JFF: What Was the Worst or Funniest Gift You Ever Received?

When my son was 2 months old and Christmas Day came, my inlaws gave me my present. You know those clear "mailbox" shaped containers meant to put candy in...that is what I received. A Christmas mailbox with a pair of socks for my baby boy. I know it's the thought that counts but that thought made me know they didn't think much of anything of me.

My co- worker bought me for Christmas a travel mug that played Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again". I never used it but my 2 year old loves it!

Many, many years ago, DH brought a rose home for me when I was sick one day. When he bought it he didn't realize it was a fake flower. We had a good laugh over that one.

My very first Mother's Day, I got nothing at all. My husband went to play golf and left me home alone with a fussy baby that was teething. I sat home and cried when I realized that he really and truly didn't get me anything. He said that since I wasn't HIS mom that he didn't think he needed to do anything for me. I bawled my eyes out and really laid into him about it when he got home and lets just say that he will never, ever do that to me again. Also, to specify, I don't expect jewelry or anything expensive. A candid photo of my daughter in a frame would have made me more than happy.

Last year for my birthday my sister-in-law regifted the shower gel and body lotion that I had given her for her birthday only 4 months earlier. I think it's fine to regift if you don't really care for something or don't need it, but never, ever, ever regift to the person who gave you the gift in the first place. It was like a slap in the face.

When I was 15, my grandfather sent me a bathtime fun barbie. That was...interesting.

I really wanted to have another baby and was talking quite a bit about it with my husband. He was not on board and let me know that he did not want a second baby yet. We went back and forth, not fighting, but discussing.
For Christmas he got me a baby doll. He thought he was so funny....
Jokes on him....I was pregnant and we didn't know it! (we had just decided DAYS before Christmas to go ahead and try)
L.

When we got married we received a regifted photo frame, know how we knew it was regifted?
The original gift tag was in the box with it.
My favorite gift for our wedding though was the lamp made from a silver coffee pot my aunt gave me. LOVE that lamp. It's so unique! sadly one of the legs came off of the pot and I have yet to go get an soldering iron to put it back on with.
One year , my MIL got it n her head that I collected monopoly games and gave me an antique monopoly. So now I collect Monopoly games. . .

eta: received the same card for my birthday 3 years in a row from my dad. Twice in a row from my FIL. lol

A box of broken dishes that my mother gave me for my birthday. She bought them for herself, but stored them in my brother's basement until they finished building their new house. When she eventually transferred them to her house's basement and then eventually got around to taking them out, she'd found another set she liked better and bought them. She gave me the original ones.... and half of them were broken. I couldn't even return them to the store b/c she had had them for so long and no receipt any longer.
(not "good" china, just a box of dishes).

And then.... she TOLD me all of this.
My husband still makes jokes about it....

White Elephant gift at my holiday work party a few years ago ... I got the Toilet Plunger, which was perfect because I had to put up w/ a lot of sh*t from this new office manager I was dealing with. Yes, it was from her and yes, she was later fired. Overall, quite appropriate!

It is not a gift but during a rough patch in my life, my husband and my mother each gave me the same card within days of each other. My husband gave me his card first and then my mother's card arrived in the mail within a day or so. At first I had this odd sense of deja vu but then I checked the cards. Yup, identical. Hehehe.... I was going to keep it to myself but my husband spotted the other card. Fortunately he and I had a good laugh about it. Clearly that card spoke to both of them in the same way. As an aside it was a Mahogany card of which none of us are the target market.

As a kid I remember my father buying my mother a lawn mower for Christmas one year. Even in the mind of a small child that was a bad gift.

White Elephant gift in a beautifully wrapped little box; metallic paper, red cloth ribbon, fresh sprig of holly. Opened: sliver of used soap.

Birthday gift: In the 80s (yes before many of you were born) it was the in thing to wear mens undershirts really big. I asked for a men's white 100% cotton undershirt (tshirt), v-neck, pocket didn't matter, size extra large. I got an ugly gold, women's polyester tshirt, size medium because my mom got it on sale and thought I'd like it better.

Thanks!

Have you ever just told him what you want? With bad gift givers, that's the best way to go.

My mom isn't the best gift giver. She seems to think I'm still 13 and will give me cheap, strange, ugly jewelry, or cheesy things with cats on them (I do love my cats, but I don't need a magnetic "cat lady" with magnetic cats stuck to her...I only have two cats, for goodness sake).

Last Christmas I told her I wanted a wine rack for my wine collection. Guess what I got? A wine rack. YAY!

ETA: An interesting tidbit: People with narcissistic personality disorder are NOTORIOUSLY bad gift givers. Not saying your hubby has NPD...but I think my mom might.

For my wedding, we received a cookbook. A cookbook isn't a terrible gift, but the giver forgot to take out the original card from when the gift was given to them. So when we opened it, it was clear they had re-gifted it and didn't even bother to take the time to check it out first. I can see why they didn't want it though....it wasn't a very good cookbook.

My husband used to give his Dad deodorant as a gift. I couldn't believe it and kept trying to get him to stop, but he said it was what his dad wanted. Finally, one year, I told him we were not getting him deodorant any more.

Oh, my mom used to give my (now) brother-in-law, almond roca every year at Christmas time. She didn't find out until years later that he hates almond roca. So now, it's kind of a joke to throw in some pieces of almond roca with his gift.

My mom is a horrible gift giver. She buys those "mystery bags" where you don't know what you are buying, and then she gives it as gifts. Once I got a lobster apron with matching oven mits. Nice...

Ah, well we Scorpios are so easy-going yet impossible to please, so they tell me.

Happy Birthday anyway, this'll be me next week. I'll expect nothing but still find whatever happens curious. Go figure.

;)

I received an electric can opener for Valentine's Day once year. (I haven't received a Valentine's, birthday, Hanukkah or anniversary present in, oh, 2 years or so so I guess I should be thankful..?)
A co-worker (male) once gave me Mary Kay lotion samples...old ones...maybe his wife was a rep at one time.....

Our first Christmas together, my husband bought me rubber car mats. Granted, I had just purchased a new car, but the first Christmas? My friends' boyfriends bought jewelry, lingerie, etc.... car mats.

Of course, our relationship is still strong and I still have those car mats 10 years later! Can't say that for most gifts.

Worst was my husband...for my birthday one year. BIL/SIL were having a poker tournament/party at there house. My husband was so exicted about the tourney. All day he said nothing so I thought oh he's going to surprise before we go...nope nothing I got home he said "you're late we gotta go"...I spent the next hour hoping...nothing never even said happy birthday. Walked over said "I'm going home" he said "ok well I will see you in the morning!"

He forgot! Here's the thing my birthday is on St. Patricks Day...EVERY YEAR!

He's never forgotten again. I know he was so excited about poker night...but jeez!

Or there the time he said "do you want these daisies?" "sure"...(before we were married)...at the grocery store and puts them on the checkout and I paid for them myself! YEP!

All of that...I just give him a hard time. He does a lot for me that is far more important...but still stung!

Worst ever was a plastic frog bought in the gas station on the way home from work.

Although the size 26 floor length jean jumper dress (I was a 14 at the time) had me in tears for awhile.

Last year I opened a gift addressed 'to the family' from an in-law. It was a mini vacuum cleaner for your car (you plug it into your car's outlet). When I ripped off the wrapping paper and saw the box, I thought that the gifter had reused the box (and the "real" gift was inside). Ummm nope.

But the joke is on me, because that mini car vacuum gets used--it's waaay easier to vaccuum all the crumbs in my dirty car without having to hall out the full-sized version.

But still, strange gift to give someone. Who thinks to themselves, "Boy, I bet they don't have an off-brand mini car vaccuum".

When I was 13 my brother gave me his jock strap for Christmas. I had mentioned that I didn't know what one was earlier in the month. So he made sure I found out. Nice guy. The pictures of me opening it are hilarious.

my husband used to be awful until about 3 (or maybe 2) christmases ago, i lost it (mamapedia has a file on it :)
since then i tell him what i want. not specific but like i will say i want an ereader, and he will get that. i just figure if he is going to spend the money, at least he should do is not piss me off :)
well the worst gift ever was the first christmas with my twins (picture a tired tired first time mom with 5 month old twins). i get a box from mil. open the box, there is one (yes 1) piece of white paper (copy paper) and a box of crayons, and a note, this is an idea for you to start a hobby (something along those lines).
wow, not just an out there gift but really an insult. i should have known, 8 years later, we have no relationship, neither i nor my kids. she just did not like me and it took me a few years to get on that bandwagon :)

I have always gotten great gifts from my husband. Only one time in 20 years (2 dating, 18 married) has he ever disappointed me. During our 3rd anniversary I was 7 months pregnant. My b-day is in March. During the end of the earlier summer, I mentioned that I wanted to get a really nice bar-b-que grill. Well he remembered and that's what I got. The best charcoal grill money could by. I thought my gift was just in the box that once held a grill. Nope. It was the grill. I made him take it back. What the hell was I going to do with a grill in March? I did want a new grill, but not on my b-day. He couldn't understand that. All other years and recently I've gotten excellent gifts. He still brings up that grill situation. Some men just don't have a clue.

a battery? deoderant?
thats funny
does he do it to be funny?

what kind of gifts do you get him?

A couple of years ago, my brother sent me a string of Christmas lights and a plug with a remote control switch. I appreciated the thought, because we don't exchange gifts every year, but it wasn't something we needed and he didn't send anything for my son. We'd already bought plenty of lights (all LED) so we returned the lights to the store. I let my son think that the remote-control extension cord was a present for him from his cousins, and he actually loved it.

My husband and I have an understanding that he does not ever have to buy me jewelry or cut flowers. I'd rather have a bunch of purple kale or a cauliflower.

As a wedding gift, we received a Born Again Christian bible from my husband's aunt who knew we were practicing Catholics. The funny thing is she got married 4 weeks before us and we gave them $100:).

I always find it hard to think of what I want when asked so now I save things in Amazons giftlist. They have about everything so atleast someone could get ideas.....

My mom always buys me the most random stuff. One year she got me battery operated rotating hot-dog roasting sticks. Seriously? How lazy do you have to be to not rotate your own hotdog over a fire?

And my husband is the worst. He rarely gets me anything and when he does, he doesn't put any thought into it. He always goes out on Christmas Eve and gets the first thing he sees. Last year I told his specifically what I wanted, which brand, where to get it, and even provided him with a 20% off coupon. He still managed to come home empty handed. Nice.

I work really hard to find just the right gifts for people and to plan ahead to make them feel special. It really hurts my feelings when he does stuff like that. Like I'm not worth a little extra time or thought. Should we just accept that from them? Or are they being rude?

From one boss: An ornament that was a picture of a cross stitch bear (hideous). From same boss, a cheap plastic wallet that had some weird bead design on it. I put an ornament hook through it and hung it on the tree next to the fake cross stitch bear ornament.

From another boss, I got raspberry flavored vinegar. He gave the oil to another secretary (it was part of a set that he split up).

My husband is pretty good with gifts, so no complaints there!

My husband came home with a mini-dirt bike and wanted to keep it so he said, "Happy Anniversary". Then when he didn't fix it and we sold it, he got the money for it and no present for me! Oh well, I have gotten some good ones to offset these ones!

Not me, but growing up, my brother got the same thingy of off-brand shaving cream, from the same relative, for two holidays in a row.

There was the year my husband got my a frying pan for Christmas. One year (while I was pregnant), his Mom have me hangers. Um?