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Original poster

Worst wedding gifts?

85 replies

ConstantlyIrksome · 14/10/2021 18:19

Inspired by a couple of other threads about wedding gifts - what was the worst thing you were given?

For me it's a toss-up between the clearly regifted ceramic chicken egg-safe, and the tea-towel printed with "Hubby and Wifey for Lifey". Both went immediately to the charity shop. I'm not generally fussy about gifts and usually happy with whatever someone is kind enough to go to the effort to purchase/wrap/transport but these were too much even for me!

OP posts:
PaperhouseLegs · 15/10/2021 08:38

A bible from invited guests who didn't attend...made their feelings about our non religious ceremony very obvious! We've never hidden the fact we don't follow any religion. It felt like such a dig!

FiveGs · 15/10/2021 08:43

A $50 note from my multi millionaire FIL. I mean, a gift's a gift and everything but it wasn't as if we asked him to contribute to the wedding and had spent elsewhere

PaperhouseLegs · 15/10/2021 08:52

Oh dear Confused
The problem with a fairly "out there" gift is that it's hit or miss if the recipients will like it. You can't regift or pass it on with it being personalised, it either ends up in the attic or in the bin. I'm afraid it would be a bin job (by the description) in our house too. I would never mention it and would always send a thank you note but it is an odd choice for a non camper van loving couple!

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SW1amp · 15/10/2021 08:52

Not me but a close friend
Her in-laws told her and her DH before the wedding that they couldn’t contribute and wouldn’t afford a proper gift, so had got them a really thoughtless thing for £25

But at the actual wedding, the FIL declared the wine they had chosen for the meal was rubbish, so asked the hotel for the wine list and spent £350 on expensive wine for his table, and then spent the night getting pissed with his brother on more expensive wine
He must have spent £500+ on booze that night showing off to his family while pleading poverty to the b&g

Zarene · 15/10/2021 09:02

Afraid I would have binned the camper van thing too. Giving something like that is a massive imposition - you're essentially saying that they must have something that you like on their wall, irrespective of whether they do.

For some reason a family friend of my DH gave us a massive teddy bear. Not personalised thankfully so it went to charity immediately.

MrsRubyMonday · 15/10/2021 09:05

We got.. a thing. To this day we haven't worked out what it's supposed to be. It's hand knitted/crocheted, in white. About 30cm square. It has each of our intials on opposite corners. It's too thick to be a placemat of any sort, too small to be a blanket even for a baby. It lives in our wedding box until we find something to do with it.

Etinoxaurus · 15/10/2021 09:06

We had a big enough to frame a postage stamp silver plate frame posted to my parents in advance. I’ve seen identical since in crackers. I wonder whether it was a mistake, direct from suppliers. Very nice friends of mil and they attended happily enough. Just strange!

ClaudiaAndTheCauldron · 15/10/2021 09:07

From my BIL and SIL to be. An obviously regifted blue plastic bin set from Woolworths wrapped in plastic and covered in dust. It came with a toilet brush and soap dish.
They totally ignored the gift list.

TheVanguardSix · 15/10/2021 09:10

Hubby and Wifey for Lifey Ouch!

Mine was a plastic red heart-shaped spatula.
It's insulting. I'd rather get no gift than a poor effort.

NotFrozen · 15/10/2021 09:33

We received a book about Christian marriage and it was incredibly sexist and mainly about how the wife needs to be passive a d supportive of her husband. We had a laugh and then threw it out.

NotFrozen · 15/10/2021 09:42

In my early 20s I gave a shower caddy as a wedding gift. The bride and groom had asked for something for the house and they said they liked chrome. I took them literally and it was all I could find that matched the description. Years later the bride asked me what I was thinking- honestly I had forgotten all about it but in hindsight realised it was a really strange gift. They must have thought I was a complete weirdo! Grin

justmetoday · 15/10/2021 11:52

We got a spoon from one of dhs aunts. Not a cutlery set or a ladle or anything. Just one single tablespoon Hmm

Original poster
ConstantlyIrksome · 15/10/2021 12:00

Yes! Another pet hate. Why would I want a Christmas decoration with your initials and wedding date engraved on it hung on my tree? You have to be a special kind of self-obsessed to think your guests would be up for that.

OP posts:
Original poster
ConstantlyIrksome · 15/10/2021 12:01

So maybe don't tell them? I would have chucked it too - a bit rude to assume you know what people want to display in their homes. Especially if they've never mentioned their deep love of campervans.

OP posts:
Sausagedogsarethebest · 15/10/2021 12:03

Got married 30 years ago and received several cut glass decanters, the sort you put things like brandy in. Husband and I never drank that sort of alcohol and even then they seemed quite old fashioned. They've sat in a cupboard for 30 years and I left them behind when I left husband recently.

2typesofjungle · 15/10/2021 14:37

In my defence, I binned the campervan thing because it arrived a couple of weeks after our cancelled wedding and felt like a slap in the face.

I actively dislike campervans, as does DH and it was made using a kit you can buy from any craft shop and stick together. The only 'thoughtful' element of it was the date, which was wrong.

Also, I've seen them being sold online since so I don't think he even made it!

Original poster
ConstantlyIrksome · 15/10/2021 14:42

@2typesofjungle I think we are all with you on this - weird gift, and if they can't even get your (cancelled) wedding date right on it then the bin is the only place for it to go!

OP posts:
Original poster
ConstantlyIrksome · 15/10/2021 14:43

@justmetoday I hope you ensure she gets that specific teaspoon every single time she comes over for a cuppa - if still invited after that wedding present

OP posts:
Original poster
ConstantlyIrksome · 15/10/2021 14:44

@TheVanguardSix it also sounds ludicrously impractical. Does the heart shape not mean it gets caught on your fried eggs when you're trying to get them out of the pan?

OP posts:
Enko · 15/10/2021 16:41

Wooden goblets. Like wine glasses ut carved out of wood

mindutopia · 15/10/2021 17:01

We got a hookah pipe and shisha. Dh and I have literally never smoked shisha in our lives and I'm asthmatic. Friends had been to Turkey on holiday just before our wedding and thought that was obviously better than the linens and towels and cutlery that we actually needed (had not lived together until a couple months before wedding and I had been working abroad before that, so we literally moved into our house with like two towels and two plates and a few forks). Hmm

CeeceeBloomingdale · 15/10/2021 17:04

Saucers but no cups

PorkTheDork · 15/10/2021 17:08

@2typesofjungle

In my defence, I binned the campervan thing because it arrived a couple of weeks after our cancelled wedding and felt like a slap in the face.

I actively dislike campervans, as does DH and it was made using a kit you can buy from any craft shop and stick together. The only 'thoughtful' element of it was the date, which was wrong.

Also, I've seen them being sold online since so I don't think he even made it!

But does the person claiming to know you, actually know you??
2typesofjungle · 15/10/2021 18:21

@PorkTheDork No I doubt it, they've not really given much info and the campervan thing was so generic it could have been anyone. I'm not worried.

Nearlytheretrees · 15/10/2021 19:04

@MrsRubyMonday could it be a hot saucepan mat? The ones I've seen are thicker than placemats. Not sure I'd want one in white though!