Not fishing, not whining, just wondering

[Amaya]

So I had a good Christmas yesterday morning. Got a good "haul" of presents and, more importantly, got to spend it with my immediate family. No complaints whatsoever. But I'm wondering about the status of one gift I had asked for, and I'm having trouble thinking of a polite way to do it.

I couldn't really think of many things I "wanted" as gifts this year, but one suggestion I'd made to my parents was a gift subscription to Hulu. (For anyone who's not familiar with Hulu, there are plenty of different time frames you can purchase for the length of the gift subscription -- from one month up to one year -- with corresponding prices ranging from super-cheap to pretty high-end.)

I've been thinking about subscribing for a few months now, so I decided that I would suggest it to my parents as a possible gift idea, and if they happened to not get me this particular gift, I'd most likely get it for myself anyway. I had also told them that IF they were interested in getting me a subscription, I'd be happy with any length of time they chose. But as you may have guessed, Christmas morning came and went, with no subscription in sight.

Again, I've got no complaints or sour grapes, and if they chose not to get me this particular gift, that's perfectly fine. However, I've now got a potentially awkward situation: both my parents also have a tendency to get someone a gift, forget about it (or forget where they stashed it), then stumble across it weeks later. Meanwhile, I don't want to just go ahead and buy my own subscription, or I run the risk of creating a duplicate. I'd like to just check in with them and ask whether they did get it for me and just forgot about it, or whether they didn't get it period.

But I have no idea how to go about this without sounding grabby or whiny, or worse: making them feel guilty and signing me up on-the-spot for the most expensive subscription. (That's not out of the realm of possibility for them, either, I'm afraid. :/) Any suggestions?

[turtleIScream]

I don't have any experience with Hulu, but I have had other services gifted in duplicate. Every time, the service provider has simply extended the subscription time frame.

So, go ahead and start your own subscription. If you do find out later that your parents also purchased one, contact customer service. There should be no need to ask your parents about it.

[JillyJ]

I personally would just get it myself and if somehow in a few weeks it turned out they got it for you, I would work with Hulu to credit your account with the extra subscription time.  Even with the history, you'd essentially be asking, "Are you sure you didn't get me any more presents?" which seems rude to me no matter how you slice it.

[sevenday]

As others said, most places that have "giftable" subscription time will just append the "gifted" time to the existing subscription.  What you could do is simply try out Hulu+ for a month, and then make a remark to your parents along the lines of, "Hey, remember we talked about Hulu before? Well, I decided to try it out, and got a month. It's pretty cool."  Then if one of them remembers that they DID get you a subscription but forgot to give it to you, you can say "Wow, that's great, I get more time! Thank you!"  If they didn't actually get you a subscription, then there's no harm done in making that remark. 

[MommyPenguin]

I'm with the others in that I wouldn't ask them.  I'd either just get it myself (and if they find a gift subscription they meant to give you, credit that to your account).

If you do talk to them regularly, though, and especially if you got any money for Christmas, you might slip into your chat what you're going to do.  "I've been really loving my new scarf and hat, I wore it to a party last night.  Oh, and I decided what I'm going to do with that check from Grandma.  I've been wanting to get a subscription from Hulu, so I'm going to put it towards that.  I always love having something specific to write in the thank-you note."  Etc.  Just mention in passing that you're going to get a subscription to Hulu.  If they got you something, that will probably jog the memory.

But I've had that experience with magazine subscriptions, accidentally resubscribing twice.  They just credit the extra months to your account, so instead of a year's subscription you have two years'.  Etc.  Should be the same for Hulu.

[KenveeB]

I'd follow MommyPenguin's suggestion and mention that you're going to subscribe to Hulu.  Not in a "if you didn't get it for me, I will" way, but just "here's how I'm spending my Christmas money" or "oh, yeah, NewSeason is about to start, I need to remember to get that Hulu subscription I was wanting."

[Only me]

HI

Couldn't you just contact Hulu and verify if there is a sub scription already in your name?

Onlyme