What's the nicest/most moving/weirdest/wors t gift you've ever been given?

My daughter bought me the boxed set of David Attenborough videos - and a DVD player to go with them.

Just before my 17th birthday I dropped huge hints that I would like clothes. Beatlemania had just arrived and I was desperate to update my very boring teenage wardrobe. My dad insisted I have a course of driving lessons and promised that if I passed within the twelve lessons he would give me the value of the refund. I passed my test and had enough left over to buy a couple of T shirts!

My son's new partner has asked for the strangest present - she wants her oven professionally cleaned! this one is the total opposite of ex-DIL, who demanded diamonds and hard cash She is lovely, and she'll get her oven cleaned, but not as a birthday present.

The worst present I ever got was from my ex. I'm not much of a drinker. I don't have anything against alcohol I just don't like the taste much.

One birthday he bought me a bottle of sherry, a bottle of red wine and a bottle of martini. He liked a drink (more than most) and enjoyed them so much he drank all three bottles in one night.

A few bags of horse manure.

I was really short of fertiliser for my garden, before acquiring chickens, and my son realised he worked with a lass who was a horsy person. Turned out she had stable manure to give away so he picked some up for me and dropped it off on mothers day!!!

It was a good present, though you could say it was a shitty one...

Joan

vq and I know you won't mind me saying that I'm glad he's your ex.!

When I was about 17 I was desperate for a pair of boots ie knee length, preferably black patent. On Christmas morning I opened the boot-shaped box to find ankle-length, lace-up, sheepskin lined boots that even my granny wouldn't have worn!

I have mentioned before, an ex who bought me a box of chocolates for chrstmas because, as my birthday on January 5th, it was too close for him to buy two expensive presents. My birthday present was c**p too.

Worst present was when I was about 14 - Christmas Day I opened my present from my parents to find a home perm kit and rollers! Not sure I ever forgave them for that

My ex, a keen angler, bought one daughter a reel and the other one a rod for Christmas. Neither of them fished. One of the reasons he is an ex.

vampire...your story is very touching. I hope that dear man has found himself another safe place.

For Christmas, when I was about eight, my late father gave me a set of used encyclopaedias. I had asked for a bike. The following Christmas, he sold the encyclopaedias and bought me a bike. That year, I'd asked for roller skates...can you guess where this story's going... To cap it all, when I was 'grown up', he bought me a lovely old school clock, with Roman numerals and a brass pendulum, from a junk shop. As it didn't work, he took it away and promised to have it restored and repaired by the following Christmas. Only by that time, he couldn't remember what he'd done with it, and I never saw it again! He was such a lovely man.

I'm glad he's my ex too Butternut.

I don't know what happened to the poor man, soop. The police officer suggested he went to a place near here called Little Switzerland (it's part of the Humber Bridge Country Park). My husband (not ex..my lovely second husband) is ex army and he explained to the man how to build a shelter if he could get hold of a piece of plastic or tarpaulin. The police officer said he would see if he could find him one.

When I was about 15 a friend of my mothers, who I actually quite liked, gave me a petticoat that had clearly seen better days as a Christmas present. It was not because she was short of money.

My ex gave me an 'antique' silver propelling pencil which has never worked.

My ex also used to expect me to give him money to buy my presents then he would put the purchase on his credit card which I then paid. So I paid twice for presents I didn't even want.

vpqueen that is a lovely story and it gets even better with the advice that man subsequently got re building a shelter. A very high percentage of homeless drug users have mental health issues and many of them started with street drugs because it made them feel 'normal' (not saying applies in this case). Very sad. I've had lots of lovely and lots of weird presents but the best ones are always the ones that people make for you or are just 'you'.

For one birthday my ex gave me a secondhand hair dryer in an old box kept together with elastic. It was one of those that had a plastic bag that you put over your hair and blew hot air into it through a hose. Apparently one of the men where my ex worked was buying his wife a new hairdryer for her birthday so he gave the old one to the ex.
I told him I did not want it. a great row ensued and in the end I got nothing.

Another year he gave me a casserole dish as he like eating casseroles.

I must add DH is not very good at receiving presents in that he is the most difficult person in the world to buy for because (a) fussy and (b) tends to buy for himself exactly what he wants, so there is never anything left for us to buy. Mind you, he was thrilled when having bought himself an iPod; the kids (grownups) did all the uploading and even put thumbnail pics of each album on for him (we stole it in the dead of night to execute plan).

glitabo how mean of him!

The most bizarre gift I ever received was several Christmases ago when DS1 and family presented me with a wormery.