What is the weirdest or worst Holiday gift you ever received?

[MuranoJo]

Several years ago, I gifted my brother & his family a timeshare for Thanksgiving, driving distance from where they live, but with scenery, pool and spa for the kids.

They usually don't send Christmas gifts, but that year we received a large box from them (I guess as a gesture of thanks to us for the timeshare week). Inside was an awful gazebo-like structure, with an elephant in the middle, jungle plants, and water beads running down the open walls when you plug it in. Hard to describe. DH & I laughed about my taking it to work and putting it in my work area, but friends stopped by and the new wife loved it, so I gave it to her.

Fast-forward about 6 mos. and the thing shows up at another friend's house. The previous couple had split and these guys asked if they could have it, not knowing we were the original owners. We kept quiet but giggled about it later.

Fast-forward a year later and it shows up in the basement rec room of another friend's house. They went on and on about how many comments (good & bad) they get about it, so I guess it's turned into the white elephant gift that never stops giving.

 

[bjones9942]

This year I gave (yes, gave - I'll be out of town during the holidays so I gave gifts at Thanksgiving) my two favorite gifts ...

#1 (for #2) Just-A-Drop:

(http://www.justadrop.com/)

I tell everyone this is a gag-gift, but it's not. My sisters in-laws are a stinky bunch!

-and-


#2 (I call them chicken-butt-plugs, but they're vertical roasters. The chicken comes out great every time!):

(http://www.earlymorningpottery.com/products_chicken cooker_turkey_cornish_poultry.htm)

They have them for turkeys and cornish game hens too!

 

[sail27bill]

I have to say most "gifts" given to me by my sister-in-law. She re-gifts everything and fails to check inside the box. I kept getting her wedding gifts for years as well as gift cards that she never used so the balance had whittled away to almost nothing. Most of the gifts were useless that I donated to goodwill.

On another note, my husband gave me a spice rack for Christmas one year. We were married young and had just bought our first house so money was tight. Although it was a sweet gift, it was pretty useless for me. I kid him about it every year or so. I have to say though, all my gifts since then have been wonderful! He just bought me this wonderful ring for Christmas that I am not supposed to know about, but alas I found it in his jacket that needed washing. I gave it back to him and he proceeded to hide it. The only problem now is that I want to wear it. I keep having to stop myself from looking for it. It is going to be a long three weeks.....

Anita

 

[CapriciousC]

I agree - me too!

Me three on the ornament front! We like to buy ornaments for my MIL when traveling - she loves for each ornament to have significance.

I have given my daughter a Waterford ornament for Christmas every year since she was born - she's only 7 now, but when she's out on her own and puts up her own tree, she'll have at least 18 - 20 nice ornaments to start with.

 

[CapriciousC]

My grandmother used to gift our family with a yard-long summer sausage every Christmas from Hickory Farms. My mom, my brother and I didn't eat meat, and my stepdad wasn't allowed to eat that kind of stuff due to a heart condition. I confess that my mother typically sliced it up, added cheese and crackers to a plate, and took it to her work holiday potluck.

Several years ago a dear friend of DH's gave his wife a hockey jersey, from his favorite team, with his favorite player's name and number on the back. It was a XXL, and she's a very petite lady. Who does not enjoy hockey, by the way. It was rather like the bowling ball that Homer gifted to Marge on "The Simpsons". I spent Dec. 26 with said friend at the mall, helping him pick out both a replacement Christmas gift, and an "I'm sorry" gift.

 

[DebBrown]

About the Christmas ornaments... we collect them too from various vacations, etc. but I don't think I would want to receive one as a gift on Christmas Day. I guess it depends on the giver but in general, I want to decorate my own tree with my own memories.

Worst gift? Well, the story that comes to mind is when my son put a bottle of beer in everyone's stocking. He was in some big trouble Christmas morning. My 8 year old granddaughter did NOT need that from Santa!

Deb

 

[Karen G]

I have a mother-in-law story since it seems that some of us have had some doozies of mother-in-laws. We gave my husband's mother (now deceased) a very expensive bottle of her favorite perfume which she thanked us for and promptly put it away out of sight.

Then she proceeded to rave about the gift she had received from her favorite niece to everyone who came by. It was a large supply of paper napkins that were of the quality you'd get at McDonald's. She never mentioned the perfume again.

 

[Patri]

My parents gave me and my siblings, and then grandchildren, dated Hallmark ornaments for years. They are very special to us. They stopped when it just got to be too many people, but the ornaments are collectibles, although worth more to us than what a buyer would offer We rotate themes for the tree, so every other year the Hallmarks go up.

 

[jlr10]

One year I asked my husband for a new night shirt. At the time I was about a size 8. At Christmas his mother said "He told me you wanted a new nightshirt, so I think you meant like one of those cotton t-short looking shirts (right.) so I got you this (wrong.)" It was a polyester night gown with a robe. She then makes it worse "My night gown likes to twist at night. So I bought your's one size bigger so it wouldn't twist." She bought me a size 3XXXL.

The next year she gave DH and I a box of diet cookies that we could use as meal replacements.

Needless to say both of these gifts were put in the trash. I was too offended to use or return them

 

[vacationhopeful]

When my sister had a baby boy, I gave her several Lenox ornaments of the Holiday train to hang on the tree. AS he grew, the train went higher and higher up the tree. When her 2nd baby boy arrived, I gave her another Lenox train (same size as the first) but an Easter bunny theme. The third baby boy was a toddler who loved trains even MORE than his older brothers. Another sister and I stopped at the Lenox Factory Store on our way to her house for Christmas and found the 1 foot high Lenox train engine and caboose reduced to $85 each. We brought them, wrapped these 2 gifts, and left them under her tree from Santa. When she opened the engine and her jaw dropped, her 2 yo boy grab it in pure delight, screaming "TRAIN!" - every adult in the room jumped to get it from his hands. Then we had to put both pieces on top of the china cabinet. I added the coal car the next year.

Of all the past Christmas, that scream of "TRAIN" and the utter delight in his eyes and on his face has still not been topped. What was a lark gift to my sister, became a priceless moment - and that big Lenox train still sits on top of the china cabinet every Christmas season.

 

[geekette]

My brother's wife gave me an EMPTY hair dryer box. Said she needed one, opened my gift to use and didn't want to give me a used blow dryer. So she gave me the empty box as a promise. Same SIL and Xmas where my brother agreed to go in on a group gift to our parents, I paid for it and she after Xmas dinner as I was collecting, said that gift exceeded their gift allowance for each person (hence, no money).

Never got the "hot air machine" as she left my brother the following month right after our grandfather's will was read and my brother was not listed in it.

And since you are not supposed to say evil/mean things about the dead, I ended up paying for my parents' gift twice and had no hair blow dryer. And that was the LAST bit of time I ever had to spend with her.

sounds to me like the gift was her disappearance, a good gift!

 

[geekette]

Ummmm....me?? In our family, the Christmas ornaments have a lot of meaning and we treasure each of them with the memories that accompany the time they were acquired...So handmade ornaments children made, to a "special" ornament that hung on great-Grandma's tree and is now on ours,
cheap ornaments purchased in Italy to make a holiday away from home while in the military seem more homey, glass ornament bought in honor of a leukemia patient to raise money for Children's Hospital...etc. All the stories are told while decorating the tree, or sometimes when people visit and admire a certain ornament. I never understood the idea of having a perfectly "matching" Christmas tree where everything was white, or gold because our trees always had so much meaning packed into those odd, assorted ornaments. Over the years, some are lost, or purposely retired, LOL!!, and I do appreciate a designer tree now and again, but decorating the tree and looking at the ornaments is a big part of Christmas for me. (I promise I'll never give you an ornament, Cindy! )

I'm with you. some are from mom's childhood, some we made as kids, some were given to me as a kid, plenty were made by my sister's children, some came from mom and dad's travels. Some I actually bought, too!

I don't need Perfectly Matching, will never have it, but I do enjoy putting up the handmade ornaments that were maybe very cheap, but nobody is going to have a better yarn Santa than me because I know that my mother made it when she was a kid, and that's more valuable to me than anything money could buy.

People have their own traditions. Certainly many give/get ornaments at Christmas. This year I expect another Hallmark ornament from the Snoopy collection from Mom.

 

[geekette]

...She re-gifts, and that is annoying, too, because she cannot remember who she got this gift from and who was there when she opened said gift. I have a plaque on my wall that she received from one of her friends for a wedding gift. I was there when she opened it, and to save her friend's feelings, when that mutual friend comes over to my house, I take the plaque down. That is how sensitive I am about this sort of thing.

ungrateful is not a term that comes to mind when I think of you!

I think that you are an angel to take that plaque down vs letting chips fall where they may. "I got it from my MIL and I just love it!"

re-gifting is a quagmire. those with bad memories should never engage in it.

 

[brigechols]

This falls in the weird category. Many years ago during an office secret Santa gift exchange, I received a belt with a mistletoe buckle. Being a good sport, I turned it backwards so the mistletoe was on my backside

 

[laurac260]

"this dress would look great on your mom."

Soooo, he's a guy who wanted to marry his mom...!

 

[laurac260]

ungrateful is not a term that comes to mind when I think of you!

I think that you are an angel to take that plaque down vs letting chips fall where they may. "I got it from my MIL and I just love it!"

re-gifting is a quagmire. those with bad memories should never engage in it.

I just thought of a great crocheted plaque for a Christmas gift for those "thoughtful" regifters. "May your holiday memories outlast your thoughtfulness"

Let her figure that one out...!

 

[laurac260]

No husband has a better "gift giver" than mine does.

Every year he picks something out for himself, then buys it, then casually mentions to me what he'd like to have. Then when I say that sounds nice he tells me he already bought it. BUT...it can be for his birthday, and father's day, etc.

I used to be bothered by this. But then I realized how liberating it was to know that I always seemed to pick the perfect gift. Now I just ask him, "So what did I get you for your birthday this year, honey?" And when he tells me I just say, "Gosh I'm thoughtful, aren't I?"He hates surprises, and I'm not a mindreader, so it works out great!

 

[Htoo0]

No husband has a better "gift giver" than mine does.

Every year he picks something out for himself, then buys it, then casually mentions to me what he'd like to have. Then when I say that sounds nice he tells me he already bought it. BUT...it can be for his birthday, and father's day, etc.

I used to be bothered by this. But then I realized how liberating it was to know that I always seemed to pick the perfect gift. Now I just ask him, "So what did I get you for your birthday this year, honey?" And when he tells me I just say, "Gosh I'm thoughtful, aren't I?"He hates surprises, and I'm not a mindreader, so it works out great!

That's pretty much how things work at our house too...both ways! Amazing how happy we make each other.

 

[Twinkstarr]

One year I asked my husband for a new night shirt. At the time I was about a size 8. At Christmas his mother said "He told me you wanted a new nightshirt, so I think you meant like one of those cotton t-short looking shirts (right.) so I got you this (wrong.)" It was a polyester night gown with a robe. She then makes it worse "My night gown likes to twist at night. So I bought your's one size bigger so it wouldn't twist." She bought me a size 3XXXL.

The next year she gave DH and I a box of diet cookies that we could use as meal replacements.

Needless to say both of these gifts were put in the trash. I was too offended to use or return them

:hysterical: :hysterical: This sounds familiar. One yr my MIL bought me a size 4 shirt(was about a sz 10 then) and a pair of pants that had to be a size 20. I thanked her and tossed them in the bag for Goodwill after they left.

We just assumed that MIL thought I was too tiny up top and had a huge behind.

Though the cherry on top of the sundae was when she re-gifted to my eldest son(age 18 months at the time) those cotton training pants that my nephew had worn 11 yrs before.

 

[Big Matt]

I got two metal coffee mugs with the Washington Redskins logo from Things Remembered. It was from my father in law and his girl friend. The mugs had little engraved areas letting me know the gift was from him and her with the date. How can you even give those away?

 

[jlwquilter]

My husband's (now deceased) aunt was a WONDERFUL gift giver to him and his brothers when they were kids.

His favorite was the year he was 10. She gave each of them a laminated social security card.

This made the year before gift of a small package of Oreo cookies seem like a windfall.

My husband seems to have somewhat inherited this gift giving gene. The first Xmas we were dating he gave me a chucky wood duck puzzle. I still to this day (today is our 15th anniversary) can't figure that one out. He said he panicked. I generally buy my own gifts from him since then. Works great.

 

[pjrose]

Regarding the Christmas ornaments, people we know who have been hosting foreign exchange students for years say they always ask the student for an ornament or something small for the tree from the student's country. One year we got a "tour" of the tree along with memories of the students. It was a really neat idea!

 

[klpca]

One year at our office Christmas party we did the whole "draw a number from a hat" thing. I received a cute lounging hippo statue about 10" in length. I took it out of the box to show everyone (thinking the whole time -this is weird). That's when I noticed the box that said it was from the San Diego Zoo and it was made from hippo poop. It was supposed to be biodegradable but it is still in a small planter near my front porch. I laugh every time I think about it.

 

[klpca]

Btw, I think we need a whole mother-in-law thread! I love mine now but we had some differences in the past, and many of them involved some aspect of gift giving.

 

[MuranoJo]

Oh, I forgot to mention an unforgettable gift from my MIL last year that we were just 'dying' to get: Cemetery plots for us next to her and FIL. (I posted about this last year on TUG.)

Sounds like something that would happen on 'Everyone Loves Raymond.'