Woman prepares hysterical gift basket for husband’s vasectomy: ‘The end of an era’

‘He knew it was a simple procedure, but he was still really nervous, and I wanted to make him smile,’ mother of three says

A mother of three tried to ease her husband’s nerves for his vasectomy by giving him a gift basket filled with items specifically focused on the theme of the procedure.

Ashley James took to Instagram to share her process of making the gift basket after noting that she had seen examples for the idea all over Pinterest. “The end of an era,” she began to caption the post. “Today, hubby got his procedure so I’ll be playing nurse for the week. I had to make him one of these funny gift baskets I’ve seen all over #Pinterest.”

James then filmed herself as she filled the basket with amusing items, including candy that she’d placed sperm-shaped sticky notes on. One example saw James cover the words “Sour Patch” on a box of Sour Patch Kids so that the box instead read: “No more kids”.

Other puns included Lays chips being renamed “Worry Free Lays”.

Even the basket name itself was a pun as James coined it her husband Darius’s “snip snip hooray” basket.

“He knew it was a simple procedure, but he was still really nervous, and I wanted to make him smile,” she said in an interview with Today. She explained that her husband was “extremely stressed” on the morning of his procedure.

A vasectomy is a male method of birth control that cuts the supply of sperm to the semen. It is performed by cutting and sealing the tubes that carry sperm, according to the Mayo Clinic.

“Luckily, they let me sit in the room with him. He was looking down at the ground, basically panicking,” she said. “He supported me when I was in labour, and then I got to support him.”

The procedure took roughly 15 minutes and the urologist played Caribbean music — Darius’s favourite — to lighten the mood.

“The doctor warned him: ‘This is going to sting a little bit,’” Ashley recalled to the outlet. “But it wasn’t bad because they numbed him before. It wasn’t a big deal at all.”

Ashley told Today that she and Darius couldn’t be happier with their new method of birth control. She previously had two unmedicated births — one of which lasted 44 hours.

“I can’t do it again!” she said. “I think at first we were sad about not having any more — but physically and mentally, this is the right choice for us.”

Her post ended up going viral, with many viewers applauding how funny the basket was.

“This is too cute,” one commenter wrote. “Now this is the absolute best thing I’ve seen,” another chimed in.

A few male commenters wrote that they would’ve gotten their own vasectomies even sooner had they known a gift basket was coming. “Is it too late for me to get my basket?” one person asked. Another commenter agreed, writing, “My ONLY regret in getting mine done was not getting a gift basket with a bunch of Little Debbie’s treats.”

The Independent has contacted James for comment.