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What is the Worst Present You Ever Received?

(130 Posts)
Indigo8 Sun 29-Sept-24 18:30:35

I know this is a recurrent theme on Gransnet but I find it very interesting and amusing. Please indulge me.

My MIL gave me a really cheap salt and pepper set once for my birthday, the sort you used to find in greasy spoon cafes. She had been to stay and was cross because no matter how hard she shook the the salt or the pepper grinder nothing came out of the top.

keepingquiet Sun 29-Sept-24 22:55:12

A pair of horrible brown leg warmers from my husband the first year we were married!

He made it up by buying me some lovely presents for a while until he bought me the same perfume he bought his mother!

Love this thread!

maddyfour Sun 29-Sept-24 23:24:23

A star shaped box with nothing in it.
It was my gift from Secret Santa at work one year.

Poss Sun 29-Sept-24 23:49:54

When I was about 10, I had saved some money; a very small amount received for doing jobs around the home. It took me months to earn.
My school required us to provide our own pocket dictionary, so my mother took me to buy one, then informed me it was my money that had paid for it. Her words were "It's your book, you wanted it, you've paid for it".
I have never forgotten how much that hurt.

Redhead56 Sun 29-Sept-24 23:59:08

My future MIL gave me for our engagement a late 1950s vacuum cleaner it was in perfect working order. I know she meant well but I was gobsmacked at the time and didn’t appreciate it.

V3ra Mon 30-Sept-24 02:28:19

My husband, in the early days of our marriage, bought me a Demis Roussos CD for my birthday. No idea why...

When he saw I was less than thrilled, he said he'd return it.
I asked if he'd done so, quietly hoping for something a bit nicer to be coming my way🤞

"Oh yes," he said, "they gave me my £1 back."

It had been in a bargain bucket at the shop door 😑

Nansnet Mon 30-Sept-24 04:41:12

As a wedding gift, friends of ours (who were rather well off!), bought us a soap dish, in the shape of a pink bath with a grey cat sat at the taps end! It came in a cheap cardboard box, like something from a pound shop! We honestly thought it was a joke, and the proper gift would follow, but no, that was our wedding gift! Very annoying, considering they were married before us and we'd spent quite a bit on their gift which we'd chosen from their own wedding list! I remember that we did actually use the soap dish for a while, and it became a bit of a talking point amongst our other friends, if only to prove what cheapskates our more well-off friends actually were!

Indigo8 Mon 30-Sept-24 09:41:27

I have had a good laugh about the awful presents you have received.
I was guilty of giving a naff present one Christmas when I bought my father a roll of insulating tape. I even wrapped it and put it under the tree. In my defence, I was only eight with a weekly income of 2/-6d and I couldn't afford much.

Indigo8 Mon 30-Sept-24 09:43:44

Keep them coming.grin

DanniRae Mon 30-Sept-24 10:17:14

A granny nightie from my m-in-law .... long before I was even a mummy!

Katek Mon 30-Sept-24 10:40:17

A roll of black bin bags from my brother - we were involved in a long running campaign re a landfill site and he thought the bags might raise a laugh.

JdotJ Mon 30-Sept-24 11:17:44

An ironing board cover - from my husband!

Pearlsaminger Mon 30-Sept-24 11:25:30

A pencil and an apple for my 18th birthday from my fiancé.

Let’s just say the apple lasted longer than the relationship after that 😂😂😂

Granmarderby10 Mon 30-Sept-24 11:28:17

Have some of these husbands got a deathwish!

Dottydots Mon 30-Sept-24 11:33:38

A table cloth with stains on it from my boyfriend's sister. I don't think she liked me!

57VRS Mon 30-Sept-24 11:41:46

I once recieved a very flimsy cheap gold necklace and bracelet set. The gold was so thin that it creased like tin foil. The boyfriend i got it from soon became an ex!!!

Chicklette Mon 30-Sept-24 11:47:05

A set of coasters my Mum had bought while she was on holiday! I was really upset as we usually gave each other nice presents, and that was all she got me for Christmas!

FannyD Mon 30-Sept-24 11:50:43

For Christmas my boyfriend gave me a lacy undergarment from M&S, that was like a slip but with a divided skirt to wear under culottes, which were/had been slightly fashionable in those days (about 1969, when I was 18). My mother was absolutely horrified. As was I, for a different reason - I never wore culottes. Mum took it back to M&S to see if she could get a refund or swap it for something else, only to be told by a very embarrassed assistant that it was old stock - 3 years old!!
Reader, I didn’t marry him.

staceygrove Mon 30-Sept-24 11:52:51

My worst birthday present was from my mother in law 1st year is was a 2p pladtic rainhat, the fold up type. 2nd year it was a pair of thick poo coloured old lady tights. I was 18. Dont think she liked me 🤣🤣🤣

ecci53 Mon 30-Sept-24 11:52:54

A potato peeler from my brother. When I asked him why, he said he thought it would be useful.

Diggingdoris Mon 30-Sept-24 11:53:02

My husband(now ex) bought me a pair of slippers for my birthday that were size 7. I was a size 4. I asked him how he got it so wrong, and he said he drew round one of my slippers on a piece of paper and took that to the shop, then kept trying to find some that fitted the shape!
Another year I received a gadget that chopped up potatoes into chip size. His favourite meal was deep fried chips!

jocork Mon 30-Sept-24 11:53:54

A Weightwatchers cookbook bought by my future in-laws! MiL had attempted to break us up by suggesting to my then boyfriend that he found someone 'younger and slimmer'. They never hid the fact that they disapproved of him being with someone 5 years older than him - and yes I was overweight! They seemed to think that me being older would jeopardise their prospects of becoming grandparents.
Once I had given them their first GC I was referred to as 'My lovely DiL!'
I've been divorced for many years now and my replacement is younger but she wasn't slimmer - he ended up paying for her to have a gastric band!
I actually still see my MiL occasionally - visited her last week with my DD - and my ex's partner has never been approved of by her. Her other son's marriage has failed and she never liked the other DiL. I don't think anyone would ever really be good enough for her boys, but I seem to have managed to win her over. I feel sorry for her as she is a frail 93 year old who doesn't see her sons very often.

SparklyGrandma Mon 30-Sept-24 11:55:14

My exDH gave me a Creda tumble dryer for Christmas.

Nonny Mon 30-Sept-24 11:55:32

A blood pressure monitor from my DH!

TheWeirdo Mon 30-Sept-24 11:56:34

A small hideous figurine of a dog sitting on a log. I know it came from the Poundland shop because I used to work there! Tossed in the bin!

Makeup, which I've never used and never will, I'm not gorgeous but I don't want to wear a sticky mask! I much prefer the ugly but natural look! Also binned!

When I was 15 I received a naked Barbie doll, with tangled hair and the £1.00 charity shop sticker still stuck to it's guts! WHY GIVE ME THAT RUBBISH?! Binned!

And once I got a small framed photo of a hunting scene, by someone who knows I'm anti-hunting/animal cruelty ''because there's dogs and horses in the photo and I know you love them!'' Yes, I love the dogs and horses but not what they're used for! Binned!

kircubbin2000 Mon 30-Sept-24 12:01:01

When I was first married my MIL sent me a large ugly quilted dressing gown. She said it would be useful if I was in hospital.