Worst gift ever?

A very small jar of instant coffee from my DDs ex who was very wealthy. She was with him for 3 years, so not a new BF.

Love this thread, my late MIL was the expert at "unusual" gifts, for our wedding anniversary one year we received a stainless steel serving dish, when I turned it over I found a label with her name on it., At Christmas our adult children took bets as to which one of them would receive the best or worst gift ,DD 2 who had moved into her own flat received a pillow case (used) son in law an ashtray, he doesn't smoke, DD1 bath shower gel and body cream, package broken, same gel etc brought her out in a rash! I always got regifted items , she took great delight in telling me this, my husband didn't fair any better, but....DS always received a cheque.!! I know it is the thought that counts but......She expected very expensive gifts from us, dropping hints like clangers before Christmas.

For my birthday one year my late husband bought me a unicycle. He had put it in the spare room and covered it with a blanket. When I laughed and said where's my present I found out that was it! At the time I had a bad back and we lived on a steep corner so am not sure how or when he thought I'd use it. Another time for our wedding anniversary he bought me a wind up torch. He did also buy me some lovely presents over the years but these stick out.

We have a tradition in our family of seeing who can buy the most revolting present. The rules are that they can’t be every year or occasion, so that when you get one it is a surprise. My favourites include a foul pink peacock made very poorly out of seashells, a singing and dancing Elvis pig, and my personal favourite; a light-up sacred heart picture… ?

Oh and one christmas for the secret Santa I received a block of cheese! Can you imagine my face when I opened it. It was mild cheddar which I never eat, so tasteless! None of us were allowed to know who had bought the presents so I never found out. Maybe someone who thought that I was a bit cheesy and tasteless! This was at work.

My previous partner bought me a mangle! Yes a blooming mangle! We couldnt afford a washing machine at the time and he thought it would be a great birthday present for me when I was doing the hand washing. He nearly ended up with his blooming neck through it!

For folk that buy totally inappropriate things in Secret Santa, I have many years ago, bought them a book by Andrew Carnegie “How to make friends and influence people” I also bought this for a boss when I was leaving - horrible woman who eventually was awarded an MBE for her work for the underachievers. Shows what happens in life - bully their staff and exaggerate their own importance.
OR perhaps the book I gave changed her life for the better. Hope so.

A pair of cheap and nasty sheets. A wedding gift from DHs brother and wife. The.y had been married just months previously, and asked us to buy them a set of Pyrosil oven to freezer dishes. These were the latest thing, at the time, and very expensive.

One Christmas my dear mum decided to give each of her (adult) children a pickaxe!

First Christmas together I received a butter dish from DH. It was supposed to be ironic as I’d complained about butter being too hard to spread from the fridge. I did get something else too but after 43 years I simply can’t remember what.

Like many people, I enjoy looking at beautiful artworks. My husband knew this and bought me a book of…. erotic art. Most paintings were modern and truly hideous (enormous naked woman walking an equally enormous pig, anyone?). I was mortified, especially in front of my mother! Turned out to be prophetic and I divorced the cheating so and so a few years later!

A mop for my Christmas present. From my ex husband.

The first Christmas we were married, DH got me a very well-made, heavily stitched, belted, mid-hip length brown wool car coat. I had asked for a rabbits fur jacket. (I soon got a full length rabbit fur coat). I had also asked for a pair of diamond earrings, (not plus the coat, but instead of, thinking I was giving him choices). He lovingly picked out a pair of golden weave pierced earrings with diamonds smaller than the size of a pinhead just where you fasten them in your ear). My husband is wonderful and extremely generous. He just did not know how to shop for women. He got much better very quickly.

A window squeegy from my husband.

Reminds me of my wedding present list , just before my ex and i were married. Despite having a list, most folk just ignored it and gave what they thought we ought to have - ie 4 electric kettles (we already had one), flat sheets for a 4 ft 6 ins double bed when my list specified fitted sheets for a 5 ft bed.

We thanked the donors and sold the unwanted surplus items via the small ads in the local newspaper to get money to buy what we needed instead. One set of flanellette bed sheets were given to my mother-in-law and the other set was kept to use as dust sheets for decorating.

The worst I ever heard was when DDs were young. We had to go to work with DD on Christmas day and when one woman was asked what she had received she answered " A stainless Steel exhaust", no one knew what to say but my toddler after listening to everyone's mumbles wandered off. I found her around the back of the lady shaking her head.

Mine was from my husband 50 years ago , when we were first married . He bought me a book entitled ‘Women : Do it Yourself’ …. and I have been , from that day to this!!
The following year he bought me a set of cooking pans! And got my 50th birthday he bought ME ( a woman who rarely has time for tv) a big , flat screen tv . He watches tv all the time . Wha thoughtful presents they all were!

An exercise bike from my dh2b so I could lose weight for our wedding! I was a size 12 at the time ??

A deep fat fryer from Mr Beek as ours was broken. He was the only one who ever used a deep fat fryer!

An older friend, who has all the diplomatic skills of a herd of stampeding elephants, gave me a second hand dress for my birthday one year with the words “it was too big for me but I thought it would fit you!” Charming and not even true as she is a good size bigger than me. It was grey, a colour that gives me the six feet under look - not flattering - a style that could never have been fashionable and at least a size 26 - l am around size 14. I was amazed it was accepted in the local charity shop.

Flakesdayout ; similar thing happened to us. My uncle and aunt used to send my DH and me some very odd presents, but we just thought they had weird tastes. One year we got a small tartan toilet bag (between us) and I found a gift card inside that said "Happy Christmas to [Uncle] and [Aunt}.
We realised they must have been regifting for years!
I sent the card back with my thank you letter, and never got another present from them.

A work colleague gave me an address book with a section for birthdays and events. She rang me to see if I had opened it and could I checked the month of June. It had a birthday already written in it! She apologised and said she had re-gifted it as it was from her friend who had died, and she didn't realise she had put her birthday in it. Awful to say but it went into the recycling.

From the office secret Santa a miniature cart to place your wine bottle on!

For my 50th birthday, my parents bought me a large oblong pottery vase (of sorts) filled with multicolored silk flowers. This might have been a lovely gift for someone else but sadly after 50 years they still didn’t know me at all - dislike silk flowers and completely not into pottery. I put it in the garage as they never visit anyway and finally gave it away to goodwill

My husband & I received a huge box from USA before our wedding on opening it there was a large wood & metal candelabra,painted green & in the centre was yellow plastic flowers ( not like any real flower you have ever seen) It was the ugliest thing I have ever seen,I had never met the sender an uncle & aunt of my husbands,we used it as a tacky gift several times as people kept giving it back to us !Long gone but an amusing memory——- I was so disappointed.