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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Presents that aren't really presents?!

76 replies

BobbysBeardOfWonder · 17/09/2012 21:20

Anyone else have this with their DH/DP?

DH: "I got you a present!"
Me: "ooh thanks, a Twix! Yum!"
...a few minutes later
DH: "are you going to open it then?"
Me: "not yet"
DH: "can I have it then"

Gahhhhh! Just buy one for yourself & stop pretending you got it for me! Drives me mad Angry

OP posts:
CaptainHetty · 18/09/2012 13:48

My nan gave my mum an epilator for her birthday.

It had hairs in it Hmm

Alliwantisaroomsomewhere · 18/09/2012 13:55

Someone at school I barely know gave me and my DS each a Christmas gift. She really wanted our sons to become friends because my DS was friendly with hers. I thought it so generous and lovely especially seeing that she does not celebrate Christmas... generous until I saw that the expiry date on the bottle of bath oil was 2006. She gave the gift to me in 2011 Shock.

YANBU.

ratbagcatbag · 18/09/2012 13:59

MsKayGee that's awful, maybe start returning the favour, we do this ONLY for DGP's with my DSS, and sometimes we get all the U16's together so grandkids and great grandkids together and give them to grandparents along side other lovely gifts!

timetosmile · 18/09/2012 14:49

oh yes, and we had a boxed sandwich toaster as a wedding gift, with burnt on cheddar in the hinges and crumbs...

and hecate I was sorely tempted... Grin

Kewcumber · 18/09/2012 14:52

I once got bought a hoover as a christmas present. It was very generous as presents went but I have no DH and not much money and presents of any value are of course welcome... but A HOOVER .

( I was very grateful publically)

ByTheWay1 · 18/09/2012 14:55

I got a shed from my now ex..... A SHED......

Pandemoniaa · 18/09/2012 15:00

I really couldn't cope with an adult in the house who had to steal my food! Especially if they tried to pretend it was a present in the first place.

But I do have an ex-h who could be guaranteed to buy gifts that bore no resemblance to anything I'd ever have wanted but which always seemed to suit him perfectly. Books by his favourite authors and home brewing kits spring to mind.

Kewcumber · 18/09/2012 15:00

Oh your shed beats my hoover. I feel better now.

StealthPolarBear · 18/09/2012 15:01

just getting on this thread and pmsl at the sandwich toaster with cheddar in the hinges

Thumbwitch · 18/09/2012 15:06

Ha, DH did similar for my Christmas stocking last year. DS is still very little, so we all have to have a stocking to keep him happy (he likes us all to be on Santa's Good or Naughty list) - last year I told DH he had to take responsibility for mine, I was fed up buying my own presents! So he filled it with very nice chocolates - bag of chocolate-covered strawberries, ditto blueberries, ditto cherries, ditto honeycomb. I got not one piece of the honeycomb - he ate the lot. Hmm (But I got my own back and hid the blueberries, he didn't get any of those - ha!)

MrsHelsBels74 · 18/09/2012 15:10

I worked with a lady once who gave her husband a load of manure for his birthday. Apparently it was what he wanted but I couldn't get over it!

5madthings · 18/09/2012 15:13

my mil bought me an IRONING BOARD! for my 30th birthday! i do not do ironing. it sat unopened for months! dp uses it occasionally and i did iron a t-shirt fir ds4 the other day as it was still damp from the wash. but seriously an ironing board?!

oh i am highly allergic, eczema and very sensitive skin, cannot use fancy soaps, bubble bath etc and yet various family members and inlaws still buy me them as presents!

HiHowAreYou · 18/09/2012 15:14

This is not the same as, but reminds me of what my sister always does.

Sister: "Hi, I've brought cake! Do you want coffee cake, or carrot cake?"

Me: "Oh, I'll have the... coffee cake, mmm, thanks!"

Sister: "Actually, I want the coffee one."

Me: "Why did you make me choose then? Argh!"

HiHowAreYou · 18/09/2012 15:15

I can't believe I'm complaining about someone bringing cake. I'm such a bitch. Ha!

cat · 18/09/2012 15:21

timetosmile - that is why you should always ask for money as a wedding gift Wink

Pandemoniaa · 18/09/2012 15:24

DP who has had a beard nearly all his adult life always received after-shave from one of his aunts. Like always!

LRDtheFeministDragon · 18/09/2012 15:29

My mother has, on three separate occasions, 'given' me a present which is still in her house being used by her.

What really takes the cake is that I inherited it from my granny and AFAIK it was never hers to 'give'! Grin

Raspberryandorangesorbet · 18/09/2012 15:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

DowagersHump · 18/09/2012 15:36

I am constantly being bought bath bubbles by people who really should know I haven't had a bath in about 4 years (I hate them and only take showers).

On the upside, DS goes to school smelling absolutely delicious :o

TwelveLeggedWalk · 18/09/2012 15:37

Not remotely in the same league as these, but I realised the other day that lots of people approach present buying rather differently from me.

I have twins who've just turned one, and obviously we got lots and lots of gifts for them. Everyone except loaded FIL was really really generous and we were a bit blown away by it all.
A few people had bought pale pink/blue baby keepsakes, and some Victorian-style momentos and ornaments. Which was very sweet of them, but they are family members who have heard me saying how hard I was going to try and avoid pink and blue for hte past year, and who've spent lots of time in our ornament or anything breakable free, fairly minimalist house, with its retro brown, green and orange nursery. I just find it all a bit of a head-scratcher, as I tie myself up in knots buying anything for anybody they can't a) eat, b) read or c) easily return, worrying will they like it, will it go with their style, will it fit in their house, etc etc!

Nagoo · 18/09/2012 15:39

hiHow have you not leanred to choose the one you don't want? Grin

MrsCarriePooter · 18/09/2012 15:45

I have happy memories of the Christmas my father bought my mother a pair of cord trousers, a woolly jumper and an anorak. From the men's department of Marks and Spencer.

Mind you I have obviously inherited the crap present gene. My husband got a pair of Olympic oven gloves for his birthday a few weeks ago because ours are now dangerous and because they were reduced.

marshmallowpies · 18/09/2012 15:47

Dowagers - I've been guilty of this, bought a friend some bubble bath stuff after she'd given birth only to hear her say a few weeks later 'I haven't had a bath for years'...oops! Blush

Made a mental note not to buy her any more smellies after that. I was given so many luxury pregnancy & post-pregnancy creams and oils myself it's going to take a long time to work through them all. Next time a friend has a baby I'm going for the 'plain babygrows & enormous pack of nappies' gift option...something that's actually useful!

Quenelle · 18/09/2012 15:48

In our house there's a cutoff time of 12am for chocolate. So if DH bought himself a Snickers and me a Twirl to eat tonight, and he ate his Snickers but I didn't eat my Twirl, it's no longer mine, it becomes anyone's after midnight.

And yes, DH wrote that rule.

PowerDresser · 18/09/2012 15:49

Pandemoniaa Well after shave can always be used 'elsewhere' and it's not a bad perfume either. My husband had a beard too and ..............