Worst Christmas present ever???
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Worst Christmas present ever???
Okay all, I know that getting presents is not the true meaning of the season.
BUT, after reading Tunnia's post about her lovely gift from her mil, I had to ask.
What is the worst gift you have ever received?
For Christmas last year, my aunt, who does not care for me much, and never has (long story, lots of jealousy issues on her part...) bought all the females in the family a set of small travel cases and a small set of bath stuff.
Everyone but me. I received a small gift bag. When I opened it I found a ziplock baggie with a couple small bars of soap you receive from a hotel, and a bottle of hotel shampoo and hotel lotion. And they were old, and the labels were faded and tearing, and the soap was so old that it was crumbling and left a powdery residue all over the inside of the bag.
I could not believe that she would be so blatently obvious! But I should really thank her because my hubby, sister, and my mother, and I have had such good laughs over this and we still mention it and laugh.
My sister and I had bought my mother a very nice expensive bath set from Bath and Body Works for Christmas last year, so we took out the basket we got for her and placed my lovely set in the bag. At the time she didn't know that I had received that. We laughed so hard at the look on her face when she opened it. She was very relieved to receive her real gift.
And my bil told my sister when they were staying in a hotel a few months ago that they should have saved their soaps and shampoos for my Christmas gift!
So, can you all top that one!?!?
OK you asked, I have a few....
Lets see... a petite extra small nightgown when I was pregnant. It was a way of making me feel fat.
I receive a check when everyone else is given thoughtful gifts.
Nothing at all from a relative we spent over $100 on---and is a very wealthy relative!
My son received an Ello set with gardenia scented beads and flowers (obvious regift)
Another regift--a "vase" that basically looked like half a fish bowl. Ooops wedding card was on it still.
Oh yes, a complete set of various flavored nuts to my hubby who NEVER EVER eats nuts (from his sister who should know that).
Funny? All the above are from the same set of people...inlaws/outlaws!
I just remember a really ugly shirt, when I was a teenager, from my grandma. It was par for the course with her. She just didn't seem to know how to shop. When we started getting checks at some point, I really wasn't hurt.
As a child my worst gift was a barbie house. You see I was in 7th grade and it was the exact same as my younger cousin, who was in 1st grade. Her sister was in 8th grade and she got the coolest clothes and make up.
As an adult, my hubby wins, one year he bought me stuff to like my car better. The thought was nice, the car was having issues and had 90K miles on it, and I wanted a new car, but it wasn't in the budget. So he bought me white plastic hubcabs (eww!!!) and a center console cupholder (expect I had a parking break there). Probably even funnier was the fact that we had said, no gifts that won't fit in a stocking, we were trying to save $$. So he copied the boxes and then shrunk them in size and put the pictures in the stocking. What a man 
My sMIL tries, kind of. One year we asked for green "bath sheets", she bought towels, blue I think, and small bath towels. Which would have been fine, except she said, "i know it isn't what you wanted, but I didn't feel like looking so much and just bought something so you can return it and get what you want".
My grandpa used to buy me and my sister boy stuff every year. It kind of became a joke. I do still have the farmall tractor he gave me though and I wouldn't give it up for the world now. I still remember the overalls and the brown plastic digital watch. UUGH!
I got this sweater from my bil. The thing is that it was more of a "pretty on a 50 yr old lady" sort of sweater...and i was 22!
When i was a teenager my grandparents gave me a sweater with a big teddy bear on it, and the tummy on the bear was furry! LOL.
It would have been cute for a little kid, but not 16 yr old!
Sarah is 16 and got scrapping scissors and a make it and bake it bowl kit.
Make and Bake Bowls
It is for 9 and up. She graciously accepted it, but wasn't real thrilled with the bowls, or the scissors. She would rather have music. Emily got the same stuff and was a lot more interested in it. Of course, the nephew, was shocked when we told him Sarah was a junior in high school, so maybe they thought she was younger than she is!
Emily, on the other hand was thrilled with the scissors because she thought they would come in handy for posters for school. Nobody is really into scrapping here!
LOL, Dawn! I got my dd the Make It and Bake It bowls, and she is so excited. Oh, did I mention she is NINE??? Hehe! I can definitely understand why your 16 year old is not so excited!
Yeah, I can understand why your 9yo would be thrilled! Although, she did open up the box and look at the contents!
I think my worst gift would have been cabbage patch kids, a stroller and a bunch of barbies/stuffed animals! I was 12 and soooooo not nor had I ever been into dolls, I was such a tom boy. At the time my mother was a single mom living with this woman (also a single mom) who had a daughter 3 years younger than me and they got us IDENTICAL things right down to the same stuffed toys etc. you couldn't tell any of it apart. *sigh*
I would have much preferred books and new rollerskates lol
My 23 yo stepson wins... Last yr 1 pr of ugly socks. The yr before an old, opened basket of bath and body works set- unwrapped... And he bought Blake a gift and gave it to him in front of his step brother's, who he bought nothing for.
A horrible, HORRIBLE jacket type thing from my mom, maybe 15 years ago. And when I say *jacket type thing*, that is just what it was - because it wasn't exactly a jacket, it wasn't a sweater, it wasn't heavy enough to be either of those, but it certainly wasn't a shirt either, and it was this puke green color, and HUGE! I remember opening the box, taking it out, and just staring at it, trying to think of something to say. I kept opening my mouth like a fish and no words would come out. I couldn't even manage a Thank You.
Conni, that was rude of your stepson to give a used gift and than to only give a gift to one of the boys.
Karen, it must have been REALLY ugly!
For my wedding, I got a hideous bedspread, all black and white and geometric. It was the ugliest thing I had ever seen and I knew it would never, EVER, go on any bed in my house. I think we finally took it to St. Vincent de Paul. On the video of the present-opening, I have the worst poker face in the world. Fortunately, the people who gave it to me, weren't at the gift-opening!
I'm sure there's more, but one was actually this year. It's a very small resin-type dog planter. This is supposed to be a Jack Russell Terrier, but instead it looks like a mix between a few different dogs, and it looks like one of those cheap $1 store deals. I grow no plants in the house and it's headed for the trash can as soon as my dd is done playing with it.
I know I got lots of dumb gifts from my G'ma as a child but I can't remember those!
My mil is something else! It's not that she can't afford nice gifts. She buys whatever she wants for herself regardless of the cost. We have tried to give her lists and tell her what we or the kids would like in the past, but she cuts us off and tells us that "I never give people gifts that they ask for". Then if we don't ooh and aah over the junk she gives us she gets mad at us and rants and raves about how ungrateful we are. I guess you'd call it a Catch-22, huh? Anyway, I can't remember all the junk from the past 13 years, but I can top the lazy susan gift she gave me this year.
I would have to say the worst thing she has ever given me was the used food mixer with rust and old food crusted on it. The kicker was that she tried to pass it off as new! LOL She had bought herself a new one and put her old, worn out mixer (that she had not even bothered to clean!) in the new box. When I opened it she immediately told me that there were no instructions because she had "opened the box to look at them and had lost them". Well, the thing look used, old, and dirty and it wasn't even the same brand as the mixer on the box nor did it even remotely look like it. I just can't believe that she tried to lie about it! LOL
She has also given my family other crummy gifts, such as--
-The electric razor to my dh the Christmas after his step-father died. You guessed it--it was the dead man's razor!
-She gave us a bunch of knives one year because she had remarried and they were the old, crummy knives that they didn't want when they combined households.
-This year she gave my ds (who is 5) an adult's romance novel. She had borrowed it from her sister who died this summer and had never returned it. She thought my dd might like it (she is 9!), but since she already had a gift for my dd she wrapped it up and put my ds's name on it figuring that he wouldn't know the difference!
-One year she gave dh and I a small table that had sat in her living room for years. The thing was literally falling apart. The wood glue that held the top together was dry and cracked, one leg was falling off, the boards on the top were warped, and had no finish left on it. She figured that we could just refinish it.
-She gave me a baked potato gadget. She didn't like the thing because it took too long to bake a potato and so she passed it on.
I think if it were someone who couldn't afford to buy, and truly wanted to give you something, it would be different. But in this case, I'd have to say don't bother when Christmas came around again. I'd tell her that I was tired of the kids being hurt and confused because she doesn't know them well enough to know what they'd like. The romance book for a five year old? That's just being difficult. She's just pushing you as far as she can. I'd start pushing back!
Dawn, you should have taken the bowls and exchanged them. Wal-mart carries them, that's where I got Emily's!!!
Holy crap. I cannot believe people are so blatant in their crappy gifts!! How passive aggressive! Tunnia, I'd make it a point to buy that woman the most obnoxious, careless gifts. Try to out-do her.
Luvn, she wants to make one bowl! LOL! I guess we'll just keep it.
Tunnia, she isn't even trying! Sheesh!
Yikes Stacy, you win! LOL!!!!
I have received more than one gift that was obviously a *regift*. I've been tempted to do that with certain things, but can't usually get the nerve to do it.
The only time I did that was when my X and I got married, we received THREE crockpots, two were identical. A younger guy who worked for my X at the time was getting married very suddenly (g/f was pg) so we gave them one of the crockpots. I justified it by reasoning that I was going to have to return it and buy something else anyway, so I gave it to this couple. They were thrilled, so I guess I was lucky.
However, I would NEVER think of giving a *used* item as a gift.
OH Ladies, this is my topic for certain, and believe me, I win this one..........
My mother in law once gave me a garbage bag full of yarn she had found in the neighbors trash,and here's the kicker, it had puke in it.....all over the yarn!The neighbors kid had thrown up in the bag............My mom in law just said, she saw all the yarn and just knew I would want it........She gave my hubby $50.00 for a gift and he was so embarrased he just quietly handed me his money.I never said a word to her about it.I just smile every Christmas.
Oh my GOSH...Stacey and Nanaoie, I can't believe it. I guess I shouldn't complain the my mil told me what she got me and sent it unwrapped. At least it was a sweater that wasn't too ugly.
Nanaoie - EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!
I agree w/ you Karen. UCK
When I was about 12 or so my aunt sent me underware, and if that wasnt bad enough they were 3 sizes too big, poop brown, and granny panties to boot. My two older brothers would not let up about them for weeks. And it was malicious, which I wont go into. Anyway after that, her gifts were opened pre christmas so I would know before hand if they needed to just disappeer before the big day. And while I dont remember any other gifts specifically from her, I do know that many did disapear after and some of the gifts b4 should have gone missing too. Finally my mom and her just gave up trying to play nice after my grandma died and then the gloves were off and I didnt have to deal with the "gifts"
I can honestly say I've never received anything maliciously bad. My mom has chosen some horrible outfits during my teens, her sense of style stuck in the 80s, but nothing mean!! And my MIL? Well, she put more thought into my gift this year than DH's, and he's her baby! I've brought her grandchildren, therefore I am queen! LOL! Once we have a baby together I'll officially be raised to Goddess status.
My Mil gave me a box of old cloth remnits. Some were literally slivers of cloth, some had huge holes in them, some were stained. She thought I could sew them together for a quilt.... I'd never sewn a day in my life, and she was well aware of that too.
I guess I sure be greatful there was no puke in the box, eh?
OMGosh, you guys have me in stitches!!
My grandma is going senile, I think. I am noticing that most of our gifts are coming out of their closet. I just feel like telling them not to worry about it anymore...I feel like it's more of a burden for them to give gifts than anything.
For a wedding gift dh and I received a hot plate that was from the 60's. You could tell this just by looking at the box, the wording and pictures etc. Plus it was covered in about 2 inches of dust. The kicker was that it was a gift from 6 couples. I don't even think it made it home with us.
Oh I have one more. A few years ago dh's sil had his name for Christmas and she gave him a tube of Mary Kay hand lotion.
Other than the odd accidental bad piece of clothing, I have never gotten a really bad gift. I did have a friend whose MIL would always give her the freebie small perfume you got when you buy a big bottle or the little bonus makeup kit when you buy Clinique. Ugh! I'm sorry that some of you get really cruddy gifts. That stinks!
We had a very nice elderly lady next to us who always bought little things for us for Christmas she had gotten me (keep in mind i was 16) a bright green polyester suit that was bell bottoms with white split leafs all over the top. and it had a crease that went down the front of the legs ugly ugly ugly and my Mom made me wear it and go over to her house and show it off. She also got my mom and dad a huge container of potato salad lol and my brother mens boxers that would fit my Dad lol but it very thoughtfull of her
Oh my goodness! All of these gifts! I guess it's good we can laugh about it, huh?
This year I got a plain white t-shirt with shoulder pads in it! It was like a Hanes t-shirt or something, only it had shoulder pads, I guess to dress it up... It came from our Dollar Wise (everything in the store $1)!!! So funny. Oh well, maybe I can take the shoulder pads out and use it....
My senile grandma(bless her heart) sent my DH soap on a rope! LOL
We had a great laugh, though.
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