No "thank you" - would this bother you?

[disykat]

Maybe because money is tight she thought you were giving them to her to use as presents from she and the boyfriend.

She was. The problem is she doesn't know if they were. She isn't expecting thank you notes from the kids because she didn't give them to the kids. However, I think it's very reasonable to have expected someone to say "we got the gifts for the kids, thanks!" At least the sister could have said "I passed along the gifts" so she'd know the kids were going to get them.

 

[rie'smom]

She was. The problem is she doesn't know if they were. She isn't expecting thank you notes from the kids because she didn't give them to the kids. However, I think it's very reasonable to have expected someone to say "we got the gifts for the kids, thanks!" At least the sister could have said "I passed along the gifts" so she'd know the kids were going to get them.

Her sister should absolutely thank her. OP, that was very generous of you.

 

[EllenFrasier]

She was. The problem is she doesn't know if they were. She isn't expecting thank you notes from the kids because she didn't give them to the kids. However, I think it's very reasonable to have expected someone to say "we got the gifts for the kids, thanks!" At least the sister could have said "I passed along the gifts" so she'd know the kids were going to get them.

Exactly! I had told my sister that they were not from me, that they could give the gifts to the kids from the parents or from Santa - just to give them some additional gifts under the tree. So now to ask my sister if she got the gifts is sort of looking for credit for giving her the gifts or something. I'm thinking that maybe she was just so busy with the holidays that she forgot to mention that she had the gifts. So, I'll ask my Mom some day if she passed the bag of gifts on to my sister. Ugh.

 

[cm8]

Okay, here is the background. My sister's daughter (my niece) had two children with a boyfriend and then got married. They never moved in together and the relationship ended. Now she is engaged to be married and lives with her fiancee with the two children. This relationship appears to be working out and they are happy. They both work hard to live on their own, but this Christmas things were really tight so they didn't have a lot of money for gifts. I decided when I was out getting gifts for my kids and surfing the web for deals, I would keep a lookout for gifts for her boys for them to put under the tree.

So I ended up getting a couple of games, two boxes of hotwheels cars, and a Mr. Potato Head tent with velcro pieces that could be attached on the outside of the tent. I didn't wrap the toys and told my sister that she could just give them to her daughter to put under the tree from them or from Santa or whoever. I do not normally give my nieces kids gifts, we just did not start with Christmas gifts and I didn't want to start now. We give them birthday gifts if they have a party or something.

Anyway, I brought the bag of toys down to my Mom's house (my sister and her husband live there with my Mom) and told my mother that the bag was for my sister. I never heard anything from my sister - I thought she'd at least send me any email saying "thanks for the toys" or something so I'd know she got them. I mentioned it to my other sister who talks to her more often on the phone, etc. and she didn't say anything either.

So now I'm not sure she got the gifts or what. Now if it was me and someone did that for my daughter, I would at least let them know that the gifts were received. I would probably go out of my way to say something about them too - like how much I thought the kids might like them, etc. Nothing - not a peep.

I suppose I did say they were not really a gift from me, just something for them to put under the tree to help out, but still I would like to know they got them. When I go down to my Mom's think I'll hint around and see if she ever gave the bag to my sister...

Call your sis and see if she received it. I think it was very nice of you to do what you did.

 

[shortbun]

Why not just ask. Say,'I didn't hear anything and just wanted to make sure the kids got the stuff.' Don't be coy, just ask.

 

[tasha99]

Just ask. It's only a couple days after Christmas though, so if she was going to send you a card, it's a little early for it to arrive.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I would call the niece and see if she got the toys from you. If you don't normally talk to your niece then I suppose you are not going to get a call.

I would make the effort to call her.

 

[hambirg]

I'm thinking that the niece may not even know they were from you. And it is still fairly early after the holidays. . .but if it were me, I would just call the sister and ask, "Hey, did Mom give you the gifts to pass along to the kids?" Then you wouldn't have to wonder.