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Worst presents (lighthearted)

116 replies

TheMonkeyMummy · 18/06/2018 16:09

Up until recently, I thought the worst gift my kids had ever received was a (beautifully decorated) recorder.

Until DD received this electric drum set a few weeks ago.

The mum who gifted it isn't exactly my biggest fan (well played!) but our daughters are besties at school, so I can't really moan or make jokes about it IRL.

But it's just so bloody annoying! And noisy! And the kids (esp the 3 year old) love it!

What's the best gift your kids have ever received that you have hated?

Worst presents (lighthearted)
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KingLooieCatz · 18/06/2018 16:13

I was going to jump in with mine! Not a kids' one but one year I agreed with DBIL and DSIL at THEIR suggestion that we'd do charity gifts for Christmas. DH met up with them to exchange gifts several weeks AFTER Christmas and they had nothing for me. A couple of days later I received in the post from them the very same charity card I had given DSIL, and was expected to believe they had just bought it for me. So they suggested charity gifts, didn't get me one then faked their donation.

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MaiaRindell · 18/06/2018 16:15

Definitely those beads that you place in a design and set with water. DD knocked something over which caused the whole lot to scatter on the kitchen table along with a glass of milk. All over a job application, CV and cheque book.

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MaiaRindell · 18/06/2018 16:16

.....and they set in a mess and jumble and had to be scraped off and chucked.

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Aprilshouldhavebeenmyname · 18/06/2018 16:19

*Would like to clarify I am not grabby in any way!!
A gift I got when I had dd.
After 6 dgs mil was thrilled I was having a dgd.
She turned up and announced my gift was in the car.
Dh went and brought in a bag from the Co op
Inside was a....
Tefal frying pan.
Mners I had no words.
Had thoughts about landing it on her though!!

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mustbemad17 · 18/06/2018 16:20

Slime. Just why, for the love of god, would you give a 4 year old SLIME ffs

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mustbemad17 · 18/06/2018 16:21

Ooh i got a frying pan from the ex for mother's day 🙈 i had smooshed my last one by throwing it at him (no not my finest moment but it did miss him) - when he presented me with a bigger, heavier one from DD i wondered if he realised the irony

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CatherineTheTiny · 18/06/2018 16:23

My grandma (bless her) gave me a book titled "Why maths makes you happy". I was 14, about to fail that class and she thought she's doing me a favour and motivating me. I didn't have the heart to tell her and just smiled and thanked her

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AnaVanda · 18/06/2018 16:25

My brother bought my son a worm farm. You layer different types of soil, put leaves on the top for food, and then dig worms up in the garden to put in it. My son loved it! Me not so much.

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Cutesbabasmummy · 18/06/2018 16:50

MY DS who is 3 got a set of colouring pens and a colouring book for his birthday from a family friend. It would have been lovely if her daughter had not already coloured in some of the pages and ripped some out. My son asked who had done the other colouring!!!

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DragonMummy1418 · 18/06/2018 16:59

Something similar to this for a wedding anniversary- from my husband! 🙈
(Good job I've got a sense of humour!)

Worst presents (lighthearted)
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DragonMummy1418 · 18/06/2018 17:02

And for the kids is a car that is THE loudest car in existence ever.
And I'm not joking - he has a drum set and a piano that we bought him so I'm not normally one to complain about loud toys.

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LeighaJ · 18/06/2018 17:05

My husband received a fish while you're on the toilet game.

We were both like "WTF?"

The picture is not of my husband to be clear and the game he received came with a mini pool you put water in. Confused

Worst presents (lighthearted)
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Cupofteaforme1 · 18/06/2018 17:06

For a few years my MiL bought me perfume every Christmas. This was incredibly kind of her and I really was grateful for the present. They weren't cheap perfumes at all but they were always massively age-inappropriate.

When I was 20, she bought me a bottle of Chanel No. 5. That's bloody expensive, classic, lovely perfume but not for a 20 year old.
The following year she bought me a bottle of Eden. My 64 year old mother says she's too young for Eden.

I used to give them to my mum, which I felt terrible about but they'd have only gone to waste in my bathroom cupboard.

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PedroLostHisGlasses · 18/06/2018 17:09

For the kids - DH's brother once bought a plastic bath toy in the shape of a whale. You wound it up and it flapped its tail and moved along in the water. DS must have been somewhere between 1 and 2 I think, iirc - anyway he loved that whale, and used to rub it against his willy in the bath as it moved Shock

For me - DH bought me a book about economics. Which is all fine and well... but for my 18th birthday?!

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Schroedingerscatagain · 18/06/2018 17:10

Dh got me a wii fit board for my 40th birthday, I’m disabled and was using a wheelchair at the time Hmm

He still remembers and promises me it will never happen again, he grew up in a family that thought it was fine to buy his mum irons, toasters etc as presents

I’ve since trained him, and taken over present organisation Grin

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LisaSimps0n · 18/06/2018 17:12

My dear parents bought my 8 year old a large table football. She was delighted. Us less so. It was made worse by the fact that they got my 10 year old a pot plant.

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FairyFace · 18/06/2018 17:12

MIL who is loaded, bought dd a walker in the charity shop , it was absolutely filthy and when we opened it up there was the remains of the originals owners childs liga biscuit squished into it. She also bought dd a stack of Barbie hardback books from 1970 , she has never played with a Barbie in her life. Just horrible unthoughtful tat. Have no problem with them being second hand but they were just an excuse to have something to give.

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ElsieMc · 18/06/2018 17:12

I always bought my dd2's friend a thoughtful present for Christmas and one year I bought her a lovely set of nightwear from M and S.
I was always careful because her parents were weird/odd and I had to avoid anything they may deem unsuitable.

In return friend's mother bought my lovely dd a turbi-towel (elasticated thing to keep hair off your face in shower etc). I saw it in the chemist for 99p.

I have never forgotten her face when she opened it. Dont get me wrong, if people cant afford much well fine. But her dm was a senior midwife and dad was a deputy head.

Also on hate list -Nerf guns bought for my gs's, anything with glitter and things you have to build with millions of tiny, tiny pieces. It used to be play-doh, which my dobermann used to love to eat and then poo it out all over the garden in bright colours. Those were the days.

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FairyFace · 18/06/2018 17:15

Oh wait another one, one Christmas we were really broke and usually DIL would give us cash as a gift, MIL arrived down to tell us she had bought a goat in Africa for us as our gift, she paid 200pound to some charity in Africa. She had a little post card with a picture of a goat on it. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, that's what we got for expecting !

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MothertotheLordsofmisrule · 18/06/2018 17:19

Fur collar that gave me a rash.

MIL once got it spectacularly wrong with ds1. She got a bit obsessed with buying him a jacket that was all the rage last year (still not clear what it was) but seriously NOT ds1s style.
Told her to not waste her money as he wouldn’t wear it, MIL got a bit huffy but did actually listen.
Eventually at Xmas gave him the outfit for a middle aged golfer - pale blue Pringle type jumper/cream slacks/pale blue socks🙈
Went to exchange them at the department store and directly opposite the outlet were loads of clothes in his style (street/parkour) but smart.

I think she looks at things she and FIL like to wear and tries to make us wear them. Or she’s embarrassed by my gaming t shirts and wants me to dress in twinsets.

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jaseyraex · 18/06/2018 17:22

My Nana once gave me "a pound for each year of your life" for my 13th birthday. She'd stuck the money in the card with glue. The three pound coins came off easy enough but the ten pound note wouldn't budge without ripping to bits. She used glue so the money wouldn't fall out and give it away bless her Grin

Noisy books are the worst things anyone has ever bought DC. The buttons just get pushed over and over again, they drive me crazy!

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TheMonkeyMummy · 18/06/2018 17:24

I cant stop laughing at the toilet fishing game! That is so crap, it's almost (but not quite) brilliant!!!

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Halfeatentoast · 18/06/2018 17:25

A tin of fruit cocktail for Christmas from my very lovely but clueless great uncle when I was a teenager. My sister got a packet of biscuits. Grin

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TheMonkeyMummy · 18/06/2018 17:27

@FairyFace one of my pet hates is when people buy something for buying something's sake. I would much rather nothing at all...

I bought one of my best friends DS a playdough set one year. The raised eyebrows taught me not to do that again 🤣

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TheMonkeyMummy · 18/06/2018 17:28

A TIN OF FRUIT COCKTAIL!!!! ConfusedGrin
If it was wrapped in tin foil (Smithy style) that would be the best gift ever!

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