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?

Dh and I were given a hookah pipe and shisha as a wedding gift. Neither of us smoke and I'm asthmatic!

@frazzledasarock dont do that again
Its haram to drink, buy and sell booze. So giving it to someone is same thing. Next time chuck it in the bin. Asalam alaikum

Not me, but FIL gave DH a SatNav for his Christmas present a few years back. DH hasn’t owned a car in 20 years and commutes to work by train.

Liliput Lane cottage ornaments - I was given 4 of them for my birthday when I was in my early twenties by an aunt, uncle, and cousin. They said you can start collecting them now

Every year I get 3 identical bottles of Soap & Glory shower gel from SIL. It makes my skin itch.

An ex once bought me a hamster cage for valentine's day. A huge one, with tubes for it to run through and the like. It wasn't my hamster, I was just looking after it for my sister for a while. That was an odd one. As was he.

A friend of mine bought me a toilet seat. Tbf my toilet seat had broken and I casually mentioned it had when he came to stay to be ‘aware’ and I was getting it replaced and he turned up with a pink glittery loo seat

‘So you can shit in sparkles’

@mintdream

Liliput Lane cottage ornaments - I was given 4 of them for my birthday when I was in my early twenties by an aunt, uncle, and cousin. They said you can start collecting them now

Every year I get 3 identical bottles of Soap & Glory shower gel from SIL. It makes my skin itch.

I guarantee the SIL loves soap and glory but the ones you get gifted are the ones she doesn’t like the smell of

For my birthday , a Yankee Halloween candle holder , it was hideous , and my bd is in April.

I bought somebody probably the worst gift ever when I was teenager. There was a bit of an awkward dynamic as she wanted to be best friends with my closest friend (I don't play those games, though, and thought she was nice enough that it might be a good thing to become friends with her as well) and when the three of us were walking home one day, she mentioned a song that 'just gets me every time'. So I bought it for her for Christmas.

Turns out that when she said 'just gets me every time', she meant 'When I hear it, I want to tear my ears off with a lawnmower, throw my eyeballs into the dustbin and run off to a remote island to become a Nun living in a cave where there is no music ever for the rest of my natural life'.

I always half expect to see her on one of these threads so I can apologise - she didn't speak to me ever again from that day, I became dead to her, so I never had the chance.

Sorry, Christine S. I thought I was doing something nice and it cost me two hour's wages out of my 10h pw job so I spent 20% of my income on you, which I wouldn't have done if I had thought you hated it.

Someone once bought me a life size clear perspex hand which looked like it had been severed at the wrist. It was a jewellery holder but it creeper me out, looking like a claw on the dressing table.

It wasn't as hideous as the gift my lovely child bought me one birthday. It was an ornament made out of some heavy resin type of material and was a hybrid of a handbag complete with chain with the lower part consisting of a shoe.
For years I pretended it was beautiful and felt like an awful mother for thinking otherwise.

A bottle of Baileys approx 15 years out of date.
Had lumps in it when I poured it down the sink.
Only actually looked at the date cos I thought the label looked different to the bottle I’d recently bought myself.

My best friend bought me a life size stuffed gorilla. I think it was meant to be a joke as we'd said we'd get each other something 'small' for Christmas but it was a bit unusual. We usually get each other things like nice moisturisers, soaps, etc.

I felt bad as I really didn't want it. It freaked me out actually as if you put it in a room it felt like there was someone in there when it wasn't bright light (like a black shadow in the corner). I gave it to charity. Maybe a child would like it.

[quote PopsicleHustler]@frazzledasarock dont do that again
Its haram to drink, buy and sell booze. So giving it to someone is same thing. Next time chuck it in the bin. Asalam alaikum[/quote]
What a waste...

Out of date Ant Killer traps from the in laws for Christmas.

@languagelover96

A trip to a haunted house in France literally.

This sounds good

There is a box for unwanted gifts at work. You can help yourself to anything you want. I dont think anyone ever has.
Currently contains a huge lurid bright green very badly crocheted shawl.
I did think of taking it home for the cat bed but didn't because the colour made me want to throw up.

My very well off father brought my children broken toys from oxfam for a few years.
(Looks worse than I remember it, writing it down!)
I did very much over compensate and they have / had everything money could buy. (New and lovely things a plenty). The oxfam stuff I always took back to the shop and (re) donated.

I think it was a sustainability thing on his part, but its put me off sustainability for life!

Frilly apron, unironically given, from my MIL not long after we were married.

After spending hours trudging round getting Christmas presents for DH's family, all things they had suggested, I received from them...windchimes. Must have been in the bargain box when they left the garden centre. I never bothered again with buying presents. It's vouchers all round.

My elderly aunt used to stay with us dinner and two overnights in the Christmas holidays. She'd always bring lovely wrapped presents and cards for us, the kids loved her (and her presents!). Of course we knew it was always her DD that did the purchasing wrapping, etc.

One year I received a box with a rabbit, lube and a few other "accessories". Managed to put them away quickly, of course Auntie was not aware. Obviously some kind of total mix up. My gift was gone to someone else! Cousin told me she didn't need my stuff back, so got to keep it :)

I did some work for a lady once. Her last name was Payne.

In our locality she was known to get blood out of a stone . "She is such a Pain" etc - those sort of jokes abounded. Her husband had just died and she inherited the farm. She phoned to ask for some advice to enable her to sort the farm finances out. Because she had no money (it was held in trust) I said I trusted her to pay me as soon as she could. We arranged a meeting. A couple of days later, she came in to see me took off her scarf, putting it down on the table with a small canvas bag. We spent about three hours going over invoices, bank statements and legal agreements to work out how much liquid cash she would be able to use.

It was about £700k. This was in 1995. That was a lot of money then - equal to 10 detached houses.

As I walked her to her car, she thanked me and said she had left my fee in the bag. It was the most amazing bottle of Blue Nun wine.

A bondage kit over Sunday lunch from ExH granny!!!!!!!!

@Zeal

I did some work for a lady once. Her last name was Payne.

In our locality she was known to get blood out of a stone . "She is such a Pain" etc - those sort of jokes abounded. Her husband had just died and she inherited the farm. She phoned to ask for some advice to enable her to sort the farm finances out. Because she had no money (it was held in trust) I said I trusted her to pay me as soon as she could. We arranged a meeting. A couple of days later, she came in to see me took off her scarf, putting it down on the table with a small canvas bag. We spent about three hours going over invoices, bank statements and legal agreements to work out how much liquid cash she would be able to use.

It was about £700k. This was in 1995. That was a lot of money then - equal to 10 detached houses.

As I walked her to her car, she thanked me and said she had left my fee in the bag. It was the most amazing bottle of Blue Nun wine.

CF!

What did you do?!

Ex in-laws: Some dried flowers sprayed gold. I was about 21.

Current in-laws: A family-sized bar of chocolate. I'm anorexic/bulimic and my MIL is well aware of this.

That has really tickled me 🤣