Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

This is the most random, possibly passive-aggressive birthday gift I’ve ever received…

215 replies

MonicaFaloolaGeller · 03/09/2021 12:58

It was my birthday yesterday. I’m 36 and not particularly hairy of face.

This arrived in the post today from my Mother.

I mean I hate to sound ungrateful, I know it’s the thought that counts and all but… WTF?!

This is the most random, possibly passive-aggressive birthday gift I’ve ever received…
OP posts:
Drinkyourweaklemondrink · 04/09/2021 21:40

Dear lord that's a gift and a half!

Fluffingheck · 04/09/2021 21:48

My mil once bought DH hair restorer cream for his birthday. It went straight in the bin, and he now shaves his head completely, just to annoy her.

PlasticDinosaur · 04/09/2021 21:50

@SisforSarah I don't get it? Why did the socks make you sad? I'm only asking because I'm frightened of upsetting someone!

@CoastalMum101 reading your post made me laugh aloud. Grin

Gensola · 04/09/2021 21:54

@PlasticDinosaur I’m wondering the same thing - DH got me cashmere bed socks from the White Company one year and I was absolutely thrilled!

Justmuddlingalong · 04/09/2021 21:56

ExDH bought me a rowing machine and a hip and thigh diet book. I was a size 8/10, not a pick on me.
I bought him a book about female orgasms. He obviously never read it.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 04/09/2021 22:01

Oh I have just remembered one !
Years ago DH ( I don't think we were married then) bought me a Jane Fonda Workout 2 video ( that long ago -we had videos )

Inside it had he warning "Do not use unless you've mastered Workout 1 " or words to that effect

Maybe he thought he was buying the new/improved/up to date video .
Maybe he was trying to kill me
,>

cricketmum84 · 04/09/2021 22:03

@Justmuddlingalong

ExDH bought me a rowing machine and a hip and thigh diet book. I was a size 8/10, not a pick on me. I bought him a book about female orgasms. He obviously never read it.
Well played @Justmuddlingalong well played! 😂😂
PyongyangKipperbang · 04/09/2021 22:27

Re the Willow Tree things....I did once buy one for my parents. They love it and its a one off, it was for their Golden Anniversary, I wouldnt dream of buying them more of them. However...one of the reasons I bought it and one of the reasons they love it is because of the free gift that came with it.

Willow Tree do a Xmas tree decoration every year and clearly the free gift was the one that didnt sell.....probably because thanks to the design of it. Its a little girl holding a posy behind her back and the string being attached to the back of its neckmakes it looked like she was being hanged :o

PyongyangKipperbang · 04/09/2021 22:29

Just remembered.....my 30th. I wanted a nice piece of jewellry, nothing massively expensive as I prefer vintage stuff so you can pick up nice bits for a lot less than new.

I mentioned this to (then) DH and he said "Oh, I was going to get you a lawn mower". After much back and forth it transpired that his father had suggested this because "we need a new mower".

I got a vintage ring. He has just about got the hearing back in his left ear, 18 years later.

LookToTreblesGoingTreblesGone · 04/09/2021 22:46

For my 40th my mother gave me 2 pots of anti-wrinkle cream....day and night versions. Cheers mum.

lb66 · 04/09/2021 23:44

I once had a rather big argument with DH and as a gift he bought me the DVD Anger Management. It was not well received...

Mothership4two · 05/09/2021 00:34

@LookToTreblesGoingTreblesGone

Snap that's what my Mum bought me for my last birthday. I am 55, but still, that's not a present you want to receive. It was really expensive stuff too. Mums eh?

Mothership4two · 05/09/2021 00:35

I had an ex who gave me a goose-shaped toilet brush holder for Christmas. There are no words

Miisty · 05/09/2021 00:57

Like my sister in law who gave my elderly mum a roll of lining paper for her clothes drawer .Yes who got some this year such an insult She will get it back next year or her daughter

CKMc2b · 05/09/2021 03:35

All I can say is WTF? And is your Mum going a bet senile? It's a bit of a rude present and I wouldn't even re gift this to anyone unless they've specifically asked for this. Blush

Rememberallball · 05/09/2021 04:41

I have a DSis who I suspect is not deliberately PA when it comes to gifts but more likely she is either a) just shit at getting gifts or
b) cba to consider the people she’s buying for and buys stuff she would want.

In the past I’ve received a set of 4 sundae dishes - from a charity shop, still with price tag on the bottom of one; presented in grubby tissue paper and in a carrier bag. A copy of Monica Lewinski’s autobiography (also from a charity shop) when I had no interest in American politics and the characters involved in general, no interest in ML’s life; and I don’t particularly like autobiographies as ‘celebrity’ isn’t something that interests me. Another year I got a set of fake Pandora charms -
I don’t have a Pandora bracelet, don’t wear that type of jewellery and, if I did, would wear delicate charms on it rather than badly decorated chunky glass beads!

SisforSarah · 05/09/2021 07:00

@PlasticDinosaur @Gensola the socks felt like a pity present, bought for someone who spends every night alone in bed with no-one to keep me or my feet warm. I couldn’t imagine that my friend was buying bed socks for her married friends.

PlasticDinosaur · 05/09/2021 07:03

Ahh I see! I buy them for anyone because I love them. I'm one of THOSE people who buy things they like Blush wondering if alpaca socks are out ATM after Geronimo..
I hope you're in a happier place X

Gensola · 05/09/2021 07:05

@SisforSarah aww I get it, I’m sorry Sad I always have cold feet so I’d always have been glad for them, but I see what you mean.

Mollymoostoo · 05/09/2021 09:39

@Lollypop701

Tena ladies even!😂
GrinGrin
cricketmum84 · 05/09/2021 09:40

@SisforSarah I would never have thought about that either. I have a friend and a sister who love good bed socks, one married and one single and it just wouldn't cross my mind that the single one would be offended by it!

Perfectprincess · 05/09/2021 10:52

Me too!! 😃

Dillydollydingdong · 05/09/2021 11:59

Surely if you're buying a present for someone you'd have to get something you'd like yourself? You wouldn't buy them something you don't like?

Thecurtainsofdestiny · 05/09/2021 13:50

My BIL gave me an XXXXL top one Christmas. I'm a size 8. The neckline sat over my abdomen!

That year he also gave DH ( his brother) a bright red pair of trousers with a used tissue and old cinema ticket in the pocket.

We do " consumables only" gifts now.

IveGotASongThatllGetOnYNerves · 05/09/2021 14:14

@Dillydollydingdong

Surely if you're buying a present for someone you'd have to get something you'd like yourself? You wouldn't buy them something you don't like?
I would. I don't like football but my bil is football mad so I'll get him football stuff. My aunt likes posh china. I don't. I get it for her because I know she likes it. Surely gift giving is about getting the recipient something you know they would like, not something you like?