What was the worst gift you witnessed someone getting this season?
H's grandma sent E this giant stuffed frog that "croaks" (not like any frog I have ever heard), flaps it's giant mouth open and closed, and rolls it's eyes when you pet it. Totally creepy. He might mysteriously stop working soon
DHs gma is notorious for some of her gifts her whole xmas shebang. I look forward to her xmas just to see what crazy shit she'll come up with. I was a tad disappointed this year, nothing too crazy. All the girls received a bag of semi-sweet chocolate baking morsels. I figured they were expired, nope, she said she kept finding them on sale and started a stockpile and was running out of room to add more.
The most memorable item ever is this:
No it's not a party bong, it's a perfect bouquet flower vase. I really thought it was a bong when my MIL opened it though.
GMA also reuses the same boxes over and over. The lids are wrapped, so you don't dare tear the paper. The bottom of the box is covered in scratched out names, whoever's present fits in the box gets it that year. I've never seen paper like it, it's a tin foil type of material, gotta be out of the 60s/70s. I stole a box one year for evidence to show my family.
<<--Look at that aged tape!
She also gives away a lot of "free" stuff. If she orders items (think magazines and their tacky free gifts) she saves the free gift to give away as a present. I got clear bird-window-decals one year. This year I noticed all the gift cards were credit card rewards points that were redeemed.
Her homemade gifts are equally as awesome. One year she cut some of her used dish towels in half, sewed a ribbon into each half so that they can be tied onto a drawer handle, and gave those away.
DS1 just turned 4 three weeks ago. MIL asked what size he was, I told her 4 but if she gets pajamas get a size 5. She bought him underwear in a size 6. Then i got to listen to him cry about how he can't wear his new Ninja Turtle underwear.
The worst gift dh and I got were also from MIL. They are decorative plates and bells that are from our birth years. Mine has a deer on it and DH 's has a bunny.
I've been a cake baker for about 10 years now. I've done all sorts of cakes and do it pretty frequently. My ils got me a bunch of baking basics from Homegoods - measuring cups, decorating tips (cheap ones), a whisk, a spatula and one of those hand held plastic decorators...
I was a good girl and told her I didn't need b the receipt but don't need any of the stuff. Ugh
My great uncle died a few months back. He was very generous and did not have any children, so he gave gifts to pretty much every single person he knew. He was notorious for giving terrible gifts. One year my sister got one gold evening glove and my male cousin got the other half of the pair. Another year several people got dickies (those partial turtle neck things that go under sweaters) with shamrocks on them. He had owned a clothing store until he retired so it appears many of the gifts were things that had never sold or things he was regifting.
So this year his partner (he was gay and was with him for over 40 years) took over and gave everyone in my large extended family gifts. I got a gaudy blue and gold beaded necklace with twisted strands of beads that was not at all my style. The worst part was that it was hot glued into the chain/clasp apparatus and looks like it was glued by a preschooler.
It was very sweet though that he carried on the tradition, and all of the gifts were saved by tequila. He is Mexican and started manufacturing tequila on Mexico within the last 10 years. All the women got mini bottles with their gifts and all the men got full size bottles.
Oh God, perfect gift for someone who is gluten-free! :-q
We got so many sweets - cookies, pancake mix, hot cocoa mix, etc - that we won't use. It's like people don't even know us.
I straight up tell my mother that I give all the treats away that she gives us, and it still doesn't stop her from giving us bags and bags of candy and stuff like little debbie treats. Every holiday. I throw it right in a bag and send it to work with DH. Even if we ate a small treat every day, which we usually do, we would never make it through as much as she buys. And I haven't eaten a little debbie since I was 12
Oh God, perfect gift for someone who is gluten-free! :-q
We got so many sweets - cookies, pancake mix, hot cocoa mix, etc - that we won't use. It's like people don't even know us.
I feel like this with my mom. Not with sweets but just gifts in general. I mentioned I wanted a sephora gift card and my hair done (we go to the same person) I got a fleece jacket ( I'm in ohio) and a bracelet thang looks like pandora ( I only ever wear 1 bracelet) I'm not really a jewelry girl.
I didn't get anything horrible, but my MIL got me a random clutch/purse thing from Costco I think. It's meant to be a fancy going out one and I have no real use for it.
As expected my MIL did go with her whole, "Well my DD loves Carters for her kids so you need to as well" plan and bought my boys an entire wardrobe in the wrong sizes from a brand we don't like or even wear because they don't work with their shapes. She also "misplaced" the receipts. She got me a pocketbook of bible verses. (I'm not religious like at all)
This is why I don't exchange gifts with most of the adults in my family. My grandma still insists on buying us gifts so we end up with some gaudy, ugly xmas decoration every year. This year it was a plastic santa doll.
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This is why I don't exchange gifts with most of the adults in my family. My grandma still insists on buying us gifts so we end up with some gaudy, ugly xmas decoration every year. This year it was a plastic santa doll.
I get that kind of stuff from H's grandma too, only the stuff she gives me smells like a damp basement. She goes to After Christmas sales and buys ALL THE THINGS, then stores them in the basement for next year to decorate her house with. Any time she forgets to buy gifts for someone, she goes "shopping" in her 8+ giant plastic totes in the basement. I am normally one of those "forgotten" people and end up with something that is usually tacky, old, or used.
All the candy DH shoved in my stocking. Awesome for right now, DH, as im largely pregnant and craving sweets, but you do realize that as soon as I deliver this baby sometime in the next few weeks, I will be officially boycotting all chocolate/candy from our house, right?
DHs gma is notorious for some of her gifts her whole xmas shebang. I look forward to her xmas just to see what crazy shit she'll come up with. I was a tad disappointed this year, nothing too crazy. All the girls received a bag of semi-sweet chocolate baking morsels. I figured they were expired, nope, she said she kept finding them on sale and started a stockpile and was running out of room to add more.
The most memorable item ever is this:
No it's not a party bong, it's a perfect bouquet flower vase. I really thought it was a bong when my MIL opened it though.
GMA also reuses the same boxes over and over. The lids are wrapped, so you don't dare tear the paper. The bottom of the box is covered in scratched out names, whoever's present fits in the box gets it that year. I've never seen paper like it, it's a tin foil type of material, gotta be out of the 60s/70s. I stole a box one year for evidence to show my family.
<<--Look at that aged tape!
She also gives away a lot of "free" stuff. If she orders items (think magazines and their tacky free gifts) she saves the free gift to give away as a present. I got clear bird-window-decals one year. This year I noticed all the gift cards were credit card rewards points that were redeemed.
Her homemade gifts are equally as awesome. One year she cut some of her used dish towels in half, sewed a ribbon into each half so that they can be tied onto a drawer handle, and gave those away.
Other than that, eeverything else has been good. Although, my ILs are coming tomorrow to exchange gifts, and they are notorious for getting us a bunch of shit we dont need, purely for the sake of "having something to open".
But, my MIL did ask what we actually needed this year, and she gave us a check for 100bucks in the mail with the card she sent ( its going towards putting some new gutters on the house). We also told her diapers and wipes for the kids and she asked me what size DS wears...so I'm hoping this means she actually got us what we needed instead of wasting her money on piddly shit
My husband's cousin thought that proposing to his girlfriend on Christmas morning in front of the whole family was a good idea. She said no. That counts as a terrible gift, no?
My husband's cousin thought that proposing to his girlfriend on Christmas morning in front of the whole family was a good idea. She said no. That counts as a terrible gift, no?
I had to leave the room it was so awkward. Like I didn't know if I was going to laugh or cry, so I figured leaving the room would save me from making it worse. I don't really get along with my in laws, so I was uncomfortable to begin with. She ended up staying and hanging out. I have heard whisperings that there is an unexpected pregnancy, and if that's the case, I'm kind of proud of her for saying no and not just accepting because there is a baby in the near future.
I had to leave the room it was so awkward. Like I didn't know if I was going to laugh or cry, so I figured leaving the room would save me from making it worse. I don't really get along with my in laws, so I was uncomfortable to begin with. She ended up staying and hanging out. I have heard whisperings that there is an unexpected pregnancy, and if that's the case, I'm kind of proud of her for saying no and not just accepting because there is a baby in the near future.
Omg. I can't imagine being there to witness that.
His mom was videotaping it. Oh lord, my face is turning red just thinking about how embarrassed I was for him.
I had to leave the room it was so awkward. Like I didn't know if I was going to laugh or cry, so I figured leaving the room would save me from making it worse. I don't really get along with my in laws, so I was uncomfortable to begin with. She ended up staying and hanging out. I have heard whisperings that there is an unexpected pregnancy, and if that's the case, I'm kind of proud of her for saying no and not just accepting because there is a baby in the near future.
Omg. I can't imagine being there to witness that.
His mom was videotaping it. Oh lord, my face is turning red just thinking about how embarrassed I was for him.
Okay, I actually have a bad gift now. ILs gave us a video baby monitor. It's awesome and connects to our iPhones which is what we wanted. However, they want to know if they can connect to it to see the baby.....
I thought so too. My H said it isn't possible since they live too far away and he wouldn't give them access anyways. If they could get access, I would be returning it ASAP.
I got this jewelry set from DH's cousin (the bells jingle, and the pendant can be turned into a pin!), but I regifted it at a white elephant thing, so it's NBD.
My mom got me a big fluffy robe, which is thoughtful since I'll be having a baby in 3 weeks, but I get claustrophobic / freak-out-ish with clothes that are too fleecy or fluffy, so I'll be returning it.
@KMW08, I like the idea of that gift box that gets reused every year. I hate all the waste of giftwrap. I am the crazy person who removes giftwrap really carefully and refolds the tissue paper so I can reuse it next year.
Re: Worst Gift
BFP#4 3/17/14 - rainbow Baby BOY arrived 11/10/14 !!
DX: Uterine Septum - Resection 9/5/13 || MTHFR Hetero A1298C || My Chart
The worst gift dh and I got were also from MIL. They are decorative plates and bells that are from our birth years. Mine has a deer on it and DH 's has a bunny.
I was a good girl and told her I didn't need b the receipt but don't need any of the stuff. Ugh
Engaged: 7/19/09 Married: 9/19/10
BFP: 10/14/13 EDD: 6/16/14 DD Arrived: 6/21/14
June '14 Siggy Challenge: Warm Places
So this year his partner (he was gay and was with him for over 40 years) took over and gave everyone in my large extended family gifts. I got a gaudy blue and gold beaded necklace with twisted strands of beads that was not at all my style. The worst part was that it was hot glued into the chain/clasp apparatus and looks like it was glued by a preschooler.
It was very sweet though that he carried on the tradition, and all of the gifts were saved by tequila. He is Mexican and started manufacturing tequila on Mexico within the last 10 years. All the women got mini bottles with their gifts and all the men got full size bottles.
She's obviously adorable!
But, my MIL did ask what we actually needed this year, and she gave us a check for 100bucks in the mail with the card she sent ( its going towards putting some new gutters on the house). We also told her diapers and wipes for the kids and she asked me what size DS wears...so I'm hoping this means she actually got us what we needed instead of wasting her money on piddly shit
Omfg. What. Shitty situation all around.
Just, no.
My mom got me a big fluffy robe, which is thoughtful since I'll be having a baby in 3 weeks, but I get claustrophobic / freak-out-ish with clothes that are too fleecy or fluffy, so I'll be returning it.
@KMW08, I like the idea of that gift box that gets reused every year. I hate all the waste of giftwrap. I am the crazy person who removes giftwrap really carefully and refolds the tissue paper so I can reuse it next year.