What Is The Worst Single Birthday Or Holiday Gift You Ever Got???

[swanmom]

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 !!!

 

[Regina]

For Valentine's day, my DH stopped at Sam's. He got me a pre-packaged bouquet, and the Buns Of Steel Exercise video.

Needless to say, I returned it, and I always remind him about it.

 

[Jeafl]

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]

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]

Flash back to....1966. Ballet class. A pair of LIME GREEN GLO in the DARK Socks...........my Mother loved them.

 

[MeanLaureen]

hmm.. lets see -

My ex husband made me feel real loved 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]

This past Christmas my Boyfriend's mom sent us a box of micorwave popcorn...um, thanks!

 

[GEM]

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.

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!

 

[MerryPoppins]

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! 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]

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? We gave them to our church library. Hope it helped someone. We've never needed them yet.

 

[MosMom]

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]

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.

A few years later, the same aunt gave me an electric warming tray, with food caked and burned on it.

 

[debster812]

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!!!!!

Still makes me laugh.

Debbie

 

[Diane]

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]

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]

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]

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. Dunno what would possess my friend to buy me that.

 

[Sonya]

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]

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]

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.