Mumsnet Talk

A Slendertone exercise belt - I mean really!!

I think I'm very easy to buy for - I love reading and I love films. Basically anything from Waterstone's or HMV and I'll be happy but people always seem to think that books/DVDs are boring so look for something "different". I end up with a stream of tat that I really don't like very much with the odd rough diamond. I do try to be as grateful as possible because I know that people have thought about what to buy me and I do appreciate that.

The only time I think I've been really ungrateful for a present was when ILs came back from a holiday in Belgium and had bought Christmas presents then. DH got beautiful chocolates and beer. I got a tablecloth. Thankfully DH was quite unsubtle and said "don't worry, I'll share my chocolate with you".

A book on trees wrapped along with two bricks so I would think I was getting a very expensive, heavy gift - never did read the book as I had finished studying zoology at University and moved on into the pharmaceutical industry!!

My delightful bitch of a mother used to buy me school uniform for birthdays and socks for Christmas.

Dad once gave DM " aftershave" !!!!
Dad once got me M&s granny slippers BUT if that wasnt bad enough - they were both for the LEFT foot and DIFFERENT sizes!!!!

However worse present has got to me MIL's lancome gift pack ie, she kept the perfume and gave me the freebie she got!

Have posted this before, but it's a god one.

Ex BIL gave me got Christmas a few years ago a lovely, shiny, metal speculum!

I am still .

On the birth of our 2nd child mil brough me ferrero rocher. I hate them and I am sure she knows I hate nuts. They are dh's favourite.

See, Lurked, a tablecloth from Belgium I would like, especially if it were lace, as that's what Belgium (used to be) is famous for.

BIL bought poor SIL a dyson for her 30th. He was oddly proud of himself

The tablecloth was lovely JudgeJudy and I like it for special occasions, I just am not a fan of "practical" presents - especially when one partner gets the fun present and the other partner gets the practical one.

speculum wins.

No need for anyone else to post now

got tacky wedding present if form of pair of champagne glasses with the words "groom" & " bride" engraved on them. presented in a hideous box with ribbon covered in dust!!!

re-gifted them to BIL&fiancee as a joke present ahead of their wedding day - they love tacky stuff and actually drank from them at each toast!!!

my dad bought bought new tyres for his motorbike and gave them to his mother for her birthday....?????

Two tea towels and an oven glove when MIL came back off holiday. DH got some very nice sunglasses.

Jins no, grave plot from uncle as a Christmas present wins!!!!!!I can't get over it...

read "squoosh" on page 4 on this thread

an out of date tin of biscuits. (out of date by 4 yrs!!)

For my seventeenth birthday, my DM gave me a home made (badly) polycotton (vile) mutlicoloured duvet cover that she had (badly) made to measure for my grandmother's 3 ft bed but which my GM had returned as she didn't like it. Possibly my DM thought I hadn't known about it ?????? So it had loose threads, was a disgusting colour, didn't fit and was a return from my Grandmother!

More useful than a speculum, mind.

My lovely uncle gave DB and SIL an enormous and expensively framed print related to DB's job as a wedding present.

I get a lot of presents related to DH's job from various members of his family. It's a weird one. It feels as if the greatest achievement in my life was to marry him and bask in the glory of his achievements.

They can't even remember what I do which is a bit irritating

My DSis bought me a foot spa when i was in my mid 20s. It was immediately re-gifted to DH's grandma.

A boyfriend went away on a trip once and brough me back a plastic pen with the name of the place on it

Worst non-gift was for my birthday about 5 mo after DS was born. I had pnd and wasnt coping well. DH promised to take the day off so I could have a break but he just worked from home all day . In top of that whatever gift he had ordered never arrived. So I spent the day looking after DS with no presents. To be fair he did take me out for a nice dinner.
The worst gift was from my aunt who is a bit of a loon and prone to just wrapping some random crap from her house. When I was a teenager she gave me a necklace with a large wooden chicken on it. The chicken was about an inch thick and the size of my fist. I have no idea why she thought I might like it. I don't particularly like chickens or wooden 70's style jewelry. I wish I had kept it so I could show people how horrible it was.

How has no one made an 'isle of man' joke about the tights with three legs?!

My worst was some strange sexy toy things from a woman who used to sexually harass me at work...

And not really a gift but DHs crazy aunt puts things in cardboard boxes before she wraps things. Our newborn DS got a coat in a mince pie box and our DD a beautiful coat in a rice crispies box... Who does this?!

when my Mil was little every year she and her family would receive a Christmas card from some mean (rich!) uncle - it was a rectangle cut out from a cereal box with words written on the plain side. that's it.

Nothing. From (notD) H for Christmas.
And not even a quiet nothing, an announced-to-work-colleagues-at-Christmas-Eve-party nothing.

Ha ha. Not. Still cringe at the pitying looks.

My MIL one Christmas got me a pack of paper napkins - that is all. Her son in law got a expensive race experience day. We opened them in front of each other.