Tis the season for corny, outrageous, unbelievable gifts.

What is the worst gift you can ever remember receiving, when you just wanted to hand it back to the person and say... No.........Really...... You shouldn't have! instead of smiling politely and using your best Stepford wife singsong voice to graciously accept the hideous gift which I know we all do at times.


I once got a Kitchen set basket with all kinds of things for the kitchen from my SIL and included in it were some fancy schmancy high dollar specialty cleaning items for my wooden kitchen products... UGH... I don't want to think about cleaning on Christmas morning... Thanks, but you REALLY shouldn't have....

X

Last year we received a box of .................CANNED FOOD!! from Dh's parents. We were NOT starving,hungry, or financially defunct in any way They are just nutz Then less than a minute later Mil called me in the dining room to see Sil open her present which was some kind of vacuum cleaner and Mil is pointing out all the very special attachments(hows that for passive aggressiveness?)The only thing I could say was " Well, You can't eat that" We dropped the box off at the food pantry a few days later LOL

Great thread!

My MIL (who is a strange woman, but pretty great) was making herself a vest (which was really ugly) and my DSIL KIDDINGLY said how beautiful it was.

MIL ended up making one for each of her DD and DDILs.! In this case it was THANKS to my MIL and YOU SHOULDN"T HAVE to my DSIL!

(I feel I need to say that my MIL usually has great taste )

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Nutella,....
proving some of the best things in life come in a jar.

One year my ex-husband gave me a chair for our computer desk because "he" wanted it. I got a lot of gifts like that.

Another Christmas I won't forget was with my grandma.
My grandma had dementia, she gave some odd gifts not realizing what she was wrapping. I remember I had gone shopping with her and picked out gifts, she wrapped them and then forgot where she had put them. Since she couldn't remember and didn't want to come to my house empty handed and admit she forgot (she was stubborn and did not want to admit she had a problem) so she wrapped us up stuff she found around her house. I remember she wrapped a can of coffee, a block of cheese and one of those sausages from Hickory Farms. A few months later when she went into her closet to get out her spring clothes she found the bag with our Christmas presents and we got Christmas gifts for Easter. I miss my grandma, this is the 2nd Christmas I am spending without her.

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~~~~**Maryann**~~~~

I just got a firm grip on reality....
Now I can strangle it

Omg.. tears in my eyes from laughing so hard! --- That trumps my steak knife soap/oil stuff story any day!

and BeccaRose, were they REQUIRED to wear them to a family gathering? Were pictures taken?

Too FUNNY! Keep them coming!
X

We got 1 coffee mug from MIL with our family picture on it. I guess we could share the cup of coffee or take turns using it. She gives her other sons hundreds of dollars worth of whatever they ask for(computers, clothes, games etc etc). Crazy Lady!!!

My DH receives the award for top performance in this category. The best in category are probably the toilet seat and the car battery. He comes by this talent genetically as his father once gave us Government-issued enormous cans of pork and beans (which I in turn gave to a food bank, because this product was not intended for me!)

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

If it's the thought that counts..... then WHAT on earth were you thinkin' ????

LOL!! a toilet seat?---- come on, there's got to be more to that story. Did you mention you wanted a softer one, or an automatically closing one, or one that didn't pinch your, well you know what cracked ones pinch if sat on incorrectly.

How did he come to realize that a toilet seat would be the perfect gift?
X
{{still laughing}}

No big story, almost wish there was to kinda excuse him! But truth be told, he looks around and comes up with something either he would like himself (according to the kids, I'll be getting a GPS system this year - which I could care less about - so he will actually get it) or something he thinks we need. The toilet seat was the latter. The old one had become yellowed with age.

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

My mother is a hoarder and they built a new house about 10 years ago (directly behind the old one and tore the old one down). When they were moving (about 25 feet to the west!) she found several old Christmas presents that she had bought over the years and "misplaced". Most of my (and my brother & sister) Christmas that year were those gifts - a frog kitchen set (I collected frogs in high school, but by then was married 10 years and living in our 3rd house - the frogs were long gone), some sort of rock music game (donated to Goodwill) and I don't remember what all else.

The 1st one was funny, but by about the 3rd one, it was just bad!

Lisa

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"It's not having what you want,
It's wanting what you've got"

Not a bad gift, but memorable and free for him. Years ago my dh gets me a cell phone. Great gift, right? Well, the cell phone was free with the plan, which was put in my name and I PAID the bill every month. So, it was indeed thoughtful, but didn't cost him a penny.

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I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!

once someone gave my dh a frozen turkey around christmas...said they got an extra one at work. that sounded nice and thoughtful, then they mentioned oh, this is the turkey from last year, we needed to make room for this year's turkey so...

a neighbor once gave us a christmas present, a plasticky orange ashtray, the kind like from the dollar store... not sure what she was thinking...



they really shouldn't have!!

A couple of years ago, my MIL gave me a shower cap for Christmas. No thanks, I prefer to wash my hair when I take a shower.

My SIL gave me a blow up santa last year, which is fine if you like blow up decorations, but I don't. Now if I don't put it up, the kids will be disappointed, and she will wonder where it went.

Rebecca

My SIL gave me thread a couple of years ago.......three spools to be exact. That was also the year they gave DH a heated back massager, which was a nice gift.......it was even a nice gift the last Christmas when we gave it to them

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Chicago Bears!!!!
We are the Bears Shufflin' Crew
Shufflin' on down, doin' it for you.
We're so bad we know we're good.
Blowin' your mind like we knew we would.
You know we're just struttin' for fun
Struttin' our stuff for everyone.
We're not here to start no trouble.
We're just here to do the Super Bowl Shuffle.

OMG - broke the #1 rule of re-gifting!! LOL.

My BIL offered to take me to the Salvation Army to pick out a gift for myself. (I know many people shop there, but I don't...and he would know that)

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

Yep, well I was pregnant with my first child, and I gained about 60 pounds....My MIL gave me a bathroom scale for Christmas.
Haven't forgiven her for that one........

None of these are as bad as what our friend got!

Her farmer husband got her a manure spreader.
Even a farm wife doesn't expect that gift!

Might have been my "former" husband , not my "farmer" husband if it had been me!

One year when I was in high school, my mom wanted these awful red, cream and gream plaid wool pants. I thought they were the ugliest things I had every seen, and being a teenager I told her so when we were looking at them in the store window.......On Christmas (my parents believed in only one gift too) imagine my face when I opened up my box, and inside were those horrible horrible pants.....and a matching plaid sweater! My mom had wanted these and wouldn't buy them for herself so she bought them for me....when they were put away that night, they went straight to her closet....She still has them too!

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"You can never really pay back. You can only pay forward."

Wayne Woodrow “Woody” Hayes

O-H-I-O

You guys crack me up! I don't really have anything to add...just wanted to let you know I'm thoroughly enjoying this thread.

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Mary

Bummer, mabear! How naughty of a mom to do that! Grrr.... I feel your pain on that one.

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

Not a Christmas gift (can't think of one.....believe me, I've had plenty of gifts that I didn't care for, but, nothing comes to mind right now),but, a "wedding" gift. DH and I were on the last leg of our honey moon, and visiting his family, me meeting many of them for the first time. WEll, his sister, who had recently gotten married, 3 years before us, actually, calls us into the kitchen and lets us pick from a stash of duplicate gifts she got for HER wedding. She didn't even try to disguise the fact. The gifts from her haven't exactly gotten much better, nor has the relationship.

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

What is it with parents/grandparents who exclude ONE child/grandchild?!!? My mother does this with one of my sister's kids - one year she got all the other 11 grandkids plenty of gifts and just ONE gift for my niece. And, no it wasn't something nice or pricey, it was a nick-nack that no teenager would have a use for :-( I just can't imagine doing this to one of my kids or grandkids.

maybe someone can explain this and it won't seem so odd...but when my son was born, my sil gave him a silver napkin ring. I thought maybe it was a bracelet that was too small, but she corrected me when I thanked her for it and told me it was a napkin ring. not engraved or anything, just an expensive napkin ring....the only one I own...not like the rest of the family already had one..?????

I know with my MIL, she gives MUCH more, in every regard (from new birth gifts to everyday living expenses) to her other son and his family. She always has, ALWAYS. But, I accept that because she literally OWNS their a&$, and I would NEVER allow myself, DH, or kids to be in that position. No thank you, we'll eat crackers and live in a card board box before we ask for dime one from her or FIL or SMIL, and it KILLS them. They can't stand it!!! You'd think a parent would be happy their child is doing well, but, not them. If they aren't controlling you, you're out of the picture.

Could this be what is going on in your situation???

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

Thats the way my MIL is now also she dont send us anything but the BIL & his wife she runs thier life & buys them whatever the heck they want UMM thanks but no thanks I dont need anyone running my life LOL

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mom of 3 greats girls

OK...I must admit that I was a bad mommy a few minutes ago. While one of my twins were getting in trouble for lying with DH I was reading this post and lmbo.

My shouldn't have would be:
A couple years ago my grandmother gave me a a bathrobe. Well when I took it out of the box all I could smell was urine. It was an old bathrobe of hers. LMBO I could not get the top back on the box fast enough. I had to go outside for some fresh air. I believe everyone that year got crazy used gifts from her.
She really shouldn't have...........

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Give me the wisdom and grace to understand

Tracy S
Mommy to 5 little girls
Victoria
Alyssa
Samantha & Selena
Malaya
Tracy_s5girls@yahoo.com

OMG so funny this thread is! My Sister had a Wine Tasting Party at her house and that same Christmas gave my Husband a $3.00 Grocery Store non-alcoholic drink and gave a whole schmeal on how she got it at the Wine Party and that it was a special wine. I couldn't help but let her know that if that was the case she got screwed because Market Basket has it for $3.00. What a Chuckle I had over this one.

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Without Health you have no Wealth!

A used bathrobe - yuck! She really shouldn't have.....

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

I guess it would have to be the food processer bf got me last year for christmas. For something thats suppose to make life easier it sure looked complicated as he!! to me. Like I really want to go through the bother of taking it out of the box .putting it together ,change this attachment for cucumbers,this attachment for tomatoes,and this attachment for cheese,then have to wash all the attachments up after I'm done ,stick it back in the box and put it away( where? there is not an inch of space left on the counter nor the cupboards).More trouble than its worth to me.More like a pain in the butt!! It was one of the most nicest gifts he has ever gotten me though considering the thought behind it.He did let me exchange it, and from now I pick out my own christmas gift,lol. This year all I want is gel cushions for my boots.

LOL! I would ask, that would forever boggle my mind!

Nope, nothing like that. The grandkids range in age from 22 down to 6 - my niece is 19 and she's the oldest of 5. She's always been a good kid - she did get pregnant just after she graduated from highschool BUT my oldest daughter was pregnant at the same time, having planned the pregnancy when both she and her boyfriend were not working and they were on welfare when my grandson was born. My mom was totally cool with my dd's choices but thought it was horrible that my niece got pregnant (while using two forms of birth control!) even though both her and her boyfriend were working. ::::sigh:::: we've all given up trying to figure out what makes her tick.

I think you and I are living parallel lives Dh's fam is the same way Bunch-O-nutz

I don't have anything to add, but can't imagine how I would keep a straight face if I received some of these gifts. Yikes!!! LMAO!

when dh and I first got married, 21 years ago..we had NOTHING...thrift store clothes, lawn chairs for our living room furniture, etc. So, what does his mom and dad give us ?

a set of Dollar tree suction cup bottom battery operated plastic candles !! They were sooo cheap, that when the suction was old, the candles popped up from the sills..oh BOY, was I upset !

They never bought our son, their first grand son,, ANYTHING...EVER. No teddy bears, no baby blankets, nothing..they are cheap beyond belief.

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Live, Love, Laugh

This is SO OUTRAGEOUS that it going to sound made up , but I swear it is 100% true.

My husband's grandmother (God rest her soul) was a supervisor for the Dainty Maid company which sold ladies feminine products.
Well you guessed it for the first Christmas we were married she gave me this product for a gift. I was floored, mortified, embarassed, and unsure of what it was. I had seen and used massengil and summers eve, but this was a ceramic thing with a small looking enema bag.
I wish there was a prize for the worst gift. I know I would win!!!

Our first Christmas together my DH's family gave me a book on how to become Catholic. I turned to DH and said, "Hey, that's just like the book my mom gave you on becoming a Presbyterian!" Haven't heard a word about it since!

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Mom to Miss C & Mr. E
Former SAHM now working full time
feboll@neo.rr.com

3 years ago dh and I moved into a fixer upper house. it was in the middle of being remodled. we had to kids under 2 and were basically broke.. we asked everyone for home depot gift cards for our stove and fridge since we were living out of a cooler... my mil gave us 500.00 in silverware??? beautiful gift if we weren't eating off of paper plates and had a stove to cook food to use it... they were wrapped in 30.00 dustrags?? and yes she made sure the price tag was still on them.

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Too many people spend money they haven't earned to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like. - Will Rogers

That one got me snickering! DD asked why I was laughing so much. HA! I wish I had the ability to come up with good come backs quickly! Way To Go!!

How about a book on menopause for my 40th birthday from "dear" MIL? It had a note attached to keep it my my beside and refer to it often. Book on peri-menopause....maybe, but not menopause. If turning 40 was not bad enough!!! When I returned it to Barnes and Noble, the guy looked at me, then looked at the book. He said that there was no reason to explain the exchange.