What is the worst present you ever got?

[wenrob]

A 35 cent glass plate from Pic and Save from…my mom. I was so upset and tossed it into the trash when I got home. My DH (boyfriend at the time) kept saying “but it’s the thought that counts” and I said, “but that’s the thing, there was NO thought put into it.” I had been with her when she bought it. We had looked at a million things. It wasn’t the price I was upset about, it was that she did not know anything about me. At best it was a panic gift and at worst (and most likely) she just grabbed it and put my name on it.

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

Little bit of background - DH's family loved to wrap up a fake present and give it to someone each year as a joke. Me being the big meanie that I am immediately put a stop to that if the holiday was being celebrated at our house because 1. his mentally disabled younger sister seemed to always be the recipient and 2. it's really only funny if there is another present to replace the joke one and there usually wasn't. I guess he tried to resurrect it one year because I received a very large box, triple wrapped in the good wrapping paper. It contained junk mail, old magazines and some kind of broken computer part.

The ONLY thing that saved him that night was that the cat had torn the wrapping paper earlier and when I went to tape it back up I saw what was in it. When it was my turn to open it, I just said I already knew what it was and pushed it aside. Then he handed me a wrapped package containing batteries, which he tried to take back because he needed them for something. When SIL and BIL found out, they thought it was hysterical. It didn't end well, none of them ever wanted to celebrate at our house again and it's reason #934 why they think I'm Satan.

Just to be clear, I am not picky. I love getting socks and underwear, don't mind kitchen or cleaning gadgets, and maintain a decent variety of items on my Amazon wishlist. I do however draw the line at trash.

This was about 20 years ago, want to know if he's gotten any better? Nope, according to DS, I'm getting not one but 2 touchless faucets for our bathroom renovation. Who is the diagnosed OCD germaphobe that refuses to touch any bathroom surfaces? Not me. It doesn't bother me anymore. They'll get used and it's one less expensive thing we'll have to buy when the time comes.


On a brighter note, if you've stuck with me this far - growing up my Grandmother was really close with her younger sister. This great aunt was the black sheep of the family and wasn't welcome at any family gatherings so I was well into my 20s before I actually met her in person. She and my grandmother would always send each other a box of random gifts with a few things thrown in for the grandchildren. We LOVED these boxes because Aunt Bea was an old fashioned antique dealer, she bought entire estates and sold them in a tiny, dusty shop behind her house. Her boxes always consisted of a random assortment of things grabbed off the clearance shelf. I'd get books written in German, dishes, crocheted Christmas ornaments, scarves, and one time a book of Children's peoms that included the lovely "The Baby is Dying." I'm 51 and I still have almost everything she ever sent me. My grandmother's boxes I'm sure consisted of about the same strange stuff. When I finally met her grandaughter (we were both adults), as soon as she realized who I was she yelled out "I loved getting your grandmother's boxes, one year she sent me a pair of size 2xl glittery tights, I could put my whole body in one leg and I LOVED them!!!!!!!" It was so much fun comparing what we had gotten over the years.

 

[disney4us2002]

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. My kids had stuff and my husband and everybody was opening stuff and there was nothing left under the tree and my kids (teens, young adults then) all said "there's nothing for mom". My husband tried to cover by saying he was taking me shopping and I could select anything I wanted but I was in tears. This was about 10 years ago now and since then I have not bought one present for dh and he doesn't buy me anything either. It's just not worth the hurt. Some people are just not gifters. It is what it is.

 

[pfp258]

A dachshund dog charm for a charm bracelet. We didn’t have a dachshund or a dog. What was even worse was my husband waited until all the presents had been unwrapped and said, “oh, what this little box in the tree”? He took it out and handed it to me, imagine my surprise and confusion. My husband later claimed it was the only charm left when he did his shopping at 3:30 PM on Christmas Eve. (And to make matters worse, I was home cleaning and cooking for his family who were coming for dinner that night)

 

[NAB]

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. My kids had stuff and my husband and everybody was opening stuff and there was nothing left under the tree and my kids (teens, young adults then) all said "there's nothing for mom". My husband tried to cover by saying he was taking me shopping and I could select anything I wanted but I was in tears. This was about 10 years ago now and since then I have not bought one present for dh and he doesn't buy me anything either. It's just not worth the hurt. Some people are just not gifters. It is what it is.

I feel your pain . Last year I opened something I knew what it was I was with my husband when I bought it. Heck I even wrapped it so the kids saw us open something he to bought something when both together but I put in the the effort and bought him other things.

This year I got a Santa and a Christmas Mickey mat at Costco. I told him I wasn’t wrapping it this year. I actually got them out for Christmas…lol I got him a sound bar he wanted because he really doesn’t buy anything for himself and he does buy a lot durning the year for me and I appreciate it.

This year we will not be opening anything other then what ever we get for the kids. It is getting just to hard to come up with presents for each other.

 

[Colleen27]

I have one relative who persists in giving gifts as though she's never actually met me. Last year, it was two very pretty glass reindeer... which would have lasted about 5 minutes if I'd put them out around my three cats. She's also given me a crystal vase, a ridiculously ornate ceramic teapot, and several seasonal porcelain candy dishes/decorative bowls. It is like she thinks that the reason I don't decorate for every holiday and season is a lack of knick-knacks, rather than a lack of interest (and the aforementioned cats who like to clear off the mantle to sleep on it).

 

[Boopuff]

I have an early December birthday. The guy I was dating at the time handed me a gift and said “happy birthday and merry Christmas “ um.... what!? I opened up the gift and it was a crappy sweater. I hate sweaters, never wear them... bye bye...

 

[Lilias]

I mean, did you at least have a cat?

Yes, but we're particular about food quality and this was like... cheap Fancy feast

Only the best for our children bahaha

 

[NotUrsula]

I actually like useful gifts; they don't have to be romantic, as long as it is something I wanted and wouldn't have splurged on for myself. Last year DH got me a really giant cutting mat for Xmas; that sucker was expensive, and I *love* it, but as I'm a bit on the frugal side, I never would have bought one this size for myself, even though it makes sewing immensely easier. I even like used gifts, if they are useful vintage items.

I tend not to give really expensive gifts to anyone other than DH (though I'm perfectly willing to pay for true quality) but even when the thing costs $2, I like to think carefully about gifts and the people I'm giving them to. If it's a good gift for that person, I don't think much about the price, but I'd rather not give at all than give a bad gift. (I generally make it up later, though; I really enjoy giving people things they will like, and I give random gifts when I see things that are just right for someone.)

I have been the victim of the Christmas Candle times past counting. For the record, if the person you are giving it to has cats, candles are not normally a great all-purpose gift. The only candles I ever use are tapers that go in the candlesticks for use with my fine china table settings, because candelit meals are pretty, and the candles are never unattended there. I never use candles in any other context, because it's too much of a fire hazard with cats. (Every 5 years or so I donate an entire crate of Yankee Candles to the school rummage sale, because people keep giving me the dang things.) Same goes for delicate Christmas tree ornaments; we don't put anything that is breakable on our tree, so if you give me a personalized glass ornament, it will stay carefully wrapped in storage with all of the other breakable tchotchkes people have gifted me over the years.

My worst gift (see: breakable tchotchke) was an expensive 3" tall marble grandfather clock that was not even functional, and it came in a name-pull situation from someone who really should have known me well enough to know better. (I really hate pulling names in big families; I think it's more pleasant to give everyone a small gift that will at least give them a laugh, rather than take the chance that the one gift they get will be a dud.)

One of the best family gifts, IME, is photographs (or small keepsakes of some kind, like a hankie, or a signature piece of costume jewelry that a deceased relative used to wear). Photos don't have to be large, or framed; a copy of an old photo that recalls a special memory is almost always welcome, and it won't take up much space. I've even given high-quality copies of old letters. (You may not wear Aunt Millie's gaudy flower brooch, but if you loved Aunt Milly you might keep it in your jewelry box and smile every time you see it, which is the point -- and sometimes with this type of gift an explanatory note is called for.)

 

[NotUrsula]

I have one relative who persists in giving gifts as though she's never actually met me. Last year, it was two very pretty glass reindeer... which would have lasted about 5 minutes if I'd put them out around my three cats. She's also given me a crystal vase, a ridiculously ornate ceramic teapot, and several seasonal porcelain candy dishes/decorative bowls. It is like she thinks that the reason I don't decorate for every holiday and season is a lack of knick-knacks, rather than a lack of interest (and the aforementioned cats who like to clear off the mantle to sleep on it).

I'll bet she's a knick-knack lover? There is a horribly misguided adage floating around in the world that advises people who don't know what to give, that giving something that you'd like to receive yourself is a good tactic. WRONG. So. very. wrong. Worst idea ever. The reason that you don't know what to give is that you don't really know the recipient's taste, so the odds are that you don't share it, because if you did you would have noticed that.

 

[MamaLema]

I have a coworker that gives very interesting gifts. One year I got a calendar that you get free from the supermarket checkout. Last year she gave everyone 5 masks in a ziplock bag-the same masks that are at the front desk of our workplace for anyone to use.
One year I got a box of 4 salad plates, with 2 plates missing.

 

[Colleen27]

I'll bet she's a knick-knack lover? There is a horribly misguided adage floating around in the world that advises people who don't know what to give, that giving something that you'd like to receive yourself is a good tactic. WRONG. So. very. wrong. Worst idea ever. The reason that you don't know what to give is that you don't really know the recipient's taste, so the odds are that you don't share it, because if you did you would have noticed that.

Yep. She's the sort who changes all her knick-knacks out for every season - not just Christmas and Halloween but a different set for practically every month, Valentines and Easter and "May flowers" and 4th of July. I have three kids, a small zoo of pets, a very old house with insufficient closets, and neither the desire nor the storage space to swap out what sits on my mantle and my piano every few weeks. I think she does it because she worries she'll offend me with more practical gifts - you know, the sitcom joke about an in-law giving cookware or a vacuum as a hint - or because she feels like those bigger practical gifts she gives to DH & I as a couple aren't just for me. She does try to take my taste into account; probably half the knick-knacks she's given me through the years have been Mickey themed. But she just doesn't seem to get that I'm not a decorator or a collector, so a Mickey snowglobe or music box is just as out of place as any other fragile pretty thing in my space.

 

[DisneyHardin]

Our family tried to do the bring a generic $25 gift and we would do an exchange thing for a couple years. My mom's significant other is really big into designing tee shirts, so he would design funny tee shirts for their gifts. The problem is that our family is all different sizes. I ended up with one of his shirts one year and it was 2 sizes too small. All I could do was donate it. I was pissed because I had really put thought into finding a good gift that people would want to steal and make the game fun and I got something totally useless as my gift.

 

[disney4us2002]

Our family tried to do the bring a generic $25 gift and we would do an exchange thing for a couple years. My mom's significant other is really big into designing tee shirts, so he would design funny tee shirts for their gifts. The problem is that our family is all different sizes. I ended up with one of his shirts one year and it was 2 sizes too small. All I could do was donate it. I was pissed because I had really put thought into finding a good gift that people would want to steal and make the game fun and I got something totally useless as my gift.

I hate that game. Greedy Christmas or whatever it's called. It seems someone always gets their feelings hurt, either because they had a gift they loved that was "taken" or because they thought the gift they bought was awesome and no one wants to keep it. Now, I sit out those games. Honestly, I just find gift-giving overwhelming. I like to stick with ornament exchanges.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Little bit of background - DH's family loved to wrap up a fake present and give it to someone each year as a joke. Me being the big meanie that I am immediately put a stop to that if the holiday was being celebrated at our house because 1. his mentally disabled younger sister seemed to always be the recipient and 2. it's really only funny if there is another present to replace the joke one and there usually wasn't. I guess he tried to resurrect it one year because I received a very large box, triple wrapped in the good wrapping paper. It contained junk mail, old magazines and some kind of broken computer part.

The ONLY thing that saved him that night was that the cat had torn the wrapping paper earlier and when I went to tape it back up I saw what was in it. When it was my turn to open it, I just said I already knew what it was and pushed it aside. Then he handed me a wrapped package containing batteries, which he tried to take back because he needed them for something. When SIL and BIL found out, they thought it was hysterical. It didn't end well, none of them ever wanted to celebrate at our house again and it's reason #934 why they think I'm Satan.

Just to be clear, I am not picky. I love getting socks and underwear, don't mind kitchen or cleaning gadgets, and maintain a decent variety of items on my Amazon wishlist. I do however draw the line at trash.

This was about 20 years ago, want to know if he's gotten any better? Nope, according to DS, I'm getting not one but 2 touchless faucets for our bathroom renovation. Who is the diagnosed OCD germaphobe that refuses to touch any bathroom surfaces? Not me. It doesn't bother me anymore. They'll get used and it's one less expensive thing we'll have to buy when the time comes.


On a brighter note, if you've stuck with me this far - growing up my Grandmother was really close with her younger sister. This great aunt was the black sheep of the family and wasn't welcome at any family gatherings so I was well into my 20s before I actually met her in person. She and my grandmother would always send each other a box of random gifts with a few things thrown in for the grandchildren. We LOVED these boxes because Aunt Bea was an old fashioned antique dealer, she bought entire estates and sold them in a tiny, dusty shop behind her house. Her boxes always consisted of a random assortment of things grabbed off the clearance shelf. I'd get books written in German, dishes, crocheted Christmas ornaments, scarves, and one time a book of Children's peoms that included the lovely "The Baby is Dying." I'm 51 and I still have almost everything she ever sent me. My grandmother's boxes I'm sure consisted of about the same strange stuff. When I finally met her grandaughter (we were both adults), as soon as she realized who I was she yelled out "I loved getting your grandmother's boxes, one year she sent me a pair of size 2xl glittery tights, I could put my whole body in one leg and I LOVED them!!!!!!!" It was so much fun comparing what we had gotten over the years.

The last bit of this story makes up for the chaos of everything else. You never know what can be sold in estate sales and storage boxes. My dad always says he can kick himself in the a** for not saving all those comics he read as a teen. Granted none were mint condition when he got rid of them but he kept them organized neatly in boxes and he could’ve gotten a nice chunk of change.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. My kids had stuff and my husband and everybody was opening stuff and there was nothing left under the tree and my kids (teens, young adults then) all said "there's nothing for mom". My husband tried to cover by saying he was taking me shopping and I could select anything I wanted but I was in tears. This was about 10 years ago now and since then I have not bought one present for dh and he doesn't buy me anything either. It's just not worth the hurt. Some people are just not gifters. It is what it is.

There is no excuse for no gift. While my parents don’t do full blown gifts to each other anymore, they always get each other at least one thing be it an updated version of something they have and use or some clothes or a gift card to where they like to shop. There is no excuse that he did that and I am so sorry.

 

[Pooh2]

A lotto ticket.

Stop it, you aren't clever, you are cheap.

My mother was not talking to us one Christmas because my son did not invite his cousins who he barely knows to his wedding.
So instead of sending us a restaurant gift card as usual, she sent a $1 lotto ticket.
We won $1,000.
I did not tell her that we won, figured it would upset her more.

 

[Orion Nebula]

An expired planner.

Unless you are a time traveler it doesn't do you much good to plan for the past year.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

I hate that game. Greedy Christmas or whatever it's called. It seems someone always gets their feelings hurt, either because they had a gift they loved that was "taken" or because they thought the gift they bought was awesome and no one wants to keep it. Now, I sit out those games. Honestly, I just find gift-giving overwhelming. I like to stick with ornament exchanges.

I’ve never heard of greedy Christmas but I do like white elephant (set the amount at $40 and do some useful and fun things and you can have a really fun time and sometimes find out more about what people like for future gifts!).
I absolutely LOATHE secret Santa though. I never ever got something I wanted or even needed. I know I’m not the only one of my friends who feel this way. I actually end up organizing them for some groups I’m in because we have to participate, but I’d rather organize then be a part of it if I have to do it.

 

[NotUrsula]

There is no excuse for no gift. While my parents don’t do full blown gifts to each other anymore, they always get each other at least one thing be it an updated version of something they have and use or some clothes or a gift card to where they like to shop. There is no excuse that he did that and I am so sorry.

I've had it happen for at least 5 Christmases out of the 30 years we've been married. DH *hates* to shop, and invariably procrastinates about shopping until it's too late to order something to arrive on time. Most of the time he remembers to warn me in advance that my gift is coming later, but a few times he has forgotten that, too.

Now, funniest gift exchange happened when we let one of my young nieces play Santa and hand everyone their gifts when we were opening. She was about 7 at the time & only just learning to decipher cursive. So she reads off the tag out loud and hands me a box, and I open it, to find a pair of men's "Sexy Santa" novelty thong underpants. So, I'm sitting there looking puzzled at this item; when suddenly my sister shrieks and grabs it away from me, which, of course, draws everyone else's attention to it. Turns out it was meant to be a special gift for her BF, whose name was spelled very similar to mine (think "Roberta" vs. "Robert"); she had put the box under the tree by accident. When my mother realized what kind of gift it was & for whom, she started lecturing her about morality in front of the entire family & the half-dozen guests present; including the boyfriend the gift was meant for! Much worse than getting nothing!