What's the worst/weirdest gift you ever got?

[Alice28]

I have two-

The first one I was about 7 and it was my bday. Like most kids I thought Spinach was gross. So what did my dad do? Put a can of spinach in a big grandiose box- I unwrapped it and was so disappointed! Then came out the real gifts- that dad is such a kidder! Now I think it's hilarious, but as a 7 year old I was really put out by it!

The second one was truly weird- let's just say we have "interesting" neighbors (okay, I'll be honest- they could be the butt of many a Jeff Foxworthy joke). Our first Christmas here, they brought over a gift basket, filled with processed MEAT we are pretty sure they got from welfare- like it was shrink wrapped and bar coded "not for retail sale" and something about Oregon State Dept. Plus there were things like very weird colored panty hose, cracked baby bottles (I had just had my first son a couple weeks before) and other bizarre stuff. I know they were just trying to be nice, but yikes...I think they went dumpster diving for all of the non-food items.

Side story on these folks----one time in the middle of the night, they were making all of this commotion outside----I peek out the window and they had the back of their pick up truck FULL of Rite-Aid brand disposable diapers (their 18 year old just had a baby---guess they were stocking up)---I was like "Oh my Gosh...did they just rob a Rite Aid or were those all in the dumpster behind the store?" It was comical watching them form an assembly line and toss package after package after package of diapers from their beat up pick up to their motorhome which for months you could see diaper packages bulging up against the windows.

 

[holycow]

Oh, ...these are just too sad!..
Chim....I laughed LOL...about the pocahonas robe!


Well, I've been really blessed but I think the scale from my parents takes the cake..(think they were trying to tell me something?....)

You think they would have offered a trip to the gym or a fat farm or something...but the scale didn't do a thing for me! LOL


Holycow

 

[psammie1025]

my worst gift ever had to be the trash compactor I got for xmas when I was pegnant with my second child! My now ex-husband thought it would be a big help with 2 kids!!! All I wanted that year was something personal for me. I was 7 & 1/2 months pregnant at xmas, boke my foot during my 5th month, gained over 50 pounds & was really feeling down, I just wanted something to make me feel good.
And a compactor was NOT it! I think I cried all day!

That was 16 years ago & my kids tell me he still has that compactor.

 

[Robinrs]

I've gotten some really bad presents from co-workers in the past but this year I put them all up on eBay and they brought in MEGABUCKS!!

I guess they weren't so bad after all!

 

[Disney Ella]

I was six-years-old. It was Christmas Day and we were at the gathering for my DF's side of the family. Everybody had drawn names for gift giving and all of us kids were excited about opening gifts. Everyone around me was opening dolls, trucks, games, fun stuff, and I opened...underwear. Just what every six-year-old wants!

 

[tkd lisa]

Ella, I had to laugh about the underwear. My mom is really bad about that kind of thing. Underwear and TOWELS! If it has a cartoon character on it, she thinks the kids will love getting a towel as a gift. NOT! I think she's finally realized that they are too big for that at 10 and 11, but we haven't opened her gifts yet (crossing my fingers here!)

A few years back, she got me a set of chicken salt and pepper shakers. Now I'm a tupperware kind of gal, and any kind of figurine just stays in the box here since all it does is gather dust. So this year I decided to put them in the church white elephant exchange. When mom was here at Thanksgiving, she asked where they were?

At that white elephant exchange, someone's gift did top mine. Someone had actually put a broken kitchen faucet in a box with lots of old broken candles! The guy who got it, turned the faucet upside down, put candles in the water holes, and tried to say it was "art"! Needless to say, no one wanted to trade, and he got to take it home. We did get a big laugh though!

 

[TIGGERSMOM]

The worst gift I was ver present for had to be my best frinds grandmother's gift. For some reason she hated the woman her son married and so the grandkids felt the rath. While all th eother kids were opening dolls, and trucks and lots of goodies, what did my friend get - panty hose. Now not just any panty hose but used with a run in them.

Needless to say that was the last Xmas they went to grandma's house. We still houl about it today.


My worse had to be a pair of purple I mean bright purple ribbed stretch pants. They were from my cousin's DW who is notoriously cheap, she works at a vrey high end dept store in the area. Now all of us get clearance and close out merchandise, she uses her employee discount so we figure she does our whole family for about 25.00 bucks.

 

[snoopy]

(Why would you give someone a gift that inflicts pain?)

ROFL! Gotta say, an Epilady is anything but a gift.

We do these threads every year, and every year I sit here in amazement reading. I can't even begin to top some of your stories, so I will just laugh along with you (WITH, not AT).

 

[snoopy]

Side story on these folks----one time in the middle of the night, they were making all of this commotion outside----I peek out the window and they had the back of their pick up truck FULL of Rite-Aid brand disposable diapers (their 18 year old just had a baby---guess they were stocking up)---I was like "Oh my Gosh...did they just rob a Rite Aid or were those all in the dumpster behind the store?" It was comical watching them form an assembly line and toss package after package after package of diapers from their beat up pick up to their motorhome which for months you could see diaper packages bulging up against the windows.

OMG, stop! This has me snorting with laughter.

 

[Lorix2]

I got an emergency hammer/seat belt cutter. Sounds like a great idea, but you'd have to have it right out on your front seat all the time and if I ever plunged into water, I doubt very much I'd remember I had it or drown trying to find it

Used lotion and make up sets from my elderly neighbor.

A heavy fluffy bright yellow floor length bathrobe that Big Bird could fit in - in the month of May (my b.day).

A VCR rewinder with the name of the casino they got it at. It was that month's free gift. I got one when I visited myself.

 

[RUDisney]

My MIL gave me the ugliest coat ever created. It was even reversible, so if one side wasn't ugly enough, you could reverse it to make it even uglier. I hope it's keeping some homeless person very warm now, since that was it's only good quality. After that, she started giving me gift certificates. I got alot of nice things with those.

Then, the kids came and she decided that I am the worst mother on earth because my kids are happy and well-behaved. So, the gifts scaled back to a bottle of perfume. This is also good because I can take it back and get something else. How many bottles of the same cologne does one person need?

 

[TerriP]

WOW, some of these are hilarious!! What are people thinkin'??

The worst gift I ever received was from my MIL the first Christmas after her son and I got married. In my stocking, not even wrapped, was a potato scrubber. I pulled it out and sat there looking at it, looked up at her and she was just smiling sweetly like it was the most normal gift she's ever given. My husband still teases me (six years later) that if I'm not good all Santa will bring me is a potato to go with my scrubber.

 

[jkovick]

My MIL is a sweet person but VERY VERY CHEAP.

Last Chirstmas she gave me the following:

1)Halloween socks (got for 75% off at her work----yes she volunteered that info)

2)A cosmetic sampler with a tag inside that said "your free Mother's Day gift with purchase"

3)a small snowglobe that was a freebie given out by JC Penney the day after Thanksgiving

Now I know that it is the thought that counts, but she also makes a big deal about quizing us on how we like each individual item.
WOW have I learned to lie!!

 

[Kimberle]

Nothing to "weird". But my dh's family usually give the most unthoughtful gifts. Clothes not my style at all, 2 sizes to big, 2 sizes to small. Dh's SIL & bro gave me a sweater when I was 7 months pregnant. It was a tad bit big. I took it back to the str (no gift receipt) to see if they would exchange it. The sales lady started laughing, they actually thought this would fit *you* (even at 7 mths). She exchanged it for 1 2 sizes smaller.

Dh's 40's single bro got us a brita water filter once. Oh, and a black vase. It must have been used cause when I turned it over, dead flower pieces fell out.

I'm so glad we stopped exchanging with them last year. We only buy for the kids now.

 

[lisajl]

We have gotten many horrible things from my MIL. Too many to mention!

This year she actually asked us what we wanted. We made a list of inexpensive things. We will see if she sticks to it!

I think the funniest thing was a couple years ago.

My Dh and I were having a few marital problems, nothing too big, just trying to grow and learn, you know. At any rate my MIL bought us leopard print sheets for our bed, and leopard print pj's. She gave her DS the bottoms and me the top to said pjs.

Lee and I just looked at each other and started laughing. She returned the sheets because they would not fit our bed. We gave the pjs away.

That same year she gave our then 16 year old daughter a throw for her bed. Well....she thought it might be of penguins (which she loves, and grandma knows that), but no, it was of N'Sync.
Now, not to be rude, but my DD has never liked N'Sync and still doesn't. When she opened it she tried to be as nice as possible and thanked her grandparents. (We opened our gifts early because we had to go home and get back to work) My DD's cousins (the girls at least), were laughing so hard because she got throw. What they didn't know was that Grandma had bought them the same one. So my DD had the last laugh! The oldest girl cousin that got it was 20!

My thoughts on those and other horrible gifts we have received....

"It's the thought that counts.....that is a pretty lousy thought!"

Merry Christmas everyone! May you all get nice gifts!

Lisajl

 

[RUDisney]

Originally posted by lisajl
We gave the pjs away.

But, I have to know... did you give them away as a set or as individual pieces like you got them?

 

[lisajl]

LOL! We just put them in the goodwill box....what they did with them...well....that is their business!!

 

[peg2001]

This thread is pretty funny. I can't match some of them but I'll share anyway.

The oddest gift was the one we received from DH's grandmother after we asked her to please not buy us anything. She does not have much money and would always buy cologne (that we don't wear). Well, we started receiving a monthly religious publication as a gift from her. I know she means well but we are not religious and I really wish she would just keep her money. I just gave the publication to a co-worker each month who did enjoy it.

As for the worst gift, you would have to understand that I am NOT picky about clothes. You would never mistake me for someone who tries to follow trends or fashion. One year, I opened a gift from SIL and found a hideous sweatshirt that was so old that I heard a distinct crunching noise from the painted design on the front when I unfolded it. It also smelled like mold.

The next year, we said that we did not want to exchange gifts with them. SIL was offended.

Peggy

 

[airhead]

One of our early Christmases together,my SO gave me a powder blue jacket that had extremely short sleeves!! I wore it a couple of times and then threw it out! We still laugh about that gift and that was 28 years ago!!!

airhead

 

[pattyT]

When I started to read the thread I though of a few but WOW - they are really not that bad now that I have read all of yours-

I was mortified when I was dating my DH and our second Christmas together he gave me $50 in scratch tickets in a card

and
My mother has a nack for thinking wierd thngs are very kewl -
like the year she got us a liquid dispenser for the shower - yep it had 4 compartments - one for shampoo, one for conditioner, one for liquid shower jell - I was very happy when I moved and awe shucks couldn't get it off the wall without ruining it

Oh last year she gave me used chairs??? You see my DH used my kitchen chairs over the years like a step ladder - and they were looking rough - but building a new house - I figured it was ok til we buy new furniture for the new house - well I made the mistke of saying 'oh where did you get these chairs - they look nice' when I was at her 1800's antique house - they fit in the room they were in -
well quess what showed up at my house on Christmas Eve! They don't match the wood of my table -
but thanks heavens I will get a whole new set nest year for the house