rwjx2khsmj Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 The Star Wars gift thread got me thinking about the crazy gifts we've been given over the years. Some bad, some funny bad... The most memorable at the moment is the Minnesota Vikings tie that my mil bought dh. Not only was it a tie, but it was a purple and gold tie that said VIKINGS on it. Also, dh isn't a Minnesota fan. So...what memorable gifts have you received where the giver meant well but totally missed the mark? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melissel Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Ha! You just reminded me of a hilarious story I'd kind of forgotten about (or maybe blocked out?). When I was in my early 20s, I was dating a guy I thought I was going to marry (before I met DH). We'd been dating for a few years and were on the verge of moving in together, and I'd been hinting around for a nice piece of jewelry (I didn't have any, and he'd never bought me any) or THE ring. He was hinting around that he'd gotten me something expensive, that I would totally love, be so excited about, etc. I was thrilled! Christmas Day arrives and we're sitting with his family, opening gifts, and he hands me this huge box. I open it to find a gigantic (it must have weighed 10 pounds) musical snow globe with a mystical wizard/elf-type scene inside. It was all I could not to burst into tears in front of his family. Talk about missing the mark! Needless to say, that story has gone down in infamy among my friends and family :lol: The funny thing is, DH misses the mark every year too, but never quite so spectacularly. My expectations are much different now, thankfully :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pink Fairy Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 My Nana (great-grandmother) was notoriously frugal, as she needed to be to buy presents for all her kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids. She loved to go to yard sales and find deals. Christmas presents were always especially interesting! One year I got a lint brush and two Watchtower magazines (Nana was not a JW). Another year she bought me a Baby Fry Daddy. I think that's the same year she gave my brother a rotisserie hot dog cooker, along with a straw dispenser, complete with paper-covered straws. Keep in mind, she gave us these when I was around 12 years old and my brother was 8. I sure do miss my Nana! She was such a character. :001_wub: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsrevmeg Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 My parents gave me a globe, a dictionary, and a five feet tall mirror one year for Christmas. I do not remember what I asked for, but none of that was on my list. I had specifically said I thought the mirror was ugly when we saw it one day. An older couple gave my husband and me a clock that had a picture of Moses on it. Every hour, it would chime with a man's voice reciting one of the 10 Commandments. It had a light censor to keep it from chiming during the night. Only, the censor didn't really work. It would scare the kids at night. We gave to a teenager who thought it was cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daisy Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 First Christmas of our married life. Husband bought me a Southern Comfort magazine (not a subscription. One magazine) and a Walmart run-of-the-mill throw pillow. :glare: After intensive 15yr training he has greatly improved in that department. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LauraGB Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Years ago, before we were married, dh asked what I wanted for Christmas. I wanted a thick white terry cloth robe. I even told him exactly where to find it (I mean, what store, where to go when in said store, where the rack was positioned, etc). Knowing dh, I was very specific about what it should look like - white. terry cloth. thick. I repeated this mantra several times, trying to ensure he would not deviate. He gave me a fluffy electric blue hooded monstrosity with a zipper. I'm fairly certain it was flammable. I actually cried. (Which was mean, I know, but come on.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 When I taught preschool, a parent gave me (and the co-teacher) a personalized, plastic...sippy cup. We both opened our gifts after the kids had gone--we looked at each other and said, "Did you just get what I got? Is it really a sippy cup?" as if we couldn't quite believe it. Then we burst out laughing! (this was the same mom who would report on her dd's "success" each morning--meaning she took a successful dump...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JillZ Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 These are cracking me up. :iagree: I'm subscribing to this thread for those times when I need a laugh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dooley Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 For my birthday, my then boyfriend (now dh) got real protective when I went out to his car to get something. He confessed he had something special in the back for my birthday and, oh well, he will give it to me now since I might have caught a glimpse. I was intrigued!! How thoughtful!!! I became the owner of a t-shirt with his friends body surfing competition logo on it. Thank you so much.:confused1: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Rat Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 My SIL wins the prize in my family. One year I got 3 sample packets of lotion. Another, one hand towel. LOL I wouldn't have minded if everyone's gifts were similar (meaning she was being frugal but thoughtful) but the rest of the family got really nice things and here I am looking at my sample packets. LOL We joked that next year she would wrap up the phone book for me.....but I never found out. She quit talking to dh and I about 3 years ago and still hasn't informed us as to what we did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Word Nerd Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 On my dad's side of the family, the cousins used to exchange names each year. The wife of one of my cousins drew my name one of the last years we still exchanged gifts. We didn't know each other much at all, and she gave me a stuffed cow doorstop with a dress made from fabric printed with a crazy patchwork of American flag stripes and stars. For some inexplicable reason, the cow was wearing giant hoop earrings that peeked out from under her bonnet. I thought my head would explode from trying not to laugh when I opened it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babysparkler Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 My poor dh gets a two dress shirts for his birthday and two at Christmas from his parents... he always comments on how he really wishes they would ONCE choose something that was more meaningful to him. I feel like I should tell him how their "traditional gift" makes him feel like they don't care enough to get him something that shows they KNOW him and care about him... but I don't think it is my place to say it. He always says (to me privately) that he would rather them not give him anything at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pink Fairy Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 I was telling my mom and about this thread, and she reminded me of the gift my grandmother (Nana's daughter) bought her (my mom) for Christmas one year. It was a soup tureen shaped like a duck, only the head had come off at some point and been (crookedly) glued back on. She still has it! Grandma and Nana did all of their yard sale shopping together, so maybe Nana had a hand in this gift for my mom, who knows. What a great thread! I hadn't thought about any of this in years, and it was fun to talk about Grandma and Nana with my mom. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Not for Christmas, because they generally don't give Christmas presents, but MIL was feeling randomly generous one day and gave the following: Her dear granddaughter: A hand of bananas. (Ok, dd likes bananas and was only 1 so doesn't know anything about gift giving.) Me: A boomerang shaped fridge magnet she got for free. Her beloved only son: A ziploc bag with a cup of oatmeal and instructions on how to make oatcakes. Because they are really yummy, she said. I just found that packet of oatmeal the other day, 18 months later. He's so ungrateful ;) Rosie- who had a 25kg bag of oats in her backroom at the time, hehehe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukeswife Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 My MIL tends to get me things from Bath and Body works which is usually a great thing since I don't often buy them for myself. Well 2 years ago she sent me some nice lotions, bath soap, etc and the free gift, which was a bright red bag with a fur trim. Well the fur on mine was a bit overdone and was the color of muskrats. My dd who was 6 at the time was really excited and yelled "Mom you got a BEAVER!" When she found out it was just a purse her excitement wained, and when I offered the bag to her she said "I don't want a hairy purse" The next year my dd got a hot pink princess purse with fake pink fur trim. She then said "Mom, Grandma really has a thing for hairy purses" Last year we just got pullover hoodies which were a nice change. I can't wait to see what happens this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pooh bear Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Christmas last year I received a used dish towel from my MIL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFSinIL Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 My mil gave me a bottle of Heinz vinegar one year. I did not know what to say. Found out months later that she had put a few raspberries in it to make flavored vinegar. OK - but at least take the label off??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicole M Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 My husband gave me a $10 toaster over two years ago. So last year I gave him the Kitchen Aid blender I'd been wanting. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrystal Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Everyone in my house is looking at me like I'm crazy as I sit here laughing at the computer screen. Thank you for this thread. My worst wasn't mine. It was my ex-mil. Her husband gave her a bottle of Oil of Olay for Christamas. That was all he got her. The really funny part was they had been married for 30 years and he still didn't have a clue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in WI Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 You all have me :rofl: My dh is looking at me like I'm crazy right now!!! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 My first xmas with my now ex husband he forgot to get me a gift so he ran to the drug store and got me a huge pine scented candle, a giant candy cane and a car air freshener. He didn't even wrap them, he just tied the bag closed and stuck it under the tree. Keep in mind this was a couple months after I had our first child, I was pregnant with the 2nd, and could not tolerate anything pine scented(which he knew because I would not use the pine scented cleaners he liked), I have always hated candy canes, and I didn't even have my driver's license let alone a car to put the air freshener in. And to think that was one of his better xmas's in the gift giving dept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConnieB Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Ha! You just reminded me of a hilarious story I'd kind of forgotten about (or maybe blocked out?). When I was in my early 20s, I was dating a guy I thought I was going to marry (before I met DH). We'd been dating for a few years and were on the verge of moving in together, and I'd been hinting around for a nice piece of jewelry (I didn't have any, and he'd never bought me any) or THE ring. He was hinting around that he'd gotten me something expensive, that I would totally love, be so excited about, etc. I was thrilled! Christmas Day arrives and we're sitting with his family, opening gifts, and he hands me this huge box. I open it to find a gigantic (it must have weighed 10 pounds) musical snow globe with a mystical wizard/elf-type scene inside. It was all I could not to burst into tears in front of his family. Talk about missing the mark! Needless to say, that story has gone down in infamy among my friends and family :lol: The funny thing is, DH misses the mark every year too, but never quite so spectacularly. My expectations are much different now, thankfully :D Well, at least you didn't marry him....think about all the presents since then! :eek: The gift that my husband will never live down was our first CHristmas as a married couple.....jumper cables. He's improved since then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 When we were kids my grandmother gave my sister and I boxed hankies for Christmas one year. I think I as about 8. It wasn't about etiquette, they were probably situated close to the liquor department, grandma had issues. :001_huh: Thankfully my dad modeled grace and mercy and we probably wrote thank you notes for them anyway. :lol::lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicole M Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 The gift that my husband will never live down was our first CHristmas as a married couple.....jumper cables. He's improved since then. That so totally sounds like my husband. But I think it beats the toaster oven. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy22alyns Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 I love my dad more than just about anything, but... one year he got me a checkbook cover with an "A" logo, meaning it to be the Braves A. Unfortunately, what he got was the Alabama A. :001_huh: But the topper is from my uncle, who sent me a free bank calendar, a travel tube of toothpaste, and a small bottle of men's cologne. It gets better. It was addressed to me and my ex at the place where my DH and I lived together. :001_huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConnieB Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 My SIL wins the prize in my family. One year I got 3 sample packets of lotion. Another, one hand towel. LOL I wouldn't have minded if everyone's gifts were similar (meaning she was being frugal but thoughtful) but the rest of the family got really nice things and here I am looking at my sample packets. LOL We joked that next year she would wrap up the phone book for me.....but I never found out. She quit talking to dh and I about 3 years ago and still hasn't informed us as to what we did. Well, my family hates me when I guess what is in my present before I unwrap it. Perhaps she's miffed because you knew her next present was going to be the phone book? :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConnieB Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Christmas last year I received a used dish towel from my MIL. Ok, I think this takes the cake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristusG Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 An older couple gave my husband and me a clock that had a picture of Moses on it. Every hour, it would chime with a man's voice reciting one of the 10 Commandments. It had a light censor to keep it from chiming during the night. Only, the censor didn't really work. It would scare the kids at night. We gave to a teenager who thought it was cool. Now that is hilarious!! (And slightly creepy too LOL) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Rat Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 You might just be right, Connie! You're guess is as good as ours at this point! LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumping In Puddles Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 My worst gift was from my dh the first year we were together before we were married. I went over to his house where he was working on his his car and he gives me... :001_huh: $47 in cash. Like it was all the money he had in his wallet at the moment. :glare: The worst part for me was how I agonized over the perfect gift for him for his birthday and I bought him this tool set that he still uses (often) to this day plus a bunch of little stuff. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 My grandmother gave the less than exciting gifts when I was growing up: very fully coverage "old lady" bras and panties rust-colored, bell-bottom jeans (in the mid-80s) bell-bottom jeans with car grills embroidered on the rear pockets and some design on the fly When DH and I got married we were dirt poor. Someone gave us the most hideous table-top fountain. It had a woman sitting by the "river" with an umbrella and a man standing behind her. The paint looked like it was done by someone with visual challenges. When we plugged it in, it had the loudest motor. Here we were, without basic household items, but we had a table-top fountain! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myfunnybunch Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 My SIL wins the prize in my family. One year I got 3 sample packets of lotion. Another, one hand towel. LOL I wouldn't have minded if everyone's gifts were similar (meaning she was being frugal but thoughtful) but the rest of the family got really nice things *sigh* This is my MIL. She gets my dh an expensive gift. She gets my boys several toys from their wish list. She gets my lovely stepdaughter whatever her heart desires. She gets a nice gift or two for my dd, her stepgrandaughter. I used to get whatever she could find to stuff in a bag. She used to give me all of the chocolates and candles she got from vendors and coworkers. And the free samples and free gift she'd gotten at the makeup counter when she bought her best friend's gift. I don't mind regifting or frugality, but it was clear she just wrapped them to have something to give me. Some of them still had the vendors' names on them. LOL I just smiled and said thanks every year and kept putting thought into her gifts. A couple years ago I started getting nice gifts from her. Not sure why. Doesn't matter, it was just more weird than anything else. Cat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bug's Mom Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 A few years ago, dh's aunt got matching jogging suits for all the women in the family. (well, except for one SIL who was too big...we all envied her at that moment) They were black nylon. Pants and a zip-front jacket. There was a small black grid pattern all over them. There was silver dripped/splattered all over them. We really should have posed for a photo. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corraleno Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Worst present as a kid: I desperately wanted a "Francie" doll (similar to Barbie"), it was at the top of my Christmas list and the only thing I really wanted. (We only ever got toys at birthdays or Christmas, and even then only 2 or 3, so it was a big deal to me.) Instead my mother bought me a Dodie doll ~ which was like a human Gumby with wires inside. My brothers grabbed it and bent it into weird shapes and the wires all poked through the plastic and ruined the doll within an hour of opening it. And the icing on the cake: my mom bought my sister a Francie doll, even though she hadn't asked for one. :( Worst present as a teen: We were pretty poor and our "big" Christmas present was usually a winter coat. I asked for a longish grey wrap coat, and even provided my stepmother with pictures from magazines and a list of stores where she could get one pretty cheap. On Christmas morning I unwrapped a bright green, double-breasted, super short "military style" jacket, cropped at the waist, with big gold buttons and epaulettes. My step-sister proudly announced that my stepmother had let her pick it out because she "had such good taste" (presumably, as opposed to mine). It wasn't even warm and I froze my butt off all winter in that hideous thing. Worst presents as an adult: My MIL gave me some free cosmetic samples one year, and said "I certainly hope you like them, because they were bloody expensive!" (I supposed she was referring to the fact that she'd spent a lot of money buying Chanel products for herself in order to get the free samples.) Another year she realized on Christmas morning that she'd forgotten to get me anything (after she'd just opened a big pile of presents from me) so she ran upstairs, grabbed the cheapest piece of junk costume jewelry in her drawer, stuck it in an obviously old, used box, and gave it to me. It was a glass bug with a metal pin on the back, and when I opened it she insisted it was an antique Art Deco piece and was "real Tiffany." :rolleyes: Jackie ETA: Last year for DH's birthday she sent him.... an 8x10 photo of the $30,000 horse she'd bought his brother. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melissel Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Worst present as a kid: I desperately wanted a "Francie" doll (similar to Barbie"), it was at the top of my Christmas list and the only thing I really wanted. (We only ever got toys at birthdays or Christmas, and even then only 2 or 3, so it was a big deal to me.) Instead my mother bought me a Dodie doll ~ which was like a human Gumby with wires inside. My brothers grabbed it and bent it into weird shapes and the wires all poked through the plastic and ruined the doll within an hour of opening it. And the icing on the cake: my mom bought my sister a Francie doll, even though she hadn't asked for one. :( This is just horrible :( It's one thing to get ridiculous gifts from MILs and clueless DHs and other odd family members, but this is the kind of thing that sticks with you as an adult :grouphug: What are people thinking??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
********* Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Christmas last year I received a used dish towel from my MIL. A few years ago, my MIL gave me a pair of used candle holders as my Christmas gift. I had seen them on her mantle before. They were dusty, and had melted wax in them. A used dish towel is a bit worse, however. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwjx2khsmj Posted December 17, 2009 Author Share Posted December 17, 2009 :lol::lol::lol::lol: I am still chuckling over the snowglobe, Moses clock and straw dispenser. For some of the rest of you :grouphug::grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HayesW Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 My mom bought 3 UGLY shirts for my DH and my two sisters' significant others. They are nice shirts, Ralph Lauren, but UGLY. Bright yellow, bright green and orange designs, just ugly. It backfired. My sweet husband wears his to my parents' house all the time! THis summer we went deep sea fishing. He wore it. Family Christmas dinner, he puts it on. I think my BsIL tossed theirs, but my sweet Nathan wants my mom to know he got the joke! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyBC Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Oh man, the Moses clock and the duck soup tureen just crack me up. :lol: I'm not very good at giving gifts... Mennonite father born during the depression, Scottish mother... enough said. But my mom has sure given some doozies the past few years. She gave my then-1yo daughter a bottle of play soap for the bathtub with the dollar store tag still on it. DD neither knew nor cared, and it was something she and I could enjoy, but ouch! I believe that's the same year my SIL received a plastic measuring cup. :confused: None of us could figure that one out. My little sister, always outspoken, must have said something to her about it though, because she's put a bit more thought into it since then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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