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Worst Holiday Gift Ever?

Puppmom

Puppmom

Ideal_Rock
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Joined
Jun 25, 2007
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3,160
Just for fun...I know gifts are nice and thoughtful and we should be grateful for them. I have never actually received a terrible gift but DH did once confide in me that he *was* going to buy me an ironing board but DD talked him out of it. :roll:

However, my friend just told me her mother is buying her the following. Can it get much worse?

So, her mother lives in an assisted living/nursing facility (you know one of those *staged* places). Her mom is well and independent and just lives in her own apartment but many are not and apparently, on average, two people per month die. :(sad Each year, they have a memorial service for everyone they lost during the year. They record it, put it on DVD and sell it. Guess what my friend's getting for Christmas? :lol:

Fess up - what's the worst gift you ever received? That was not intended to be a joke of course...
 
When I was 21, I received the WORST birthday present (a week before Christmas, so I think it counts as a holiday lol)! When you think of a 21 year old female, you're coming into your own, finally being an adult and for me, I thought I was pretty foxy! lol...well I was dating a 26-27 year old at the time who was way more mature than I was. He decided to give me my presents at midnight on my birthday which included a leather jacket (I was a vegetarian at the time and showed ZERO interest in something like this..and it was a terrible cut that was super un-flattering on me) that his sister picked out, some toe socks (this was the best part of the gift) and a night shirt...a night shirt that was a size large and had kittens on the front playing with a ball of yarn. No joke. he was dead serious when he gave it to me and thought it would be a 'cute' gift since I like cats...um, FOR REAL?! I was thinking more along the line of lingerie! Oh well, I went to my house that morning and found a package delivered from my best guy friend who had moved out of state which included a tank top and boy shorts from VS, my favorite perfume, a cd of a local band where he lived that he knew I liked and a cute little white gold and diamond heart necklace. My 'boyfriend' was PISSED when I wore the necklace out to dinner that night! Bahaha...a damn cat shirt! I still can't get over how horrified I was at opening his gifts!

Oh and I used to date this other person a few years back who would be so excited by a 'surprise' they bought for me. It would always be something terrible like office supplies (that I didn't need or want) and once I was given a garden hose (they were the most excited about this!). My DH will randomly surprise me with gifts and will tell me that while what he is giving is awesome, it doesn't hold a candle to the garden hose. That smart ass! Hahahaha! :lol:
 
In college, my three roommates and I did a gift exchange. Real gifts, not white elephant. I often made fun of Razor scooters which were fairly new and really popular at the time.

Imagine my surprise when I opened my present and found a Razor. Never used it once; I think I ended up giving it to a neighbor kid a few year later.

DH's parents are horrible gift givers. He said they've always been like that, even when he was a kid...despite him making a list. They don't have a lot of money, which is fine, since it really is the thought that counts. One year, though, they bought a $100 pen for that was also a voice recorder. DH was confused, plus he felt bad that they had spent that much on something he'd never use.
 
I had to have been about 15-16. My grandmother gave me the most AWFUL gift for Christmas!

She handed me this cute gift bag with a big smile. My family was around (usually 20+ people so the room was full) and watching as each person opened gifts. I reached into the bag and pulled out.... underwear. The bag wasn't empty yet and grandma was asking me to find what else was in there. So I reached in and pulled out an electric razor and a stick of deodorant! :sick:

Of course grandma wasn't done. She had to explain that if you aren't nicely shaved, odors can be trapped and make you smelly. :eek:


ETA:
Maybe it was the bras I got in that bag? EH. The underwear were one big event and the bras were another.
 
Last year, MIL gave me a tea set for Christmas. It had two types of tea and two mugs. I love tea so I was happy with it. Forgot about the gift until yesterday, went to go make one and the expiration date says it expired in June of 2008! Rawr! DH's side of the family has never been very good gifters but man... She gave me expired tea. Three years expired if I had drank it in 2011 when she gave it to me.
 
Oh my! There must be some in every family. I have some family that fit that category. One year the guy was with at the time and I got a set of steak knives (I'm vegetarian.)

Everyone knows I have cats. So one year I got a t shirt with cats on it from them that had the front part showing on front, and, I'm sure you can guess the back was the back end of the cats (tail up).

Another year I got a knutted brown sweater with a knitted bow on the front from them.

There's more, but it gets worse.

To their credit they do better nowadays and most of this was college.

I just give gift cards to places I know people like. At least the money's not wasted then.
 
These are hilarious!

I got a gift a few years ago from distant family who do not usually send gifts to us. We had seen them a few months earlier. They sent me two shirts and some pants --- 6 sizes larger than I wear!!!! What the heck? I was so confused but finally decided to just have a good laugh. And then drop them off at Goodwill ASAP.
 
I have another.

People seem to like to give me Asian inspired decor... Yes, I'm Asian. But I don't want every cheesy Asian thing you find.
 
When I was 19 or 20 my dad got me Duke Nukem (I think that's the name of it) and a joystick for the computer. Whaaaaaat?! :rolleyes: The other one was the beautiful coat that my now DH bought me (when I'd specifically said I'd love some inexpensive jewelry piece - something I could wear and think of him). Why was it bad? Oh, because it was two sizes too small! My face looked like this ---> ;( . I laugh now, but that's only because he's gotten MUCH better at gift giving! 8)
 
My ex mother in law gave me some perfume for christmas one year. She handed to me and said "I bought this for myself but it smells like gnats p*ss so you can have it" I was like 'erm thanks...'
hmmm.gif
 
Maise, I am sure you can take comfort in the knowledge that your XMIL was an expert on gnat p1ss.
 
LOL!!! This is a great thread! :lol:
 
One of the worst gifts I ever received was given to me by my ex-bf's mom (but for some reason these were popular at the time :confused: ). My bf and I had been out shopping the week before Christmas and had actually laughed at this very same item. So of course when I opened the gift, he started laughing and of course my face turned bright red. The gift was one of those "popcorn" shirts that is really small but stretches out when you put it on. Needless to say, I never ended up wearing it...

popcorn_shirt.jpg
 
It's worth coming out of Lurkdom to tell you about my DH's gift one Christmas. He had heard me muttering that I needed new underwear (nothing sexy or special, just every day regular underwear).

Being a Man and using a Man's logic, he looked inside my favorite professional outfit, saw 'size 10'and went to the department store to buy a sealed in plastic package of 3 yes-- you guessed it Size 10 panties!

The best part of this horrible gift is in the retelling, women all roar in laughter and men scratch their heads wondering what possibly could be wrong since DH though it out so well!

I should add that it was the last time DH ever bought me clothing. Now it's gift cards and :naughty: Jewelery
 
A scarf from my MIL that had clearly been sitting in a box in the closet for years and years! It even had the discoloration of where the scarf was folded!! :eek:
 
This thread is cracking me up!! These stories are hysterical! :lol:
 
These stories are great.

I'm not sure anymore if this was actually a holiday gift, but a year or two after we were married, DH's grandmother gave us a toaster oven.The box looked strange to me, kind of discolored and dusty. Anyway, we took it home and plugged it in to try it. First there was the awful smell of something burning up. Then, the cord actually melted at the spot where it connected to the toaster! Thank goodness we didn't just plug it in and walk away, who know what would have happened eventually. Further inspection of the box lead us the realized the item was at least 12 years old. Where she got it, or why she would have a never used, in the original box, 12+ year old toaster over, I do not know.

It's funny, but my ering stone came from her, and every other gift we received was cash. Of course, we never told her what happened.
 
I have so many.... MIL told us she would buy us a new mattress as a Christmas/marriage present. I was happy cuz that meant one less big thing we needed for the new house.

.....She gave us a mattress she had bought off someone at a yard sale. What if it had bedbugs! I mean, this things had to have germs galore!!! Ugh... Makes me sick just thinking about it.
 
VapidLapid|1355354319|3329783 said:
Maise, I am sure you can take comfort in the knowledge that your XMIL was an expert on gnat p1ss.
Click to expand...

Yes! How does she know.... the mind boggles! :lol:
 
These are hilarious! DH is currently wondering why I'm laughing aloud! :lol:

Stargurl, I remember those creepy shrunken shirts!

I thought of another. A few years back, my manager's MIL gave her a gift certificate to Weight Watchers! :shock:
 
The memories are slowly starting to surface again

Last year I got a sparkly red candle in a Texas candle holder....it went away. :)

OUCH! On that weight watchers present!
 
Awesome thread! I have a pile (literally) of dorky gifts.

Many years ago, MIL gave to DH a smoking jacket. Yes, back then he smoked, but he certainly didn't need a special jacket for it!

Here's a link if you don't know what they look like http://www.finetuxedos.com/mens-burgundy-velvet-smoking-jacket.html?size=46l&utm_source=nextag&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=bsa1

It looks like 1959! I really wonder where the heck she found it (this was before the internet), :confused: it was new and had tags! AND it was satin!

Then one Xmas my crazy hippy aunt gave me a rubber snake in a cookie tin. Yup. It was in green tissue. Have no idea what she meant or why she thought I should have it. :confused: All she said was "I just thought it was so cool." Sigh.

Way back, when I was a kid, my grandparents gave me a dictionary. "Merry Christmas, here's your giant Webster's Dictionary. Yay!"

My grandfather, who prided himself in buying gifts for $1 (way before dollar stores), gave everyone a themed pencil sharpener. I got the Victrola, my dad got a car, my uncle a globe. Three whole dollars.

OH MY GOD, here is the whole line on ebay! http://compare.ebay.com/like/130811420194?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar

Lord, I should have kept it, apparently it's worth $12 now. :rolleyes:
 
My first significant boyfriend gave me 1) fake vomit in a can and 2) a plastic keychain that said "51% sweetheart, 49% b!tch, don't push it" Uhhh, thanks? Still scratching my head about those gifts. We didn't date too long after that Christmas.
 
Tanzigrrl|1355365406|3329926 said:
My first significant boyfriend gave me 1) fake vomit in a can and 2) a plastic keychain that said "51% sweetheart, 49% b!tch, don't push it" Uhhh, thanks? Still scratching my head about those gifts. We didn't date too long after that Christmas.
Click to expand...

WOOOOOOOOOW! You were right to make him 100% dumped!
 
Best wedding present ever? Oh that would be the plastic stand up picture frame that said "On The Edge Of A Dream Prom 2005" on it. This was in a basket full of other awesome gifts, similar in nature. Some of DH's family are so damn cheap and clearly they don't understand the rules to re-gifting! I think I'm going to wrap this up and give it to one of my BM's who is really fabulous...I think we should start a tradition of taking a crazy picture of ourselves and putting it in the frame, then giving that to the next person for Christmas. I wan to make the most of this hot mess gift! :appl:
 
I got a cardboard box with a bunch of stuff wrapped in newspaper from my aunt and uncle. It turned out to be a bunch of old ugly dishes that they used to use, but had just gotten a new set. Then after I opened it my aunt handed me two dishes that she had accidentally left in the dishwasher. :shock:

The next year my parents wrapped a gift for me that they labeled "from aunt and uncle" and it was a bunch of old tupperware in a box. Ha! :lol:
 
Okay this was a birthday present, but SO once gave me a pair of running shoes and a scale! If I didn't know him so well I would have been much more offended - but to his credit, I made an Amazon wish list with those two items on it, and had talked about trying to work out (for the millionth time) so it wasn't malicious, but still such a BOY thing to do without thinking!

Last year for Christmas, he got me bath towels and an umbrella (among other great things, but still) - I told him no more practical gifts, because they're just not as fun and that's the kind of stuff I'd get from my grandmother!
 
My then boyfriend now husband got me a diet cookbook once.

Um, what exactly was he trying to say?? :angryfire:



ETA I used it to tone my upper arms by repeatedly hitting him over the head with it.

His presents now come from a pre-approved list. :praise:
 
I think I might have mentioned this one before ....

My in-laws are awesome people, but culturally, we're at two extreme ends of the scale: they're restrained Swedes, I'm a colorful Russian Jew from NYC. That said, I think their idea of my exaggerated personality is, uh ... exaggerated. Once when they were visiting, my MIL and I went to a street fair, and she saw a skirt, and she said, "OH, it is so YOU. I must get it for you for Christmas! I must! I won't have a thing to worry about, it's worth eliminating the element of surprise."

The skirt consisted of a flor-length purple silk underlayer covered with an overskirt of black net, liberally sprinkled with crimson polka-dots.

Crimson. VELVET. Polka-dots.

It looks like something a character from "La Boheme" might wear while dropping acid.

I love my MIL, and I sorta love the skirt, but that sucker only comes out on Halloween. And on visits to Sweden, of course: I'm a big believer in living up to people's expectations. It's actually inspired me to put together a whole vacation wardrobe: I'm not sure if the Christmas skirt is my keystone, or if that honor is reserved for the 70s lame skirt in a sick Mexican-inspired purple-and-orange metallic color scheme I found at a flea market in Paris .....
 
Trillium|1355354986|3329793 said:
It's worth coming out of Lurkdom to tell you about my DH's gift one Christmas. He had heard me muttering that I needed new underwear (nothing sexy or special, just every day regular underwear).

Being a Man and using a Man's logic, he looked inside my favorite professional outfit, saw 'size 10'and went to the department store to buy a sealed in plastic package of 3 yes-- you guessed it Size 10 panties!

The best part of this horrible gift is in the retelling, women all roar in laughter and men scratch their heads wondering what possibly could be wrong since DH though it out so well!

I should add that it was the last time DH ever bought me clothing. Now it's gift cards and :naughty: Jewelery
Click to expand...

I had no idea how panty sizing goes. I didn't even know there was a number associated with them. LOL.

These are hilarious.
 
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