The holiday season is filled with traditions, and one of the most iconic among them is getting hold of family holiday cards. When an 18-year-old girl, who goes by u/daisydelo on Reddit, felt left out after her parents excluded her from the family pictures, she took matters into her own hands. In a Reddit post, she shared the story of how she decided to pull off a prank on her parents by posing for cheesy “family” pictures with her friends and sending those out instead.
She gave a brief introduction about her family and herself, “I was born to a teen mom, my mom had me at 17. She later married my stepdad and they had my siblings who are 9 and 12 respectively. I’m 18 and in college now.” The 18-year-old revealed how she was excluded from the family photo, “Before Easter, I was at college. And I found out that my mom and stepdad took family photos without me for the cards.”
She told the audience how her mom tried to justify the decision instead of apologizing. “My mom said that it was just because she needed them printed in time and I was at college… But college is only 25 minutes away and I feel like my stepdad is resentful that their family includes some other guy’s child. He also described the photo as of “close family” but then backpedaled and said I just wasn’t as close physically because I’m at college,” she wrote.
The 18-year-old mentioned how she had decided to prank her family and as part of her joke, she included her siblings and friends. Describing the prank, she said, “And we took deliberately cheesy family photos, all wearing blue jeans and jean jackets. My friends dressed as my mom and stepdad, my female friend wore a bald cap to be my stepdad, and my male friend wore a wig and a denim dress to be my mom.” She lauded her friend who was “talented with makeup and honestly did a great job making them look like them.”
The woman described, “We took a bunch of pictures, with props and picked a favorite of us all standing in silly action poses wearing raccoon skin hats. Between the makeup, hair, and big hats, we all agreed my friends looked like my parents when the picture was postcard-sized. It was honestly a really fun photo, really different than the serious ones my family always takes.” The woman revealed how she took the prank to the next level by swapping the cards in the envelopes her mom had prepared and resealing them with the sort of stickers she used.
She later revealed that her prank came off successful and even turned out to be a hit amongst other family members. She added that her joke was eventually caught when her “aunt sent a photo of the card to the family group chat and asked her mom, “This isn’t you, is it?” The woman revealed, “My mom was furious at me for sending out the joke cards and embarrassing the family, and also for not sending the cards she had made and written in.”
But the daughter had an apt reply ready for her mom. “I told her that I didn’t get why she was upset about being left out of the family photo, apparently, it isn’t a big deal to be treated like you’re not part of the family!” In response, her mother had said she and her husband felt mocked by having “crossdressers” in the photo. The 18-year-old replied, “I said that I just wanted a photo with my close family, just like my stepdad did and I consider those friends of mine my closest family! Because I guess that’s just something we can choose now! My mom got so mad at me for ‘sassing’ her that she told me to leave and I went back to college.”
The Reddit post has received over 15,000 upvotes and has seen tons of comments in support of the young woman. One user, u/MerelyWhelmed1, commented, “I’m totally on board for this. It’s exactly how their level of callousness should be addressed…with pointed humor. Well done!! I especially love that you don’t hold anything against your siblings, and hope you continue to have the loving relationship with them that allows for this kind of thing.” Another user, u/Disastrous-Bee-1557, joked, “I hope you have something equally awesome planned for when they try this again at Christmas.”
