Most random but ultimately brilliant present you've ever been given...

[Limth]

When I started my business many years ago, a 'friend' bought me a Rolodex as a bit of a bitchy present. As a 'fuck you', I started using it. Then I actually fell in love with it. And then I gave her it a name. And now I use it all the bloody time now. The 'friend' has long since disappeared from my life but Ms. Rowan lives on as my trusty side-kick.

In my 20s, I was moving out of a house to the other side of the country. I had stuff to go to the tip, stuff to go to the second-hand furniture shop, stuff for the charity shop, bags of tatty clothes for rag recycling. I was completely overwhelmed with it and struggling because I didn't have a car. For my birthday, my friend hired me a 'Man With Van' for a half-day. The sense of relief at having that help was better than any spa break I've ever had.

What random presents have you had that've ultimately proved to be brilliant?

Not random, my mum bought me an expensive handbag last year. It really pleased me in a strange way. Like I'm a woman who she believes deserves to have a good handbag.

Other than that I choose my presents because they never get it right.

I usually buy myself a lot of things prior to Christmas. Only then my world is in balance.

Pressure cooker. From MiL. I was too scared to use it for about a year and it just sat about. Now I use it constantly.

A friend bought me a back scratcher back from holiday. I think I love it more than anything else i own.

Storyworth. Where you write answers to questions about your life and include photos. At the end they make all your stories into a book.

Both times I had DC a good friend gave me a card with £20 in and the message ‘for mother’s ruin’ 🤣

Both times I had DC a good friend gave me a card with £20 in and the message ‘for mother’s ruin’ 🤣

On our engagement a relative bought us a huge turquoise fake-fur throw, like one you'd get from a cheapo homewares store. We were a bit 🤔about it.

17 years later the 'blue fluffy' is in use all winter as an extra layer of bedclothes when it's extra cold and as a cover up for the whole family on the sofa.

My mum got me a national trust bag that folds up into a little purse. I thought wtf is this at the time but I use it all the time. It's so helpful when I go into a shop and always forget a carrier bag but lo and behold there it is in my hand bag ready to be folded out and used.
I feel so middle aged admitting it.

A Shark hand-held vacuum cleaner. Totally random, I didn't ask for it, and DH has a tendency to buy me electronics, but...

I've got a week off work to do a massive declutter after dc moved out recently into their own place, and Sharky is proving to be an absolute godsend.

DH bought me a freestanding pond for my birthday one year. Very random but I like having a pond in my garden, I can see the fish through the portholes and I enjoy listening to the trickling water. Plus, he does all the maintenance.

An electric throw for the sofa. I am always cold, but I thoughtit was a bit 'old lady'. Five years later, still going strong with the most blissful fleecy electric throw over me on the coldest nights. So cosy!

I haven’t got any additions op (although I do pride myself on being a brilliant present buyer 😇) but I just want to say that everyone at work takes the piss out of my Rolodex and yet they all come crawling to me when they need a long lost contact. Technology isn’t all that.

When we moved in to our first home 15 years ago , a relative gave us a cheese grater , you can get them in ikea now , the grater is attached to the bowl but back then I don’t know where they got it .
cost about €3. At the time I was thinking what a strange gift but it’s still used every day for our grated cheese loving family 😂

My mum randomly offered me her Bosch mixer that she hardly ever used. I didn't even know she had one, or that I needed one, but I use it at least once a week and we make loads of wraps and pittas etc. I know dough can be made by hand but the sheer convenience of bunging it in a mixer is a godsend. There's no way I'd have bought one so I'm delighted.

Not in the least bit useful but my mum and dad bought me a taxidermy mouse smoking a fag and drinking wine from a bottle last Christmas. I love it. It's in a decorative cloche on my desk and makes me smile every time I see it

These are all fabulous. Hurrah for the random present-buyers!

@Screamingabdabz As well as contact details, I use Ms Rowan to jot down and collate bits of information about clients like "Wife called Debbie. Son called Ryan. Does cycling. Poorly mum lives in Coventry".
Being able to pull this stuff out during phone calls really helps to build and maintain connections, particularly in the early days of getting to know clients. I swear that I've had tonnes of clients stay with me because of this personal touch.

My bloke put a sellotape dispenser that looks like a high heeled shoe in my stocking years ago. It’s been used at least once a week ever since and it makes me smile every time I use it.

Random-ish wedding present. We had a specific list saying please don't buy anything not on it as we've already got 101% of house stuff apart from what's on the list.

Someone bought us a Bamix hand blender, saying they heard what we were saying about the list, but someone had bought them one and it was the best present they'd got. They also said to keep it out as it would be used a lot.

They weren't wrong. Two decades later it's never been put in a cupboard and it's still being used a lot. Was a Godsend when we were weaning DC. Now we use for dals, milkshakes, whipped cream, last night's soup...

A rather practical 6ft tall fence for the back garden plus fence posts, kick boards and a gate from my parents.
(I had a 3ft fence before that and the neighbours kids kept lobbing bricks over.)
It solved the issue and my lovely dad even helped us fit it.
The next christmas I got a bosch cordless drill.
A pattern of sensible useful gifts had been set and continues to this day.

The modern equivalent is Microsoft OneNote!

An old au pair gave me a "ring for prosecco" bell, 5 years ago.

No idea why, but my god. It gets used multiple times a day. It's bright purple and sits in my otherwise sedately coloured kitchen.

It's used to summon the children
To notify people about dinner being ready.

Okay, just those two. But it saves shouting and the kids are trained as soon as that earth breaking ping reverberates around the house the children come running.

As do I. When it's not me that's dinged it. It's like a live action remake of Pavlov's dog at my house.

I was bought an egg boiler as a joke gift.

I absolutely love it and use it at least twice a week for the perfect dippy eggs.

I have never heard of a Rolodex.

A Dualit toaster, one of the clockwork manual ones, from DH when we already had a toaster. Nothing wrong with our normal one I muttered to myself. Well, it turned out I was very wrong and 20 years later it is still the Best Toaster Ever.

A lightweight picnic blanket so it rolls up really small (but still has a waterproof back). At first I was a little because we already have three, but then friend said she always has her's in her changing bag.

OMG. Game changing. Any time we're out with kids and want to stop for a snack we pop it down. If benches are wet, we cover the bench. If we need to do a nappy change, it's more than big enough.

And then it just goes in the wash.

It's fabulous.

Nope, I can't get on with OneNote at all. And OneNote doesn't have little plastic wallets for physical business cards.

Nothing will unseat Ms Rowan from my desk 😅