Basic Trope: A gift-giver tries to give someone a gift based on outdated interests.
- Straight: Uncle Bob hasn't seen his niece Alice in years. He gives her a stuffed toy as a gift, knowing that Alice loved plush toys as a kid, but Alice is now an adult and has no interest in them.
- Exaggerated:
- Uncle Bob gives Alice tons of gifts relating to a Fleeting Passionate Hobby she once had (or even an interest she only once offhandedly mentioned) every single time he sees her, in a form of Once Done, Never Forgotten.
- Uncle Bob buys Alice gifts that would be more suitable for infants, since that was the last time he saw her... despite the fact that she's an adult now.
- Downplayed: Uncle Bob buys Alice a stuffed animal as a gift. Alice isn't nearly as interested in them as an adult as she was as a kid, but still appreciates the gift anyway.
- Justified:
- Uncle Bob hasn't seen Alice in years, and thinks she's still interested in whatever she liked back then.
- Bob meant to get Alice the gift a long time ago, but was for some reason unable to obtain it and/or give it to her then.
- Inverted: Uncle Bob buys Alice — a small child — a gift that'd be more suitable for someone older than her.
- Subverted:
- Uncle Bob buys toys for his adult niece, Alice... but it turns out that Alice has a child of her own, and the gifts are for her child.
- Uncle Bob buys a stuffed toy for his adult niece, Alice, but she asked for the gift because Girls Love Stuffed Animals.
- Double Subverted:
- Alice's child is too old for the toys.
- Alice does still like stuffed animals, but Bob is giving her a kind she's not particularly interested in anymore.
- Parodied: ???
- Zig-Zagged: Uncle Bob gets multiple gifts for Alice. Some of them are things she'd still be interested in, some aren't.
- Averted:
- Uncle Bob gets Alice a gift that's related to her current interests.
- Uncle Bob doesn't get Alice a gift.
- Enforced:
- To add an Unwanted Gift Plot.
- The creators are trying to establish that Uncle Bob is a bit Innocently Insensitive and is trying to get to know Alice better after not seeing her in years, so they have him get her a gift that's related to something she's since lost interest in.
- Lampshaded: "Bob, don't you think Alice is a little old for that gift?"
- Invoked: Bob asks his friends what he should get Alice, who also haven't seen her since she was a kid. They mention an interest she had then, and suggest that she may still be interested in it.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Uncle Bob asks Alice and/or her parents what she's interested in now, so that he can give her something that she'd like.
- Discussed: "My uncle got me a toy for my birthday... my twenty-first birthday."
- Conversed: ???
- Played for Laughs: Uncle Bob buying Alice a gift that she's too old for is treated as Cringe Comedy.
- Played for Drama:
- Uncle Bob genuinely feels horrible when Alice doesn't like the gift, as all he was trying to do was get to know her better.
- Uncle Bob dies, goes missing, or something similar. Alice ends up keeping the gift as a Tragic Keepsake.
- The former interest of Alice's is now a Trigger for her. Uncle Bob doesn't know this, and is guilt-ridden when he finds out that he accidentally brought back such bad memories.
Back to Gift for an Outgrown Interest
