Thoughtless Gift?

[Disneygal4life]

The gift that comes to mind for me was one year my grandmother on my mother's side gave my dad a planter. It was shaped strangely though, it was the top half of a man's pair of pants from the belt down to past the crotch. So basically it was a man's crotch/butt but you could plant something in it. I really wish I had found out where she even bought that thing. I've never seen anything like it since.

 

[NJR]

I am somewhat amused by the fact that there has recently been several threads about people "requesting" certain gifts (or requests to not get a certain type, eg "no toys"), and the general outcry has been "That's so rude! People shouldn't be allowed to tell you what you can or cannot give, and they should be glad to receive any gift that you give them" - and yet there is now a long thread dedicated to crappy gifts that people were in fact not happy to receive.

 

[jorem1]

okay here's my whine for the day! I turned 40 this past summer and my wonderful husband threw a party for me.

I received wonderful gifts such as gift cards, clothes, a watch... From my sister(who is my best friend) I received a box with the following; a used serving tray, a used Vera Bradley bag (and it looked it!) and a book with the Goodwill sticker still on the back. Now, I shop and the Goodwill, with my sister sometimes, and a lot of my clothes come from Goodwill. I love the Goodwill! But it was my 40th dang birthday! She couldn't buy something new?

Okay everyone flame away at me for being ungrateful, but my sister has a reputation as cheap. A couple of years ago I stayed overnight at her house. She rented a movie for us to watch. It was a pretty bad movie and when it was over she says to me "that movie sucked, too bad you owe me $2 towards the rental"

 

[Mermaid_Ariel]

I *LOVE* this thread!! I hope it never stops!

I have a really crazy Aunt, you know the type. I'm sure everyone family has at least one crazy Aunt or Uncle.

Anyway, the gift she bought me last year for Christmas takes the cake. Right in front of my Mother, Grandmother and fiance - I unwrapped one of those Tantric naughty books. I was mortified! She said, "Oh, my boyfriend and I have the greatest you-know-what ever so I thought I'd give this to you."

I could've died right there. My Grandmother looked so embarrassed for me. I threw it out. Suffice to say, my fiance thought my reaction was priceless.

 

[famofsix]

when I was a kid my grandma always gave me PJ's for Christmas even in the teen years. Of course I didn't appreciate it them but I'd give anything to have her back and a gift of PJ's under the tree.

However, it is still funny that she gave me old lady silk and flannel combo PJs for so many years and footie PJ's when I was 12.

 

[letthewookiewin]

What made my most thoughtless gift the most thoughtless one that I have received isn't the gift itself, it's the time that I was given the gift.

I had my 2 DS's just under 14 months apart. Just after having DS9, I started having what I thought was just heart burn or acid reflux. My mother in law (a nurse) recommended that I stay away from all chocolate, carbonated drinks, and a long list of other things. I was basically left eating unsalted veggies and boiled chicken, and drinking water or milk. Also she said that it was best if I didn't eat anything after 7. At the time my DH was an assistant manager at a fast food pizza place. He came home that Valentine morning at 3 am from work. As usually I was awake, so he handed me my V-day present. He was so proud of himself that he remembered that I loved the candy turtles. I reminded him that I wasn't supposed to eat any chocolate, but especially not this late. He got such a sad look on his face and said that "just one wouldn't hurt me". Well 2 hours later, I was in the Emergency Room. They had me drink what they called "sludge", and then sent me home. Two days later I was back and I had an emergency gal bladder removal surgery.

So, it wasn't the gift itself, but the timing of the gift. I loved that he remembered that I loved that candy, but I wish he had remembered that I wasn't suppposed to eat chocolate. Since then, I have done anything I can to keep my DH from buying me anything for V-day. I have even gone as far as taking away all his cash, credit cards, and checks on the holiday.

 

[tinkerlisa]

Ok I posted on here when the thread first came out but when i read the one with the lady that got the lingerie from MIL reminded me of my cousin's bridal shower.
My cousin had a bridal registry and obviously being invited I looked at it. One of the items was a pair of size 7 thong panties. they were real sexy. black lace with a gem on the back of the thong. Also on the list were men's levi's and some other weird things! I thought it was weird but didn't say anything.
Anyhow a few weeks later was her shower. When she unwrapped the gift from my grandfather and his wife, it was the thong panty! Boy was she embarrassed.
She couldn't figure out why he would buy her that and when someone told her it was on her registry, she was beat red and said that she had given the pricing gun to her daughter(who was like 6 at the time) to hold onto to feel special. Well her daughter put all sorts of stuff on that list. Turns out that half the stuff that was on the list was put on by her daughter!!!
I am glad I ended up giving her a gift card!

 

[blondemom]

We did a secret Santa at work one year. It was a $20 limit or something like that. I gave my person a cute glass mug with her initials on it filled with hershey kisses. I put a lot of thought into it. I got a vibrating bath sponge. Okay... Pretty bad, huh??

 

[pooh98378]

When I was in 4th grade, my grandfather's wife passed away a few weeks before Christmas. So, we're not sure exactly what happened as far as his gift picking out skills go, but for Christmas that year, he gave me a book - it was a cartoon book (kind of like the Far Side cartoons) and the title of the book was "Unpleasant Ways to Die." I was 9 years old!!! My mom took the book away from me. We don't know if presents got mixed up or if he just went wacko that year...

 

[teresajoy]

The gift that comes to mind for me was one year my grandmother on my mother's side gave my dad a planter. It was shaped strangely though, it was the top half of a man's pair of pants from the belt down to past the crotch. So basically it was a man's crotch/butt but you could plant something in it. I really wish I had found out where she even bought that thing. I've never seen anything like it since.

I'm laughing so hard at that I can barely breathe!

 

[squirrel]

I have one

I told my neighbour who I babysat her children that I was buying her kids the new Disney movie, Beauty and the Beast.

I bought it and had it sitting at home and my mom decided that we would watch it. I told her no- it was a gift. She opened it anyway. I ended up having to give them the opened movie-it was so embarrasing.

 

[shelby101301]

Oh my gosh, I couldn't stop reading this thread - so many made me groan or laugh or both! It also makes me grateful for my MIL who has never done these things!

 

[MiniGirl]

I have no gifts to add to the thread because we don't exchange gifts with people we really don't see much during the year (and that includes relatives). Much more economical that way. I just wanted to say though that I have enjoyed reading about what everyone else has received.

 

[starrzone]

We did a secret Santa at work one year. It was a $20 limit or something like that. I gave my person a cute glass mug with her initials on it filled with hershey kisses. I put a lot of thought into it. I got a vibrating bath sponge. Okay... Pretty bad, huh??

Gotta love those gift exchanges! We had...oh, what is it called...a "Yankee Swap" one year. The limit was $10 I think, so I picked out a really nice glass beer mug (shhh...from the $ store! ) and a $10 gift certificate to the liquor store to give.

The way a Yankee Swap works is that eveyone draws a #, and the person with the lowest # picks the first gift, and so on. The thing is, you can "steal" a present from anyone who has picked before you, so #8 could "steal" # 2's present, and the person with the highest # ca pick whatever they want (you unwrap the present right when you pick it). Well, I was somewhere in the middle of the pack and the present I picked was...a set of clear plastic salt and pepper shakers. Granted, they were nice, but who on earth brings that to a gift exchange involving people in theor early 20s? Needless to say, I exchanged them for something else!

Gift exchanges can be hit or miss; my mother has done a few, and she's the kind of person who takes a lot of time and effort to pick out something nice. She invariably always ends up getting the tacky figurines and cheap plastic stuff in return!

 

[angelat]

We had a Secret Santa gift exchange at my office 3 years ago. What did I get? A nice angora type set of CHILDREN'S hat, gloves and scarf. I gave them to my step daughter after I fumed about it a while! And I narrowed it down to who it was and wanted to say, "Did you just have them in your closet or did you get them REALLY cheap on sale???"

 

[TheRatPack]

Gotta love those gift exchanges! We had...oh, what is it called...a "Yankee Swap" one year. The limit was $10 I think, so I picked out a really nice glass beer mug (shhh...from the $ store! ) and a $10 gift certificate to the liquor store to give.

The way a Yankee Swap works is that eveyone draws a #, and the person with the lowest # picks the first gift, and so on. The thing is, you can "steal" a present from anyone who has picked before you, so #8 could "steal" # 2's present, and the person with the highest # ca pick whatever they want (you unwrap the present right when you pick it).

We did one of these one year, it was a gardening club. The gifts were supposed to be garden related, limit of maybe 20.00? I found the funniest things online called Animal Crappers. They are shaped like Animal Crackers, in the same type of box...etc but are made from....well....crap LOL and you fertilize your plants with them. I put those and some other tools and such in a handpanted terra cotta pot and wrapped it up. You wouldn't believe how many times that present got 'stolen'......I'm glad they all liked it...to me it was just too funny. Again, those swaps are always sort of hit or miss.

 

[ToddyLu]

My DH wins the prize in our family. His first cousin gave him a can of olives for Christmas. That one is still a laughing matter behind closed doors.

 

[mom2munchkins]

I just remember one that happened to dh. He is a huge and I do mean huge Steelers fan. So one year we had an exchange with his family and his step sister's husband got my dh in the exchange. And what did dh get.. A Brown's sweatshirt.. I think the best part was dh was wearing a Steelers shirt at the time

 

[matthew&haleysmom]

I just remember one that happened to dh. He is a huge and I do mean huge Steelers fan. So one year we had an exchange with his family and his step sister's husband got my dh in the exchange. And what did dh get.. A Brown's sweatshirt.. I think the best part was dh was wearing a Steelers shirt at the time

I found this really funny. Dh asked me what was funny, so I told him. DH is a huge Steelers fan also. He told me there is nothing funny about this. It is a disgrace!

I still think its funny.

 

[cinderellamom123]

I do daycare for a beautiful little girl. The mother is a lawyer, the father is a video game software developer. I watch her child 40 hour per week. The first Christmas they gave me nothing (at that point I had watched her for 8 months) The second christmas the mother gave me a package of SPONGES for my kitchen! Like the ones you clean up with. I thought it was a joke. Needless to say, I went up on my rates two weeks after the holiday. I would have appreciated a card much more. I have taken their child to the doctor, bathed her, I am her second mom. It was such an insult.

Can't wait to see what this year brings.