Were gag gifts a tradition in your family?

[kenny]

They were in mine.
I just recalled one ...

My brother farted a lot.
One Xmas my dad wrapped up a cork in a huge and uniquely-shaped box, that was the size of a pricey gift that my bro was hoping for.
Bro was so excited when unwrapping the gift, but mad as hell when he saw the cork.
Of course, the whole family laughed our @sses off.

 

[Polished]

Not really. I have a sister in law who is forever washing, literally has always grabbed everything in sight for an appointment with the washing machine. One year I got this rinky dinky miniature washing powder box that was a sample with a larger one I bought. I wrapped it up and gave it to her for Christmas. She so didn't think it was funny.

My brother in law and sister in law used to have a tradition of giving each other the worst, most kitsch Christmas decoration they could find. The tradition lapsed and one year I bought them a Christmas fetus (it held a little candy cane) decoration - two and I pretended it was from them to each other. They probably don't do them anymore.

 

[Missy]

I wouldn’t call them gag gifts. We used to exchange fun small gifts with a very dear family whom with we were great friends.

Ernestine was so filled with joy and love and cheer. I’ve never met anyone like her. We exchanged fun gifts. Silly gifts. Stuffed animals. Weird figurines. Fun Ts. More that I cannot remember. Talk about polar opposites. Her DH was as serious as they come. As generous as she was he was cheap. Their sons lovely. We loved the entire family. We used to vacation with them. Cruises for weeks. Never a dull moment.

She died of an early onset aggressive Alzheimer’s. She got it in her 40s and was dead by 50. That was decades ago. RIP sweet Ernestine. The world was better off when you were in it with us.

I miss her.

 

[Missy]

Idk if these are considered gag gifts but my mom used to give us silly things in addition to a cash gift for special occasions. Like nightgowns with cats on them. Fun objects. She doesn’t do that anymore because inevitably I couldn’t wear/use what she gave me so I guess not a gag gift. Lol. She just wanted to personalize the gift giving experience besides giving cash. I appreciated the energy she put into these gifts.

 

[Slickk]

My brother and I got real coal in our Christmas stockings one year! Still laugh about it!

 

[Polabowla]

@missy Nightgowns with cats sound adorable! I had a silk style scarf with all sorts of cats all over. It was very cute, unfortunately it got lost .
No gag gifts in my family

 

[Calliecake]

Yes, some of our happiest Christmas memories were the gag gifts my husbands side of the family gave each other. Every year at least one person got a really funny gift mixed in with the other gifts. We still laugh about them.

 

[Missy]

@missy Nightgowns with cats sound adorable! I had a silk style scarf with all sorts of cats all over. It was very cute, unfortunately it got lost .
No gag gifts in my family

I would have loved wearing it but I am super sensitive to materials and it just didn't work for me. I am sorry you lost your silk cat scarf. I would be happy to search for another for you if you would like...just give me some details as to size/material (all silk or a combo) and weight etc.

 

[Missy]

My brother and I got real coal in our Christmas stockings one year! Still laugh about it!

LOL think about what you could do with that coal now...

 

[pearlsngems]

My maternal grandmother (who lived on the other side of our duplex) and my father gave gag gifts to each other.

One year she gave him an "executive pacifier" ( a huge pink pacifier in a box). He got her back by giving her a sandwich size plastic Baggie and a toothpick (the baggie for her to pas gas into and the toothpick to pop the bag.)

 

[Rons Wolfe]

Not so much gag gifts, but my brother and I used to do practical jokes on each other. That went on several years, then we seemed to outgrow it. After a few dry years my brother tried one that was lame. So I had a nice 'Welcome to NAMBLA' membership packet printed up, just for him. Full color logo on the envelope and all. I had it sent to his work. He's a cop.

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

Sure, we do a yankee swap with DH's ginormous maternal extended family Christmas party every year. Everyone tries to find weird/fun/cool stuff.

 

[Cozystitches]

Yes....but they're more fun gifts. Background: I have 5 younger sisters. A few years ago my baby sister took a less than flattering selfie on the sister who's closest in age to me (call her S). So, that Christmas, S made that picture into sheets of 1x2" stickers. And put them onto the baby's present. Well....I asked S for the picture.....and made fabric from that picture.....and made microwave bowls for the baby. And then video taped her opening them on Christmas morning. In front of the whole family. Best.Gift.EVER!

Pictures of said gift and baby sister:

 

[Karl_K]

We had a gag wrapping tradition.
Get someone say a new wallet but wrap it in a big box with a bag of pennies to make it heavy and rattle. Sometimes used a brick.
My wifey was not ammused when I did it to her so do not do it anymore.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

Not growing up but we have done this to my SIL (DH’s sister).

Probably the best one was when we gave her a really nice gift but we wrapped it in a whole roll of plastic wrap, in layers (so she couldn’t just unroll it) and with ketchup packets in each layer. We literally saved all our ketchup packets over a year to make this happen. It was epic watching her open it.

We have also wrapped her gifts in packing tape layer after layer with multiple boxes. We don’t make it easy that’s for sure!

 

[Made in London]

When I was very young,my Aunt & Uncle used to spend every Christmas with us.They all used to practical joke each other to see who could give the weirdest gifts like a fake dog turd placed in a slipper.There was a whoopi-cushion & the one that caused the biggest reaction was an old wooden toilet seat carefully wrapped in a beautiful box with ribbons & bows.

 

[MrsBlue]

We had a gag wrapping tradition.
Get someone say a new wallet but wrap it in a big box with a bag of pennies to make it heavy and rattle. Sometimes used a brick.
My wifey was not ammused when I did it to her so do not do it anymore.

Hilarious!

My relatives are notorious squeezers and shakers so I made a point of packing gifts in oddly shaped boxes with random loose objects inside to maximize rattling.

 

[iluvshinythings]

My cousins and siblings started the gag gift traditions when we were adults. We have a contest every year to see who could give the most tasteless gift. If an item was found on the clearance rack, we give bonus points for that and leave the sticker attached. I'd probably offend most everyone with some of the tamer ones so I'll let you use your imagination. Everyone has school age children (except myself) now so we've calmed it down to items that can be opened in front of children. I received a little rubber unicorn keychain that poops glitter when squeezed last year. I don't carry it on my keychain but I do leave it in my top desk drawer and kind of giggle to myself every time I see it. We see who can buy the most obnoxious gift for each child too. Lots of pianos, drums, and anything with a siren have been popular. The adults just get a gag gift, but we buy a gag gift and a real gift for the kids for the holidays.

Once I wrapped an empty box for my aunt. I had actually bought her something nice but in all the chaos, just wrapped an empty box and put her name on the tag. My brother claimed it was a fart-in-a-box and now it's a tradition that someone gets an empty box with "fart-in-a-box" written in big, fat magic marker on the box under the paper. I hate it when it's my turn for that because I do not want to throw something like that in my own garbage.

I look like a perfectly normal, sweet grandma type and no one besides my family will ever know how twisted I can be. (except our friends that play cards against humanity with us - you really find out the twisted ones with that)