Worst gift thread!

[Kymberley]

I haven't seen one of these in a while, but I always enjoy them. What's the worst gift you or someone you know has ever gotten?

I can't remember any truly horrible ones for me, but my brother, as a teen, received a CD of cover "bands" performing Britany Spears songs. I'm pretty sure that's as close to kryptonite as he's ever been. Share your stories!

[crl]

Mil has on more than one occasion sent a family gift of food that ds could
Not eat due to allergies.

Catherine

[georgiegirl]

I've got a real winner...

A white gold cross pendant from a boyfriend (of 1 year)...the kicker is I'm culturally Jewish but agnostic. And he was upset when I told him I couldn't accept it because I wouldn't feel comfortable wearing it.

[ahisma]

My dad bought DH an XXXL sweater that was channelling the 80s in a bad way. DH is a M/L. It was not a gag gift.

[BabyBearsMom]

I've got a real winner...

A white gold cross pendant from a boyfriend (of 1 year)...the kicker is I'm culturally Jewish but agnostic. And he was upset when I told him I couldn't accept it because I wouldn't feel comfortable wearing it.

Ha! I'm also culturaly Jewish. When I first started dating my DH, my now-MIL gave me a necklace that was a penny with a cross stamped out of it. DH said "Um, mom, my girlfriend is Jewish." And she responded "Just because she is Jewish doesn't mean she doesn't like pretty jewelry." It was not pretty jewelry, and even if it were beautiful, I would not wear a cross. Awkward.

[jammytoast]

I've got two:

-Used quited placemats (and by used I mean having dried food on them) as a wedding gift from an Aunt and Uncle. They went right in the trash.

-mint in box baby walker from 1970 (complete with neon daisy print plastic seat!) for DS1's first christmas from MIL. Sad thing was that she was so excited to have found this :0

[wendibird22]

Just this week I participated in a yankee swap. My original pick was a hand puffy painted wine glass that said something like "Mommy's turn to wine" on it. I was "lucky" that I was #1 in the game so I actually got to go last and trade that for any of the other items. Most were equally as bad so I traded for a bag of chocolates and a Dunkin gift card. Score! Except that I went to use the gift card yesterday and opened the gift card envelope to discover it was empty. Yup, a $10 GC or no GC was placed there.

[lizzywednesday]

The Christmas I was 15, my mother gave me a wicker basket shaped like a turtle & filled with a lace sachet of potpourri. I think she meant well, but I kind of looked at her like she was crazy and was less than grateful for it. (It ended up under my bed until my cat peed on it. Ew.)

And when I was a freshman in college, my mother's then-boyfriend (now husband) re-gifted me one of those weird food-basket things that people get/give as corporate gifts. I think it had dry-cured sausage and vacuum-packed cheese in it. My siblings, who were then 14, 12 and 10 years old, received similar "gifts" that year. Who gives a 10 year-old kid salami for Christmas? (No wonder his own kids don't like him very much ...)

[anonomom]

There was that time DH gave me ham for my birthday.

When DH and I were first together, it was clear that my MIL had no idea what to buy for me. She knew we had a cat, so one year I got a cat nightshirt, another year a cat brooch, etc. She is much better now (and she always meant well).

[Twoboos]

FIL is big on yard/estate sales and buys more junk than I can properly explain. He just sent us some two feet tall mechanical holiday figurines. Boy and girl in Victorian clothing, holding candles. They are from 1991 - saw it on the tag which crumbled in my hand when I touched it. They are BROKEN. One of the girls eyes is literally sideways in her head. Her arm and candle don't move. The boy moves but the bulb is burned out in his candle. Oh, and did I forget to mention - their faces light up from the inside. CREEPY!!!

We unpacked them, put them by the fireplace, DH took a pic to send to FIL and back in the box they went, into the deep recesses of the garage. DDs will never see them.

We were dying laughing.

[sidmand]

I remember reading a thread like this last year when someone got used underwear (yuck!) and a toddler got a cookbook for catfood (and they didn't have a cat, not that the toddler could have made it anyway!).

My worst was just funny. For an engagement present we got a book called something like, "How to Make Bread in Your Bread Machine." I thought maybe our wedding present was going to be a bread machine. Nope. We didn't have one, nor did we ever get one!

No other truly bad ones I can think of. People tried. They may not have had much idea and it might have gone in the donate or give away pile but nothing horrendous I can think of!

ETA: Inlaws meant well but I do recall them getting a lifesize cardboard cut out of Wally, the Red Sox mascot (from Dunkin' Donuts) and giving it to us to give the kids. I had to keep it in the garage forever because I felt bad tossing it because they'd know (I mean, where would you keep such a thing?).

[AnnieW625]

In 2000 I had just moved out of my parents house (after living at home for a year post college) and my future mil had just redone their bathroom and they had an extra shower curtain. Well my mil ended up not needing it and offered to give it to me as a Xmas gift. She gave me a box of Sees Nuts N Chews and I swore she knew I didn't like nuts.

[blisstwins]

I was 16 and my father had just gotten serious with a girlfriend I did not like. He used to take me with him when he traveled to Europe. Instead he started taking her. For Christmas have wrapped, in wrapping paper, a collection of coins--the spare change you cannot convert back to your currency--from the countries they had gone to because she knew I liked travel and thought I would find the coins interesting. Honestly, I wanted to throw them at her.

[megs4413]

I'm sure I've posted about it before, but my DH's grandmother buys garage sale gifts for everyone every year...and i mean a whole box for each member of the family. It's very sweet, but the gifts aren't always that practical. Highlights from past years:

-partially used bottle of lotion
-broken picture frame "repaired" with twistie ties
-pots and pans (the year we got married) that Grandma didn't realize were toys
-earrings (my ears aren't pierced)
-pre-filled Christmas "scrapbook" kind of thing with the year already filled in as 19__. Grandma thought we could just cross out the 19 on every page and it would still be good...

Stuff like that.

[AngB]

My grandmother has given us 3 crockpots over the past 10 years, the first one was after we'd been married 4 or 5 years and we definitely already had a crockpot by then. She buys them from places like Aldi's so you can't really exchange or take back, I sold them on CL.

[Binkandabee]

My MIL gave us a bag of frozen meatballs one year.

We ate them and they were good, but it was just so random!

[BabyBearsMom]

Oh, Mommylamb, I know you have a good story for this thread :waving4:

[Binkandabee]

I have to admit, I probably gave a worst gift to someone. It was my neighbor's son and he was getting married 2 weeks after DH and I got married. We were dirt poor, so I thought I'd give them the gift of a meal. I bought a baking dish, a serving spatula, lasagna noodles, kraft parmesan cheese and spaghetti sauce and put in a copy of a recipe for lasagna. Now that I think back on it, I really should have just stopped with the baking dish! I was trying to do something cool with a very limited budget and I just don't think I accomplished my goal. That was 15 years ago and I am still embarrassed about it!

[hopeful_mama]

ILs gave DD a puzzle for her 3rd birthday recently. A 1000 piece puzzle. Wasn't even a design that they might have chosen because it would really appeal to a child, just a museum/city street scene.

[wendibird22]

FIL is big on yard/estate sales and buys more junk than I can properly explain. He just sent us some two feet tall mechanical holiday figurines. Boy and girl in Victorian clothing, holding candles. They are from 1991 - saw it on the tag which crumbled in my hand when I touched it. They are BROKEN. One of the girls eyes is literally sideways in her head. Her arm and candle don't move. The boy moves but the bulb is burned out in his candle. Oh, and did I forget to mention - their faces light up from the inside. CREEPY!!!

We unpacked them, put them by the fireplace, DH took a pic to send to FIL and back in the box they went, into the deep recesses of the garage. DDs will never see them.

We were dying laughing.

I think we have a winner! Creepy is bad. Tacky is bad. Broken is bad. Creepy, tacky, and broken takes home the trophy!

[mommylamb]

I remember reading a thread like this last year when someone got used underwear (yuck!) and a toddler got a cookbook for catfood (and they didn't have a cat, not that the toddler could have made it anyway!).



Um, yeah, both of those are mine... and it was the same gift giver, though we do actually have a cat. Still a very strange choice. It was a board book. I mean, who makes a cat food cook book board book??

ETA: Here is my post on this from last year, for those of you who want the (very) gory details:


Well, here's one for worst gift ever...

I kid you not, I once got used underwear. I think I've told this story before, so if you've already read it, I'm sorry.
... one year in college, I came home for winter break and my mother told me that my parents and sister had been to my great aunt's house the Friday before and that she had given them all Hanukkah gifts. Now, my great aunt is an eccentric individual to say the least. Anyway, there were two gifts waiting for me. The first was a pair of rusty old earrings. The second was in a little bag, which I opened up to find a pair of lime green bikini underwear. Now, my great aunt is a conservative old lady... not the type who typically gives lingerie as a gift, so I found this hilarious. I walked into the other room to show my parents and sister what I'd been given so they could share in my laugh. As I hold them up, my sister points and gasps-- because she noticed the MENSTRUAL STAIN that I had missed when I first pulled them out of the bag. Yes, I'm not joking. And, my aunt had probably gone through menopause at least a couple decades before this particular holiday occasion, so I really don't think they were hers.

I've had lots of wonderful childhood gifts as well, but for me, that bad one was especially memorable!

[sunnyside]

My ex gave me a vacuum once.

[mommylamb]

So the aunt who gave me the menstrual stained underwear and gave DS1 that cat food cook book, has started giving DS1 a check at his birthday. Which is very nice of her. But a couple years ago she made it out to "DS1 first name, last name that belongs to no one in my family". Now, DS1 has DH's last name, and I didn't change mine, so I know that she couldn't remember DS1's last name, but you would think that she might have asked someone else and not just chosen a random last name. Or, even better, made the $10 check out to me and written "for DS1's birthday" on the for line....

it was nice of her all the same, and way better than used underwear.

[mommylamb]

And here is another good one (albeit not underwear quality) from yet a different aunt.

http://www.amazon.com/Skull-Alphabet-Book-Jerry-Pallotta/dp/0881069159/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1356026507&sr=8-1&keywords=ABC+skull+book The Skull alphabet book, which was given to DS1. Now, it's a different take on the alphabet to have to guess what animal each skull belongs to. But what's really strange about the book is that there are hidden pictures of dead Presidents worked into all the pages. I have no idea why.

DS1 actually really likes this book though.

[kijip]

My brother was notorious for giving his fave things to others. One year he gave me a tin of candy. His favorite candy, which he knows I don't like/eat. So my gift was eaten by him. SO thoughtful and giving.

We frequently have received gifts of HUGE amounts for holiday food catalog type stuff from my MIL and separately from my now deceased FIL. Not altogether horrible gifts but far more than we can usually eat. Once it was a huge WHEEL of Swiss cheese. For 2 people. For a while if you came to my house you didn't leave without a hunk of cheese. I still have 2 huge hams and a roasted turkey thing in my freezer. And my FIL often sent seafood in copious amounts. Like there are two of us and a baby and we find 8 enormous lobsters in dry ice on our front stoop. Once it was a surf and turf pack so large, we were laughing. I guess food says I love you and lots of food says I love you and I am ashamed at how awful it was to grow up with me?

[hollybloom24]

Used children's kitten shaped fake gold earrings with rusty posts from my father's girl friend (when I was in my 30s.)

[liz]

-pots and pans (the year we got married) that Grandma didn't realize were toys.

:hysterical:

[MizMojoLaveau]

And here is another good one (albeit not underwear quality) from yet a different aunt.

http://www.amazon.com/Skull-Alphabet-Book-Jerry-Pallotta/dp/0881069159/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1356026507&sr=8-1&keywords=ABC+skull+book The Skull alphabet book, which was given to DS1. Now, it's a different take on the alphabet to have to guess what animal each skull belongs to. But what's really strange about the book is that there are hidden pictures of dead Presidents worked into all the pages. I have no idea why.

DS1 actually really likes this book though.

I HAD to just add this to my amazon cart. Really! I think DSs would love it.

[mommylamb]

I HAD to just add this to my amazon cart. Really! I think DSs would love it.


It is an interesting alphabet book. The dead President thing is just random though.

[randomkid]

FIL is big on yard/estate sales and buys more junk than I can properly explain. He just sent us some two feet tall mechanical holiday figurines. Boy and girl in Victorian clothing, holding candles. They are from 1991 - saw it on the tag which crumbled in my hand when I touched it. They are BROKEN. One of the girls eyes is literally sideways in her head. Her arm and candle don't move. The boy moves but the bulb is burned out in his candle. Oh, and did I forget to mention - their faces light up from the inside. CREEPY!!!

We unpacked them, put them by the fireplace, DH took a pic to send to FIL and back in the box they went, into the deep recesses of the garage. DDs will never see them.

We were dying laughing.

:hysterical: Definitely hilarious! You need to post that pic - I've just gotta see!!

[BDKmom]

But what's really strange about the book is that there are hidden pictures of dead Presidents worked into all the pages. I have no idea why.

DS1 actually really likes this book though.

:hysterical: I can't stop laughing at this. How totally random. Had to do the "Look inside" feature on amazon to see this for myself.

[Meatball Mommie]

DH's grandmother (Oma) is known for her...ahem...unusual gifts. We do a "regifting" yankee swap at our family Christmas party (Oma is not present) and her gifts often make an appearance.

She gave DH and I a Hummel plate perpetual calendar for our wedding present. Sounds nice, right? Yeah, except it was only a partial gift as we ended up missing a month or two. The plates were part of a subscription and we'd receive them every month. Somehow we never got the last 2 months. To top it off, the plates were ugly - photos of real Hummel figurines placed in a staged scene...

My MIL received a birthday mug filled with candies for her birthday one year from Oma. Nice except it said "Happy Birthday, Maria" and her name is not Maria. This was from her own mother.

DH's aunt (sister of MIL, so also Oma's daughter) received a tongue scraping kit as a birthday present. Is that a hint?

[FTMLuc]

This was from my future in-laws at the time, although DH and I have been already engaged and together for 4 years, so not like she did not know me. My late MIL gave me a crushed velvet floor length broom skirt and matching top that tied in the back in fugly green color with the 80's cut and style and some ethnic Indian embroidery on it that she bought at this ethnic Indian store and suggested that I wear it work. I worked at a very conservative investment bank at the time, maybe the floor length skirt spoke conservative to her, I don't know. We are not from India or in any way related to things Indian, I have no idea what possessed her to buy this ugliness, b/c all the other gifts from them were pretty good. Could not be returned. I wish she had bought me a sari instead, I would have been able to use that at least in some way.