What's the worst/strangest gift you've ever received?

[Opals462]

You know those huge advertising posters that are put on bus stops behind the perspex? Today I was gifted one of them, an enormous poster over 6ft tall advertising none other than Mentos, the mints/sweets.

Folded up into a padded postage envelope and addressed to me and my other half.

Gift giver is my eccentric aunt.

I couldn't tell you what her thought process was behind it, but she claimed ownership of it when passing her nearest bus stop and seeing the posters being changed. Apparently I was to be the perfect recipient.

Ironically, my ASD son is obsessed with mentos and we've recently had to ban him having them as he gets too overwhelmed (she doesn't know that though, so it's purely coincidence)

What's the worst/strangest gift you've ever received?

A corby trouser press from my parents for my 26th birthday. I’d never expressed any interest in one, but my parents really likes theirs and they knew I wore trousers for work. Never used it.

I've mentioned it on here before but my MIL gave me embroidered, towelling, fridge-handle covers. Similar to the ones in the picture. I hated them and DH took the position that I had to use them as it was disrespectful to his mother not to. We squabbled intermittently about it for the 13 hr flight home. When we got home we realised that our fridge had recessed handles.

A wedding anniversary gift from a relative, with our names, the wedding date and “Wedding Anniversary” printed on it. It’s not good, but we care a lot for the relative so can’t chuck it.

At 15 years old a boyfriends mum gave me a sex toy. Okay, it was supposed to be a back massager, but you know the type, it was a sex toy 😂

My ex MIL was a complete nutter. The year she gave me a roll of clingfilm was Christmas was interesting…

At the start of our relationship now dh announced he had got me a present...
Was a bottle of shampoo.
He was swiftly guided into what was a 'present' and what was a 'nice thought' ...
Worst gift was off mil. A snake bracelet that cost £3.75. As I prefer my wrist without a touch of green I didn't wear it...

My late husband bought me a box of Black Magic chocolates for Christmas once,we had been married at least 15years and he knew I can’t stand dark chocolate.I did think it was hilarious.

A cross eyed wooden cat (I had dogs at the time) looking at it’s own bum. The dog ‘accidentally’ got it and chewed it.

Haha! This thread was made for me!
So one year my Mum bought me a set of saucepans before Christmas which I really did need. Then Christmas day arrived and she presented me with a small square box.... lovely, I thought, a gold bangle......no, it was a set of coasters...
Another time when I was refurbishing I mentioned that I was de-cluttering and I just wanted one beautiful ornament for my mantlepiece (which I intended buying myself). Lo and behold she presented me with a large box, the label on which said 'Woman with Parrot'......

A tour of a football stadium. For the team my dad supports.

I hate football. All my family went in on it. I've no idea what they were thinking.

@FelicityBeedle

DP managed to stop my in laws getting me an incredibly fancy bells and whistles smart toothbrush for Christmas last year. I got a printer for my 16th birthday, I hadn’t asked for it and could print for free at school

My Mum sent me a parcel for my birthday ‘so I had something to open on the day’. She’d bought me a much wished for, absolutely fantastic, gift of a short course of gardening lectures. The parcel was an electric toothbrush. I still don’t quite understand the connection in her brain but it was clearly sent with much love so that’s what I’ll treasure!

My FIL is good at odd gifts - Dh once got a book on Toilets of Cornwall, and aged about 8 or 9, ds3 got three books - one of cartoon cats of Cornwall, one on Cornish cheeses, and one on the history and recipes for the Cornish Pasty. I get random books on TV programmes I’ve never watched.

Oh, and my MIL gave me Christmas hand towels for my birthday. My birthday is in mid January. So not only was it a bit of a crap gift (honestly, who wants hand towels for their birthday) but I couldn't even use them for almost a year!

My ex-mil (when I was dating her son) gave me a cookery book for my 21st with his favourite recipes marked with post-it notes.

The same book she had seen me donate to a jumble sale at the church she went to.

My parents in law gave me an abaya, so that when I convert to Islam I can wear it on the pilgrimage to Mecca.

I have no intention of doing any of these things. It was supremely awkward.

I got given a toiletries set with the tombola sticker still on it from a family friend when I was a teenager

Oh, and my otherwise lovely MIL got me a cookery book called How to Cook on our first married Christmas 🤣 Think she just had a brain fart!

When I was 13, my auntie bought me a piece of jewellery for Christmas. It was a cheap gold coloured pendant. The actual pendant was coloured black with the letter 'F' printed onto it in fake gold leaf.

Don't know what the F stood for. My name doesn't being with F. Maybe it stood for fake

My mum once gave me a "stage prop" cat. It was strikingly realistic if you saw it curled up on a chair but if you touched it it was rock hard with fur on top (i.e. definitely not a cuddly toy, albeit I was an adult by then anyway). I politely said thank you and enquired about her, er, motivation for such a gift. She said she had bought it for her friend's birthday but her friend thought it was creepy and didn't want it, so mother dearest bestowed it on me instead!

To be honest many years later I still have it. My children are oddly fascinated with it and enjoy tricking visitors and tradesman. On one occasion it had ended up inside a rolltop desk. The lock had jammed and I asked our builder to have a go at getting it open. He did and let out a scream "Oh fuck there's a dead cat in here!!!" I felt really bad for him but it is a tale the children often repeat.

As part of my Christmas present, DM got me two tupperware boxes. Before I opened them, I jokingly shuck the present and said, I bet it's an empty box. It was! To be fair they are used all the time and she is pretty practical so I quite like them.

MY late Mum gave me a large houseplant once, she said it was now too big for her small room,, but she said a couple of months before, she had repotted it outside, using just soil from the garden, I took it home, and after a while,all the leaves started to drop off and die.

I then took it into my own garden to investigate, and tipped everything out of the pot, and there was about 10 slugs in the crap soil that she had used. so the slugs had been slowly eating away the roots of the plant, and killed it off, so they and the plant,had been in my living room for quite a while..

www.aliexpress.com/item/4000071940843.html

One of these as a wedding gift from MIL. We get along really well and she's minted so not sure why...

Size 18 long jumper from SMIL. I was a size 10.
It was the most passive aggressive gift, handed over with the words " If it's too small I'm sure you can take it back"
Brilliant SIL chimed in " ooh, Sundancing, you should unravel it and I'll knit you two jumpers that fit "

@FelicityBeedle

DP managed to stop my in laws getting me an incredibly fancy bells and whistles smart toothbrush for Christmas last year. I got a printer for my 16th birthday, I hadn’t asked for it and could print for free at school

I got one of those fancy electric toothbrushes last year for Christmas, difference is I actually asked for it. I just couldn't justify spending my own money on a toothbrush that cost so much, and I didn't really need anything else. The dentist recommended that I get one, so I got one for Christmas 🎄 🪥