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?

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

My dh bought me one literally donkeys years ago as a stocking filler..... It's been used a lot over the years but I literally couldn't be without it, my menopausal itching is awful and this zaps it brilliantly!

an extra freezer to use for the yellow label items

I think the best present I ever bought my DH was a box of lovely Scottish seafood delivered to our house in South west England. He was thrilled.

A screwdriver set!

been used so many times. Only cheap but so great always having the right screwdriver/Allen key/screw head to hand.

I do have to police it though as it gets “borrowed” a lot and I find random pieces lying around.

A soup maker!
I was a bit like “em….thanks?”
But I use it every week - I love it!

I bought some cheap fleece blankets so we could sit outside during the days of social distancing with friends in the evening. They now live in our boiler cupboard near the lounge and the kids adore getting them out warm to snuggle up in when they’re tired!

Such a lovely thread OP! And I've now ordered my impossible to buy for Dad a Swiss card. Thank you!

My husband bought me an Emma Bridgewater teapot for the first birthday we were dating. I was 23, starting out in my career and always said when I was a "proper" grown up I'd have Emma B crockery...and it remains one of my most treasured possessions.

Everyone else said "he bought you a teapot?!" but it was such a kind and thoughtful present.

The taxidermy mouse sounds brilliant

Great thread. Links, please!

When I was going through a bout of severe depression, my siblings sent me a cheese hamper. It was very welcome.

I’ll second the OXO garlic press. For years, I had a cheapy one from Wilko then DD bought me the OXO one and it’s a game changer. I can’t believe how much garlic I get out of it!

Bath thermometer from DH. When I had my next bath he asked me to measure the temperature and from then on I came home to a perfect bath after every late shift.

Have to smile at the poster upthread with the Bamix blender. My Dbro once gave me a stick blender for Christmas when I was about 18 and I was totally baffled; it seemed like the world's most random present.

Over 40 years later, it’s travelled to many different houses with me and is still going strong, having made hundreds, if not thousands, of pots of soup.

You know I so need one of these !

My Dad bought us a very fancy mixer tap as a finishing touch for our new kitchen which was installed just before Christmas when we were skint from paying for the kitchen. Nearly 20 years later it is still a fancy tap. Sadly my Dad is no longer with us.

My MIL bought me a stainless steel lidded steamer with a stepped base that can be used on different sized pans about 20 years ago. I use it often.

DH pays for a niche annual subscription service for me every Christmas. I get joy from it all year round.

Dh bought a gorgeous farmhouse kitchen table when we first moved in. Every time I sit at it, over twenty years, I remember the cups of tea and tears of laughter or sadness, midnight feeds when ds was young, his paint marks from our craft sessions and later his name carved underneath that he thought I'd never notice. I love that table so much.

Although I do need a taxidermy smoking mouse!

I also have a big brass kitchen bell that I ring when dinner is ready. If I accidently knock into it, dh and ds and the cat appear as if by magic, even if they've only recently finished dinner. Pavlovs dog indeed.

Great thread.

Ditto! @NotHooray we're going to need a photo please!

Another egg boiler fan here. Also got it as a wedding present and thought ‘Why would I want this’ but have used it a lot.

Years and years and millennia ago a friend gave me her sewing machine because she didn't use it. For most of those years and millennia I didn't use it either but didn't get rid of it because I thought "One day I'll learn how to use it/sew/blah." This summer I did just that and I love it beyond reason. It is the best gift I've ever been given and just looking at it all set up for my next project makes me happy.

That and an ex got me a book called Masha that I had loved as a child - it was a library book so I never owned it - and has been out of print forever. He found it on Abes Books or something and gave it to me for Christmas. That also made me ridiculously happy.

A proper big, weighted sellotape dispenser that's filled with sand, weighs a tonne (well, probably a couple of kilos) and doesn't shift when you pull at the tape. I fall in love with it all over again every Christmas.

OMG was it Masha by Mara Kay? I absolutely adored that book!

@spuddel YES! I've never "met" anyone who's read it before. It's bloody wonderful!

@MouseMinge it's one of those books that just stay with you. That and a paperback my gran bought me, Nobody's House. How wonderful your ex tracked it down for you!

I want the taxidermy mouse

He is/was a lovely man, @spuddel I randomly told him about it and it appeared. I agree that it stays with you. It led me to an obsession with Russian history which never completely left me.

I have one of these as well! It is ace. I sometimes have been known to take it to (eg) PTA wrapping sessions and I have to make sure no one walks off with it!