Dad jokes are fun– most of the time, according to dads– but one girl from Michigan begged to differ because her dad made a dad joke out of her gift. She asked for a mini laptop and was instead given a Minnie Mouse laptop on one of her birthdays. This core memory has since become a subject of fascination online or perhaps even a new ongoing joke for dads who have daughters.
22-year-old TikTok user and artist Layna Noelle, aka daemonicroots, is the girl in question, well, she is a woman now, and what happened between her and her dad took place 11 years ago. Thankfully, her dad captured the footage himself, and Noelle “cherished” the memory so much as she shared it belatedly on her TikTok account:
It was presumably Layna Noelle’s 11th birthday, and as a girl gradually transitioning into her teenage years, she was growing more interested in tech. So she asked for a mini laptop for her birthday, but her dad thought that a dad joke would’ve completed the occasion and promptly got her a Minnie laptop for a 5-year-old.
Now, for people who are worried that Noelle might have developed daddy issues because of the joke at her expense, she clarified in her post that her dad actually got her the actual mini laptop she asked for, likely after he had his laughs with the dad joke. So crisis averted. Noelle thankfully now looks back on the joke and appreciates her most memorable birthday ever, made by an especially playful dad.
People Were Reminded of Their Own Funny Gift Pranks
While Layna Noelle’s experience on her 11th birthday immediately became a harmless joke, some people who have seen her TikTok video were reminded of their very own semi-traumatic experience with their parents. Some people online who were adopted had their adoptive parents pull a similar prank on them, such as Reddit user JaydedHorror‘s case:
“I was newly adopted after being raised in an abusive/neglectful environment. We did not do much for Christmas. My new family thought it would be funny to give me coal for Christmas as a prank. I sobbed and genuinely thought that Santa thought I had been bad. They had real presents wrapped for after. But I’ve never forgotten that lol”
Other people were not so lucky as they had parents or step-parents who were serious about not giving them gifts for special occasions like Christmas. Reddit user Psychological-Tax801 recalls this memory after seeing just how heartbroken Layna Noelle was initially at her joke gift:
“Aw man, I get it’s a joke for dad but damn the tone of this :(
When I was 12, my father remarried to someone who hated me and she told my father that I didn’t deserve Christmas presents. They wrapped a bunch of empty Christmas presents for me, made me open every empty box, and filmed the whole thing for proof to my younger siblings that if you’re “a bad kid” then God will tell Santa and you don’t get presents lol. Still pisses me off to this day.”
Sadly, some people also didn’t find Layna Noelle’s case funny, even though her dad really gave her the gift she wanted afterward. That or they didn’t know that Noelle’s dad was merely joking. Because other parents are serious and wouldn’t dare pull something like this even as a joke, at least according to user ScytherSlash:
“Ah yes, ruining your child’s birthday is so funny. Listen, I get it if you can’t afford an actual laptop. But you dont have to pull a mean prank like this. Im sure there are plenty of other gifts you could have gotten her that she would have liked. Or just be honest and say ‘Its not that I dont want to get it for you, we just can’t right now. Let’s try picking out more affordable things we can do to have fun, ok?’ Respect your children, please.”
