To ask you about your favorite ever thoughtful gift?

[PH30B3]

In the spirit of Christmas im wondering what your favourite ever gift was which didn't cost much or anything which still brings an happy memory to you or that you still have etc?.

cracks open the chocolates

My parents used to put a massive bag of midget gems sweets in my stocking. Mum would take all the blacks out because I don’t like them.

A painting that cost the giver lots of time but not much £££

DH is very good at picking presents I like.
My favourite so far was a pair of black ankle boots. Very smart, very comfy. I was sad when I finally wore them out.

A digital radio. I listen to the radio all the time. In our previous house the reception was poor. DH bought me a digital one, made me very happy.

Gift of kind words which let me know my best endeavours have not been taken for granted and are valued. We all need a little encouragement.

We unexpectedly spent our first Christmas with our first baby in hospital, he was so ill and it was so stressful. My sister left her family day halfway through and drove up half the country to come and surprise us.
It was so thoughtful, I’ll never forget it.

The first Christmas after my mum died was (obviously) very hard and when I was talking to my best friend's mum about it, I mentioned that I didn't get any nice smellies as it was mum who always bought them. A daft thing but it just one of the many things that highlighted that Christmas would be different now my mum wasn't here as it wouldn't occur to my dad or husband to buy nice toiletries!
Every year since then she has given me a gorgeous gift set from Lush and I love her so much for it.

DP got me the jumper the detective wears in The Killing. That was the best present I've had since my parents got me a rabbit at age 8

Settle in for this one op:
6 year old me and 4 year old dsis, many moons ago...
We were left on Christmas eve by our alcoholic father. My mum used to save money in a tin and then go shopping for our presents and food on Christmas eve. However, he took the money and left us in a house with no electric, no gas. I remember sat in the dark, cold with mum sobbing. My grandad turned up, asking us to out our coats and shoes on as we were staying with them for Christmas. I wasn't that bothered about my dad as he was a horrible man but I remember being upset at seeing my mum so sad
Anyway, my grandparents made sure we were fed and we went to sleep in my uncles room on a pull out sofa bed..
I woke up in the night, thirsty. I remember hearing voices and thought is it Santa?
I went into the living room and remember seeing my uncle, his girlfriend and her best friend with carrier bags all over the sofa. He was surprised to see me and tooke to the kitchen, poured me a glass of milk which I drank then told to go to bed as santa would be coming soon..
The next morning I woke up to that sound of a stocking at my feet and there was a sack on the sofa for both my sister and me. My sister got a baby doll plus accessories and I got a Barbie with three outfits!
We had a lovely Christmas lunch together and I don't think I thought of my dad once. Honestly, when I look back knowing what they all did, I just well up. I don't know what I'd do without my family, that to me is the true meaning of christmas. I still have the Barbie...

My eldest spent her first Christmas on a ventilator at 4 weeks old. We were so unprepared for it and still recovering from a c sec. walking in at 6 am from the parents bay to the ICU cots with Christmas stockings on them, one for baby, one for resident parent with mini shower gel, deodorant, chocolates, sweets, biscuits. We had a television to share between the four cots in our bit from starlight so the 8 of us parents sat around it watching a Christmas film with our stockings. Then the canteen brought up Christmas dinners for all the parents at no cost. It meant so much to us.

These are beautiful stories, @gemdrop84 yours made me well up!

My best present from from my husband before we got married. He bought me a plane ticket to go see my best friend from uni. He arranged it all with her and it was a lovely thing to look forward to as I had been having a terrible time at work. It was so nice to see the effort he'd gone to to arrange everything.

My mum once bought me a beautiful bracelet in my favourite colour and it had stars as a motif through it. It combines two if my favourite things.

Some very touching stories.

Mine is a bit more boring. My DH is the type to go in to town once a year and buy my Christmas, birthday and anniversary presents in one afternoon. (They are all a few days apart)

One year I was really touched he had bought me earrings I had admired on a celeb months before. The thought of my DH noting that, searching on the internet to find out what they were and how to get them is so unlike him I was blown away.

My childhood bedroom had a beautiful cherry tree outside the window. In spring I could lie in bed and just see white blossom through the window. It was old and sadly died.

One year I was feeling a bit meh at Christmas because I hadn't really got very much, just socks and stuff. Mum gave me one last present. She'd got someone to make bowls out of the cherry wood from our old tree. Best gift ever.

A vanilla slice.

Lad I fancied like crazy at sixth form bought me it as he had found out it was my birthday. So not only did I get a vanilla slice but also realised that the boy I thought was amazing knew who I was and liked me too. Still beats any other present I've had and that was over 25 years ago.

When I was young (8-ish) my lovely gran made me and my brother teddies for Christmas. Mine had dark brown fur, a large flat head, funny little skinny legs and arms that stuck out like Jesus on the cross. I loved him and named him Happy 😍

Two years ago my husband took the dog eared piece of paper off the fridge where my then 4 year old had scrawled " I love you" on and took it to work (electrical and automation engineers) and copied it exactly onto a necklace for me.

As a child, oldest of 5 in an incredibly poor household and aged about 10, the Salvation Army brought a big hamper of food and a big black bag of gifts for our family. The man said Santa always gave them what he has extra to give to the best families.

I buy 5 gifts for the Salvation Army every year with my ds choosing them.

Last year I also got bath bombs off ds from local Christmas market that dyed me pink and blue in the bath 😂

At 3yo DD2 bought me a minion Easter egg for Mother's Day. Her logic was it was chocolate and who didn't like Minions? It's was inedible but it was so her.

Years ago I was living in a nice flat but with only night storage so I was always cold. I used to sleep with 2 hot water bottles and my coat over my double duvet. DP had realised this and bought me an electric blanket! His sister told him he was crazy and I'd dump him for sure but I bloody loved it!!

When I was 12 I was given a wee silver and black transistor radio for Christmas. I hadn’t asked for it and it was a complete surprise. My Mum and Dad are not into music at all but they recognised that I was and needed my own source of music.

I can still remember the joy of opening that present and I loved that wee radio with all my heart and it saw me through my often lonely teenage years.
I used to take it into school so we could hear the new top 40 being announced on a Tuesday! That was 40 years ago and I still have it.

Last year I got a crochet kit to make eevee from my BIL. Hed found the pattern bought the wool and put it in a lovely box.

This. I'm not a huge ornament fan and this isn't even my particular taste, my late mum collected them. My dad bought it for me Christmas 2013. My mum was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer the christmas before and christmas 2013 she had been in hospital with an infection and was allowed home Christmas eve. Mum always did the present shopping, but my dad bought me this himself with a note about how grateful he was for my help and support with my mums illness over the past year. My dad is very stoic and doesn't talk about emotions so this was incredibly touching for me.

After leaving a pretty awful relationship, being made homeless and feeling that the future was pretty bleak for me and my kids, we got our council house a few days before Xmas.
We had literally nothing. I was young and had a toddler and a baby.
Xmas eve I went to a local second hand furniture place looking for a bed, a sofa etc for the little I had in my pocket- well I couldn’t afford any of it.
So that I knew how much to save up I enquired about delivery costs for the future.

I went home, to what I thought was a palace of a home that I had been so desperate for. I bought some tins of paint with my money instead. Our first Xmas safe and in our own home. I was very grateful, it was just very empty and not yet at all homely.

Not even joking but a few hours later there was a knock at the door and there was the lady from the shop standing with one of their delivery drivers with a second hand double bed and a sofa for us. She said it broke her heart watching us leave empty handed so they had brought us these as a gift using my address from when she had worked out the delivery cost for us- I have never cried so much in my life! Best Xmas gifts ever!

The next Xmas I took £100 back to the shop and asked her to do the same for another family. I like to think they did and this tradition continues, but no idea if it does.

Those have made me teary (and my own one will make it worse! Good reasons though)

When watching Frasier with DH, Niles gives Daphne a bouquet box but when opens them they are long-stemmed COOKIES not roses. I thought this was a cracking idea and said so went on about it all evening

Years later, DH had been seriously ill for a long time and we never quite knew when would be our "last" birthday or Christmas together as he always exceeded the Drs' expectations. But he was very tired, and I never expected gifts because he couldn't walk very far to get round a shop (this was pre internet shopping being so big). I came home from work to find he'd made me a cookie-flower display, got a friend to buy some oasis and a pot and silk flowers - then spent all afternoon lopping the heads off the silk flowers and joining cookies on instead.

It has been over a decade without him now and he was bloody amazing.