While it wasn't specified where the family is based, the official Nintendo site sells the console for $299.99.

It's a popular choice among consumers, with research published earlier this year by Statista showing the gaming device sold 28.83 million units in the 2021 fiscal year.

The site said: "Nintendo's newest home console is the Nintendo switch, which was released worldwide on March 3, 2017. The Switch sold around 2.74 million units in its first month, making it Nintendo's fastest selling home console and exceeding initial projections."

There's no concrete data revealing how much parents spend on average for kids' birthdays, but research published last year unveiled how much moms and dads lavish at Christmas.

Statista quizzed parents over their spending habits in the run-up to December 25th last year, with 12 percent saying they'd pay up to $25.

Some 19 percent claimed they'd spend between $25 and $50, while the most—21 percent—had a budget of $50 to $100.

Fourteen percent were forking out between $100 to $150, and only 9 percent were willing to spend between $150 and $200, while a staggering 16 percent were ringing up a bill of more than $200—which would mean a switch could be on their list. Two percent admitted they wouldn't spend a dime.

In the post, the dad said: "I am still working and am happy to provide for the family. I have no issue with saving money. We have been planning daughter's birthday party and my wife has made it clear that the budget is $50."

The mom bought all the birthday decorations from the dollar store, which the dad was fine with, but she also told her daughter she could only invite five friends to save money.

The dad, who bought the cake and pizza for the event, continued: "Daughter told us that she wanted a Nintendo switch. My wife looked up the price for one and told her that it was too expensive. I found a switch online for a good price and purchased it."

But his wife was outraged he bought the gift, despite the youngster being "so excited" to receive the console.

"When everything calmed down, my wife started yelling at me for purchasing the console. I told her that I got the system for a good price," he added.

He claimed after picking her up from school one day, she discovered the Switch was missing from her bedroom.

He revealed: "My wife comes home handing me some money and tells me that she sold the switch and got the money back. I started screaming at her for selling the switch and upsetting our daughter.

"Her reasoning was that daughter wasn't letting brother use the console and that I spent money we didn't have."

After the fallout, his wife packed a bag to stay with her sister, as he confirmed he'd bought his daughter another Switch.

"SIL thinks I am being a horrible husband and not respecting my wife's decision on saving money," he signed off the post saying.

Despite his in-law's view, Redditors overwhelmingly agreed with the dad's actions, as TaterMA wrote: "Oh this was a power play. OP [original poster] better protect his daughter. Wife didn't say we didn't have the money, said daughter didn't share."

CanAmHockeyNut said: "No, he didn't say she returned it, he said she SOLD it. Big difference and it makes it an even s***tier action! NTA."

Doinggood9 commented: "I mean I think you can extrapolate from the story that OP's wife is neurotic. Who would go sell a used switch that was a gift to their daughter? That is insane. And she probably got less back selling it to some rando on fb marketplace lol. NTA [not the a**hole] at all."

Newsweek reached out to u/Several_Champion3434 for comment. We could not verify the details of the case.