View Full Version : What Is The Worst Single Birthday Or Holiday Gift You Ever Got???
Disney Talker
08-03-2002, 11:15 PM
People give and get some pretty funny things sometimes, but what was the worst serious gift you ever got, that someone gave you as a genuine gift???
I have a couple of good ones...my parents when I was about 8 years old gave us a Christmas gift one year of a set of Encylopedias..uggghhhh..needed for school but not as your Christmas gift.
Some relative in my family once gave me a really cheap bottle of cologne that was almost one half gone....
An old boyfriend of mine gave me a package of various thread for my Christmas gift, as I could not sew like his Mommy could..we broke up two days later for good....
Share your funny worst gifts ever with us...these can be a hoot i know.
Kteacher
08-03-2002, 11:31 PM
My SIL gasve each of my kids a gift certificate to a store that's not in our area. They had no way to redeem them.
Wendy
08-03-2002, 11:35 PM
My grandmother used to give me all her Clinique make up free samples that she'd get as Christmas gifts. It wouldn't have been nearly so bad if they hadn't been half used! The worst though, was the year I got a used hairbrush with hair in it for Christmas. Ewwww! :eek: That had to be the WORST gift I've ever gotten!
TinkerPixie
08-03-2002, 11:49 PM
The first year we were married, my DH proudly showed me the package he had for me under the tree, very carefully wrapped with expensive paper and ribbon. I thought it was a comforter, by the size and shape of the package. I had mentioned a beautiful comforter would be nice for our bed. Christmas eve, DH lovingly handed my the package, kissed me on the cheek and said I love you, I hope you like this. I ripped of the paper to find.....
A pepto bismol pink toilet tankcover set! :rolleyes:
I did tell him I loved him too.....after several bourbon laced eggnogs, to help me forget that ......gift!;)
BarbN.
08-04-2002, 01:00 AM
I got a litter box for Christmas one year. When I was young my Mom's Aunt gave me a pair of bloomers.
CamColt
08-04-2002, 06:46 AM
LOL! These are great.
With my MIL, I cant give just one. Its a toss up between the dust pan I got for my birthday or the sexy lingerie for Christmas.
When you use a gift dont you usually think of the person who gave it to you? What was she thinking on the sexy lingerie? If I were to use it, which I havent brought myself to do, do you think DH & I would want to be thinking of her? BLECH!!!! :p
browneyes
08-04-2002, 07:05 AM
LOL, Camcolt. Maybe that was her plan.;)
I don't like to get bday or Christmas presents, but I appreciate the thought behind the gift. I don't think I've ever gotten anything weird for either holiday.
wdw4us
08-04-2002, 07:39 AM
For mother's day one year, my husband (my kids were too young to buy me anything) gave me a wok and a can opener. He has NEVER lived it down.
My kids are 23 & 21 now.
He knows, diamonds, rubies, emeralds and gold. That's all I want.
denise
Dream
08-04-2002, 09:23 AM
Well this is easy! When I was growing up I had a rather eccentric Aunt and Uncle. For Christmas one year they gave all of my cousins and my sister Shalimar perfume! Me? I got ONE pair of underwear!!!:p LOL! It is incredably funny now...one of those classic stories that gets told at big family get-togethers! DH says that's why I have such a passion for shalimar perfume now!! He's probably right!!! It wasn't that they didn't like me or anything...that's just the gift they thought I would enjoy! Yeesh...good thing I have a sense of humor!!
SplshMtn99
08-04-2002, 09:32 AM
Easy one!
The year I turned 30 was a bad year. I was told I was being laid-off & had a 3 month notice. Had to stay for the 3 months to receive any benefits. Very stressfull. But I still managed to throw DH a very nice party & brunch & gifts he wanted when he turned 30 a month before me. I started a new job on his 30th bday.
A month later, on my 30th bday. NOTHING! I waited until 8pm to ask if he had forgotten or WHAT? He said he didn't know what I wanted, so he got me nothing. I lost it. I cried. So, 8pm at night he heads out to BJ's (of all places). And comes home with a $5 cat-a-day calendar --- and no card.
I still cry when I think of it. :(
Dream
08-04-2002, 09:42 AM
Aww..Splshmtn99...you win the prize so far! What a rotten birthday! Hope 31 was better!!!
Tarasmom
08-04-2002, 09:42 AM
When I was about 14, my dad gave me an Epilady for my birthday (you know, the thing that literally pulls your hair out by the roots!). I think that he knew that I was in the beginning stages of shaving my legs and that it was a "cool gadget"! Good intentions but I thought he had surely lost it!
BabyLove99
08-04-2002, 10:19 AM
Keep in mind that I am 17 years old. Last Christmas, my aunt gave me these hideous red velvet pajamas. They had white fur type material on the cuffs and neckline. The pants also had these bells on the bottom so everytime you walk, you jingle. I have not worn them yet lol
Disneymomma
08-04-2002, 10:22 AM
Last year MIL gave me a can opener for Christmas. ( I am still trying to figure out the symbolism behind that.) I guess that she was feeling festive because that was the first gift she had ever given me in 9 years. After this year, I am sure we will be back to nothing again...:rolleyes:
PamOKW
08-04-2002, 10:26 AM
:rolleyes: :rolleyes: I got a rock for Christmas. :( :(
Okay, it was some sort of "special" rock -- a mineral or something like that. But, when you're 8-9 years old and a package arrives in the mail from your godparents you don't expect "a rock" ;) ;) At least it sticks in my mind! Previous years they had sent a chocolate house (like a gingerbread house).
My ex-SIL (and I stress the ex!!) gave me HER electric razor when I was 15 - and it still had hair in it!! Years later she gave my DS the gift we had given my nephew (her son) the year before!!
DH gave me jumper cables one year for Christmas. On my 30th birthday, he had a huge funeral wreath set up outside my office building with a ribbon that said: "RIP - Pam's Youth, and my age!!" Last year, for my 40th, he and his family placed an ad in the newspaper and took a photo and distorted it, aging me about 30 years.
When kids were smaller I once got a Troll doll for my birthday and an apple peeler because my son like his apples peeled!!
Pam
Mish19
08-04-2002, 10:58 AM
From my aunt I got a bookmark (one of those "save the rainforest ones" you get free in their mail solicitations) and a horrible smelling home made sachet.
Jingle
08-04-2002, 12:50 PM
I can't think of anything really bad that I've ever gotten. But, my mother never lets my father forget that their first Christmas after they were married, he gave her a snow shovel.
WebmasterBarry
08-04-2002, 12:58 PM
I knew a friend who got used underwear for Christmas! :)
Dream
08-04-2002, 01:01 PM
Barry! USED underwear? GROSS!!!
swanmom
08-04-2002, 02:37 PM
I have a really good one! Let me just say that my parents, who've been retired for several years, are not very involved with the family and don't make a lot of effort to see the kids or grandkids. We're pretty used to this by now and accept that this is just the way they are. However, one year for my birthday, they sent me a coupon for a clambake/lobster fest from one of those companies that sends the whole shebang packed in dry ice ready to cook. So that's not so bad you say, maybe a little impersonal, but not a bad thing......
EXCEPT I'VE BEEN DEATHLY ALLERGIC TO SHELLFISH ALL MY LIFE !!!!
Even though I haven't lived with them for 30 years, they've known this since I was a child. How do you forget that????? Since it is not atypical for my parents to think only about themselves, I didn't really take it too hard. I do have to say, though, that the rest of my family thinks this is the funniest thing they've seen my parents do (and there have been a few 'doozies') and constantly finds ways to remind about my 'poisonous' gift !!! :p :p
Regina
08-04-2002, 03:37 PM
For Valentine's day, my DH stopped at Sam's. He got me a pre-packaged bouquet, and the Buns Of Steel Exercise video.:mad: :mad:
Needless to say, I returned it, and I always remind him about it. ;) ;)
Jeafl
08-04-2002, 04:29 PM
I've posted this before, but for all the new people, I'll repeat it!
My MIL bought me a combination birthday and Christmas gift a couple of years ago. It was an Emergency Auto Hammer with a bonus Seat Belt Cutter. You are supposed to use it to break the car window if you ever go off a bridge and become submerged in water. I don't drive over bridges very often, but I guess she wanted me to be prepared just in case.
Pig Pen
08-04-2002, 04:48 PM
I thought I had a couple good ones, but some of these posts really take the cake.
Both of mine were from my poor DH -
I worked in a hospital with psychiatric patients. Sometimes I needed to take a pulse and for Xmas I asked for a new watch with a second hand since mine didn't have one.
So he goes out and buys a gold watch with diamonds, with an inflexible cuff-like band that you have to "latch." Not really appropriate to wear to the old psych ward, if you know what I mean.....
The following year he got me an under-the-cabinet coffee maker with a built in radio and timer....which would have been fine, except the only place where it fit was nowhere near a plug and then the radio picked up only static.
Of course we didn't realize this until AFTER he installed it.
I returned both gifts.
Poohbear123
08-04-2002, 06:22 PM
Flash back to....1966. Ballet class. A pair of LIME GREEN GLO in the DARK Socks...........my Mother loved them.:rolleyes:
MeanLaureen
08-04-2002, 06:46 PM
hmm.. lets see -
My ex husband made me feel real loved :rolleyes: on Valentines Day once. I manage a Hallmark store so I always have to work on Valentines Day. This particular year it landed on a weekend so he was off from work. He told me he would come by and take me to work at noon. Noon comes and goes and no sight of him. Finally at 3pm I give up and go to lunch by myself. Needless to say my employees were steaming mad at him. He showed up around 3:45 and one of the guys cornered him and gave him what for. Even when I got home I didn't get a Valentine's Day present. Not even a card. :(
The last year we were together he totally blew off my birthday. A friend of mine that lives in Boston sent me a nice bouquet of flowers at work for my birthday. When I came home he looked at them and asked who sent me flowers. I told him and he asked why he sent me flowers. When I told him it was my birthday he said "oh. I need to go to Lowes". He came back 20 minutes later with a CD and handed it to me and said Happy Birthday.
His parents took the cake though. After getting nothing for my birthday for the first 7 or so years of our marriage I finally get a gift. It's a 3x5 picture of my husband when he was about 7 yrs old in HeeHaw overalls. It's in a 5x7 frame from the dollar store. No mat or anything around it. Just sitting in the bottom corner of the frame with the cardboard backing showing around it.
kerrynic78
08-04-2002, 07:21 PM
This past Christmas my Boyfriend's mom sent us a box of micorwave popcorn...um, thanks!
This may not count, because it was a WEDDING present, but I think it's too good not too mention here.
For our wedding, my husband's cousin and his wife gave us a plasic orchid in a lovely ceramic pot. The attached card said, "May your love continue to grow and bloom, just like this beautiful flower." We almost wet our pants when we read that one.:rolleyes:
As far as Christmas goes . . .
When I was in first grade, my very first boyfriend gave me his sister's headless paper dolls and his mother's old insurance forms.
Last Christmas, my rather odd uncle gave my husband a big chunk of fossilized dinosaur poop!:eek:
MerryPoppins
08-04-2002, 07:59 PM
Before we were married, my MIL gave me old lady underwear (and she wasted her money 'cause I never wore them). Future DH got some socks and I was jealous! I felt funny getting panties from my boyfriend's mother.
When her father was allive they could never decide what to get him for Christmas, so they would divide up a list of necessities. The poor fellow would get disposable razors, Kleenex, paper towels and even toilet paper. I just couldn't bring myself to get him toilet paper for Christmas! Although I could have used the toilet paper more than the underwear.
When I was 30 and very pregnant, I went shopping with my mother and 3 year old DS for nursing bras. She didn't remember my birthday and my son had forgotten. We were together the whole day. When we returned at dinner-time, my grandmother wished me a happy birthday. Poor Mom felt bad, but then told me I should probably go out and buy a cake or DS would be disappointed! :rolleyes: After dinner that night, DH came home from college night classes. He did remember and I burst into tears! I guess it was mostly hormonal, but also stemmed from the fact that my dad had recently died and nothing was the same. I can't remember what my gifts were, but I sure remember feeling sorry for myself. 40 was MUCH better!
MerryPoppins
08-04-2002, 08:04 PM
Just thought of two more. I got a wrapped cardboard EMPTY shoe box as a wedding gift. It was wrapped so that the lid could lift off without unwrapping it. The note said I was supposed to store my wedding cards inside. It was weird!
I also got a set of tapes on how to save your marriage when we got married. DH and I didn't even know the lady who sent it to us. It was a friend of MIL. Maybe it was payback for the underwear she sent HER for Christmas? :rolleyes: We gave them to our church library. Hope it helped someone. We've never needed them yet.
MosMom
08-04-2002, 09:34 PM
My great grandma gave me a cologne sample of Canoe and a Barbie coloring book that had already been colored in when I was 12. Bless her heart, she was a little off her rocker at that point and she tried. I thanked her profusely and acted like it was the best gift I had ever gotten. What a crazy lady she was, I miss her. :)
Muffin
08-05-2002, 11:04 AM
When I was about 14, my aunt gave me a pair of mittens for my birthday, which is in August. Big, fat Gore-Tex type skiing mittens. I live in South Louisiana. :confused:
A few years later, the same aunt gave me an electric warming tray, with food caked and burned on it. :earseek:
debster812
08-05-2002, 11:17 AM
Hey Muffin,
Wonder if we are distant relatives???
My Grandmother (dad's mom) was, how shall I put this, well, Frugal . She could squeeze a penny til it squeaked. So every year for our birthdays, my brother and I would get $5 and a pair of mittens that she had crocheted. Mind you, I also have an August B-Day, and my brother is in October. But the worst of it was, she would use up all her yarn remnants, so not only were the mittens multicolored, they DID NOT match!!!!! :p :p
Still makes me laugh.
Debbie
Diane
08-05-2002, 02:43 PM
When I was about 14 my oldest brother gave me and my 3 sisters Dearfoam slippers for Christmas. Mine where camouflage-colored. Yuck! Well, I didn’t even wear slippers at the time, but I wouldn’t wear those to the outhouse in a fog. Apparently, he had shopped at the last minute and that was the only pair left in my size. I never wore them, and probably wound up giving them away.
aide4
08-05-2002, 06:00 PM
My hubby gave me 2 clothes baskets and a frying pan for Christmas about 10 years ago!.....when my stepmother found out...she bought me a beautiful 14k gold necklace with a heard pendant on it!!!n Kinda made up for him...Thats the only time he's done that!!! The gifts have gotten better now!!!
Emmyfaye
08-05-2002, 06:14 PM
Occasion - our first wedding anniversary.
His gift to me - an exercise bike ....
I guess the honeymoon was officially over...
However, here it is, 28 years later and we're still together despite the bike, which, when we put it out by the side of the street for spring cleanup/garbage, still had less than 200 miles on it (well I never did want the darn thing!).
cotye
08-06-2002, 09:37 AM
LOL... Some of these are hilarious... Well the worst I got was for a birthday gift.. It looked like a mobile you would hang in your window when you were a kid. Problem was, I was 25 years old at that time... ANd the thing was half broken... Strings was cut on one end and so, if you hung it up, the plane looked like it was taking a nose dive. :rolleyes: Dunno what would possess my friend to buy me that.
Sonya
08-06-2002, 10:21 AM
My grandmother buys everything for me from garage sales. It usually smells bad, is half used, and age inappropriate.
When I was 10 yo my mom decided she needed to start my "hope chest". Whatever. So for that Christmas she bought me lots of hand towels and bath towels, as well as decorative things- all in Strawberry Shortcake! She specified that they were for when I got married or moved out. Like I'd want Strawberry Shortcake stuff then!!!!
JerseyJanice
08-06-2002, 11:10 AM
I got 12 pairs of panty hose for Christmas when I was about 9. Do you know any 9 year-olds who wear panty hose?
This was from my older brother; a friend of his was selling hosiery.
Another year, he gave me a Chia Pet.
The best gift he ever gave, though, was to my 3 year-old nephew--a set of lawn darts.
Desiree
08-06-2002, 11:16 AM
I had a similar Christmas experience to splashmtn99's one year. I noticed that everyone had gifts under our tree except me. Devyn was too young at the time to pick anything out. Well the day before Christmas, I finally ask him where my gifts are. He said, "I didnt know what to get you". After much crying I make a list. You all know how much I love Pluto right, well, I put that on my list. He went to TDS and bought everything that had Pluto on it. Yes, I'm still a little bitter at him about it.
The next one that takes the cake, is my ex-in-laws gave me a long sleeved t-shirt for my birthday (which is in the summer). That wasn't so bad except for the fact that it was obviously from a garage sale (the tag was still on it) and it was very smelly! As soon as they left I threw that one in the garbage can.
I don't remember not liking this gift, but Stephen told me the other day that he learned his lesson. We were discussing the fact that my new, under the counter, toaster oven, just wasn't as good as the last one I had. I recently replaced the old one because it caught fire (it was about ten years old). I got the same exact one to replace because I liked it, and it fit on the same rack that was already under the counter. DH said he bought me the first one, for my b-day, and I cried. He said he never made that mistake again. I don't know why I cried, I loved that toaster oven. He said he will never buy me another appliance for my birthday, even if I begged. I guess this means I won't get that juicer I want, huh?
Boo'sMom
08-06-2002, 12:03 PM
Let me first start by saying when I worked FT I had a bit of a "reputation" as not being real tolerant of anyone who didn't "measure" up....okay, that is a nice way of saying that I was a *****....lol
ANYWAYS...
One year for Xmas, my DH proudly presented me with this huge present, looked like some sort of framed picture....well...I unwrapped it and low and behold...
It's a Disney Cel...
OF THE WICKED WITCH~~~HOLDING THE APPLE~~~~~
I didn't speak to him for a week......
It's now hanging proudly over my computer in my home office..LOL..
Why fight it?????
Boo'sMom
08-06-2002, 02:50 PM
I just found out what DH bought me for my birthday......
had a friend who is at WDW this week go over to DD and pick up the Monopoly Theme Park edition, AND Haunted Mansion Clue.....what a sweetie....
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