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
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Crap gifts

84 replies

Malbecqueen · 15/02/2021 18:03

Having just seen another thread detailing valentine's day disappointments, I thought it'd be good/cathartic to list some really rubbish presents here...

This V day (we don't really celebrate it here), I got v cheap smellies for the bath, after told my DH (a) not to get me any more body creams etc some time ago and (b) my mum bought me enough bath oil to last me all year at Xmas...

At Xmas, I asked for a) a comfy lounge suit like the ones I had - and was clear that I wanted a zip top, no jumper/hoodie and loose/flared bottoms and b) a casual red check skirt ... he got me a cheap and scratchy lounge suit, no zip and elastic bottoms to the legs... and b) a brown dogtooth skirt that's more appropriate for the office (which is great in Covid times)....

And yes, I love my DH dearly but FFS I don't know how to say these things anymore clearly...

So c'mon on - hit me with your crappy/ thoughtless gifts.

OP posts:
Sully84 · 15/02/2021 18:06

Not me but a friend of mine gets a box of ferrero rocher off her SIL every Christmas. She is allergic to nuts 😂

DappledThings · 15/02/2021 18:08

What's a lounge suit? It sounds like it ought to be like pyjamas, for lounging around in but infant imagine something like that with a skirt.

goldpendant · 15/02/2021 18:09

A dress, from Zara, horrible cut, zero thought, I'd have had absolutely no occasion to wear it ever. Literally left on the kitchen table in the paper bag it came in. DH was in a strop because I "shunned him" earlier that morning when he brought me a cuppa in bed (I was asleep).

My 30th gift was a coat I loved and 'we' bought in Stockholm, also given to me in the very boring bag it came in.

goldpendant · 15/02/2021 18:09

PS was it my V Day thread you read?!

WhoUsedMyName · 15/02/2021 18:18

Cakes made by a local buisness lovely right?! Then he let me no all evening just how much he spent on them it was overpriced how much effort he made getting them ordered etc then just as I put the box In the bin said have you just eaten the last one!? That was my 2nd one out of 6 meaning he ate 4 i think it was a present to himself tbh. Can I state Lighthearted yes he was greedy and selfish but I'm not married to the devil I promise

ViciousJackdaw · 15/02/2021 18:20

@DappledThings

What's a lounge suit? It sounds like it ought to be like pyjamas, for lounging around in but infant imagine something like that with a skirt.
It's a tracksuit. A good old fashioned tracky. Let's not pretend it isn't.
DappledThings · 15/02/2021 18:23

A tracksuit with a skirt? I'm still not able to picture it!

Spodge · 15/02/2021 18:23

I once got a book that cost a fiver from my DH. It was on my Amazon wishlist and was a birthday present. We were on a cruise at the time. He said the cruise was the main present. So what was the problem? We ALWAYS go on holiday around my birthday or around his and the holiday is NEVER the present. It's paid for from joint funds and then whoever needs to buy a present buys it from their own funds. Said present usually costs around £50. There were suitable options on the wishlist and he must have looked there to buy the book as it was not one I had ever mentioned to him. He's never done it before or since.

DappledThings · 15/02/2021 18:25

@DappledThings

A tracksuit with a skirt? I'm still not able to picture it!
Ok, I've googled tracksuit with skirt now. They do exist, I had no idea.

Ignore me!

oohmyback · 15/02/2021 18:27

Lol @dappledthings. The skirt was separate too the lounge suit!

Corcory · 15/02/2021 18:33

I was once given bath bombs when we only had a shower in our flat!
I
My Sil once give me a really cheap thing made of 4 pieces of cut glass stuck together, it certainly wasn't her usual fair. Turned out her mother had been buying all the presents to help out and thought she had done really well, normal service was resumed and I got a lovely cashmere scarf next year!

DappledThings · 15/02/2021 18:47

@oohmyback

Lol *@dappledthings*. The skirt was separate too the lounge suit!
Oh Blush that makes more sense. Sorry!
Dilbertian · 15/02/2021 19:03

A book about Dads' Army. The same as the one he'd just got for his own dad's birthday a couple of days earlier (there was a 2 for 1 offer at the bookshop). For my 50th birthday.

My birthday is 1April, so I laughed, thinking it was an April Fool and he had a proper gift for me.

He did not.

Original poster
Malbecqueen · 15/02/2021 20:09

Aaargh... tracksuit with a skirt?? Nooo... I just mean a tracksuit with pj type bottoms rather than with elastic on the bottom

OP posts:
Original poster
Malbecqueen · 15/02/2021 20:11

The skirt was a separate item!!

OP posts:
Gliblet · 15/02/2021 20:15

DH had a few properly ropey years. For his first Fathers day, I got him an engraved bracelet with 'Father' on one side of the plate, DS's name and date of birth on the other. For my first Mothers day, he got me two tubes of Lansinoh.

To this day if he seems ungrateful for a gift I tell him he should be thankful its not ointment Grin

PatchworkElmer · 15/02/2021 20:20

I’ve been given a LOT of earrings by close family and friends... all of whom know I don’t have my ears pierced? 🤷🏻‍♀️

HerRoyalNotness · 15/02/2021 20:21

A silver baby rattle when I’d just had my 2nd miscarriage. Oh you’ll have another one he said. I did, but it would have been a kindness to put it away in the cupboard and given it to me when I did. But that’s him all over. Still thoughtless to this day

AbsitivelyPosolutely · 15/02/2021 20:22

A few years ago in Tesco, they were selling a plant/teddy gift set. The teddy was either a panda or a sausage dog. I mentioned them to my husband because I thought it was funny as we have a dachshund and I love pandas. I stated categorically that I didn't want either, I was merely mentioning the coincidence.

Mother's Day comes and he apologies for not getting me (from our toddler) the plant set I'd asked for but he couldn't find it 🙄🙄

MyLittleOrangutan · 15/02/2021 20:24

An auntie of DHs who said they were coming to our wedding while clearly having no intention to sent a gift of two tiny bottles of fake champagne and two cheap plain champagne glasses, one of which was broken because they were put in a box together with no padding or anything.
A different auntie bought us a plastic book with flowers sticking out, definitely a grave ornament but she's lovely and autistic so we didn't really mind.
His cousin once gave us a joint Christmas gift of a cheap tea towel.

Rainbowandscarlett · 15/02/2021 21:25

My mother is the queen of shitty gifts
Gems include
Snowball shaped candles
A foul pink blanket with sleeves
A picture of cats that I’d made my cat loving father a year earlier-but she’d framed it
A child’s plastic ring
A cross stitch of tigger-she wanted me to sew it,frame it and give it back to her
Toothpicks
A skirt I’d admired-on her-a middle aged lady-I was a teenager-she bought me it in a size 22-I was a size 14
A nightie that was a size 6/8-I don’t wear nighties and it was a tad too small
Nipple tassels (no idea on that one)
Bath bombs (she knew I didn’t have a bath)
Toilet cleaner (again,no idea)
A garden spade-she knows I hate gardening-I used it twice-and she came round while I was out and took it back
Two kittens (two christmases apart) I’m a firm believer you don’t give animals for Christmas and she knew I couldn’t afford a pet-I’m sure she only did it as my brothers ex girlfriends cat kept getting pregnant and they needed help to get rid of the kittens
One got hit by a car (we lived near a main road) and the other was stolen

I’m now nc with her

Original poster
Malbecqueen · 15/02/2021 21:56

I don't know whether to laugh or cry with some of these...

@Gliblet. ointment?? seriously?? I think that's our winner so far...

@HerRoyalNotness - that's seriously sh*tty - I'm so sorry

OP posts:
jay55 · 15/02/2021 22:16

Ex's mother once gave us a box of expired packets of super noodles.

BrilliantBetty · 15/02/2021 22:31

Last V day I was pregnant and really wanting a burger in a brioche bun with onions from a local take away, with a side of red cabbage.
It was a slight craving and I was so excited for this valentines treat..
DH hadn't been listening properly and what arrived was red cabbage in a brioche bun with no burger and some onion on the side.

mrsbyers · 15/02/2021 23:15

I do a list now for Christmas and birthdays with specific items on - store name and usually photos and size , I’ve just done my birthday one today actually - may seem grabby but my family prefer it that way as I’m pretty difficult to buy for

Swipe left for the next trending thread