Gifts that require you to spend money

[AmberHeartsDisney]

I love the storys keep em coming!

 

[01spirit750]

Years ago my Dad and Stepmother had a van conversion (with the bed in back) for traveling so they wouldn't have to stay at hotels (save money). My step mother did not like sleeping in the van because it didn't have a bathroom.

So...

For Christmas my dad bought my stepmother a small portable toilet to use in the van. (This was his only gift to her for that christmas).

I am surprised he lived to see new years. Or that she didn't divorce him.

 

[tlbwriter]

I don't think people are looking at this right. it is the thought that counts.

Yes, and sometimes the thought is "I can't be bothered."

 

[01spirit750]

my future sister in law got a car from her parents while she was in college. they went to the dealer picked it out, put the down payment on it, and handed over the keys. then she got the loan book in the mail! yup they weren't paying another penny towards the car and didn't even ask her before they bought it. they were college students on a serious budget so she was not pleased. they still have that car 7 years later.

My wifes parents did the same thing to her. She was 16 and in high school. Came home one day and they surprised her with a new Ford Mustang (stripped base model) in the garage. Then they handed her the payment book.
They had went and picked out the car without her input and then she had to pay for it.

To top it all off, they had actually leased it. So 3 years later she had this big balloon payment so she had to finance that. I figured she had ended up paying for the car twice.
I am sure they paid top dollar for the car. They are the type of people who decide to stop at the dealer after dinner and come home with a new car without any research on prices.

We kept the mustang even after she started working and we bought a new car. I drove it while attending college night classes and parked it anywhere I wanted (if it gets towed, bye bye). She never rode in that car again. Finally donated it with 160k miles.

 

[tlbwriter]

my future sister in law got a car from her parents while she was in college. they went to the dealer picked it out, put the down payment on it, and handed over the keys. then she got the loan book in the mail! yup they weren't paying another penny towards the car and didn't even ask her before they bought it. they were college students on a serious budget so she was not pleased.

That's really reprehensible. I know it's hard to do such a thing to your parents, but I would refuse to make a single payment and ask them to show me where I signed the contract!

 

[Colleen27]

I can only think of once, and it was with reason - my SIL who lives several hours away sent a smores maker for the kids for Christmas, but because of postal restrictions couldn't mail the sterno-type fuel. She called me the day she shipped it and gave me a heads-up so I could have some on hand, though, because it hadn't even crossed her mind that she couldn't send the fuel until she was standing at the post office counter!

 

[Soben]

I hear of people giving the restaurant.com gift certificates that are really coupons as gifts. They require that you spend a minimum amount on your meal that exceeds the value of the coupon that they spent $2 on. Yikes.

Those are the worst non-gifts!

 

[theycallmered]

At a previous job's holiday party I won, through a raffle, a $10.00 gift card to Olive Garden. What on earth can you get for $10.00 at Olive Garden? A coke? A cup of soup? Do people dine alone during Olive Garden's $5.99 Soup, Salad, and Bread Stick promotion?

I do not know if I was more miffed that my employer thought that I was only worth a $10.00 gift card to Olive Garden or that 'bonuses' were given out through a raffle, and thus it was and pure luck in that I received such a wonderful holiday 'bonus'.

 

[aprilgail2]

I hear of people giving the restaurant.com gift certificates that are really coupons as gifts. They require that you spend a minimum amount on your meal that exceeds the value of the coupon that they spent $2 on. Yikes.

I can't even imagine giving one of those coupons to someone as a gift!!!!

 

[timmac]

OP here... I agree and I was gracious and always thank the gifter, of course! I even said in my OP that it isn't a big deal, I just find it weird.

Now....when it comes to "its the thought that counts" I sometimes wonder "What WERE they thinking???" SIL gave DS a tin of candy for Christmas one year...when he went to open it she said ..."Oh, don't eat it! Its probably really old, I got it at a Thrift shop." Really??? What was the thought? And what does it count for?? The tin was nothing special...nothing that pertained to anything he was interested in. I guess the thought is that you are obligated to give a gift...and you don't care enough to find something suitable, or even edible.

Agreed... sometimes the thought that's counting is "I don't care" or "I don't have time to deal with this".

That's really reprehensible. I know it's hard to do such a thing to your parents, but I would refuse to make a single payment and ask them to show me where I signed the contract!

Have to agree with this... I'd *never* make payments on something that was purchased "for" me like that... that's crap.

 

[auralia]

I sent a butterfly kit to my brothers son but i opened it and pre filled out the "butterfly order card" with his address put a check in it sealed and stamped it! so i hope that was ok i'd never do ants but my dd just loves the butterflies

 

[timmac]

I sent a butterfly kit to my brothers son but i opened it and pre filled out the "butterfly order card" with his address put a check in it sealed and stamped it! so i hope that was ok i'd never do ants but my dd just loves the butterflies

That's a gift in which clearly there *was* thought... a lot of it.

 

[Gina]

I sent a butterfly kit to my brothers son but i opened it and pre filled out the "butterfly order card" with his address put a check in it sealed and stamped it! so i hope that was ok i'd never do ants but my dd just loves the butterflies

That was very thoughtful! And I would take butterflies over ants any day. I might even have sent the money for butterflies. Of course, our two cats would have been thrilled too -- "Yay, the human bought us some yummy flying snacks!" LOL

 

[tweedlemom]

Well, did you give him the tickets back? I think I would have booked a trip that night!

We did give them back.