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?

An umbrella. From my wealthy MIL. Difficult to be full of thanks when opening it. Another year ; a mascara. An expensive enough one, but still …

My auntie gave me two pairs of Dora socks for my newborn DD. Aged 18-23 months. With a big orange Sale sticker on them. She has plenty of money …

A pack of blank cassette tapes for Xmas when I was 11 or 12. I was gutted!! Cringe looking back on it because I got a good telling off for being an ungrateful brat, which I was 😂

2 Chickens, live ones to keep as pets for a wedding present.

As a gift after I had my ds my MIL gave me some old (and I mean old, they were falling to pieces) crusty towels she’d stolen from a hotel donkeys years ago and a bathroom set of liquid soap dispenser and soap dish both of which had old grey soap scum on them.

@WheresYourSnickers @Slothkin
It would have been gratefully received, it certainly not what I would ask for! Not to mention DP has a similar one which we share by switching heads. The fact is they’re quite well off and we’re not, so their gifts are my little bit of luxury each year!

Just last week I got a thank you card from MiL, we haven't spoken for a few years.
It had a poem in it about how skint she was but and all she could give me was this poem and a piece of string.
There was a tiny piece of string in the card .
She gave me a rubber verruca swim sock for my 30th and a very long, high necked long sleeved nightie once for Christmas. The thinking behind that was DH wouldn't want to have sex with me if I wore it.
Did I mention we don't speak?

A letter written in blood.

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading all of these. I needed cheering up today and this has certainly done the trick.
An ex boyfriends mother bought me three pairs of size 18/20 knickers for Christmas, I was a size 12. Strange as she had recently bought me a knock off DKNY top from her holiday in Turkey which was absolutely tiny, child size in fact.
Another boyfriend’s Grandmother bought me a shoulder bag made from a stuffed toy dog. I’d have loved it if I was 6, I was about 22. When I unzipped it there was a five pound note inside. She was a lovely lady and extremely kind to me. She passed away not long after and now I can’t bring myself to throw it out as she looked so excited when she presented it to me.

@Yellownotblue

A letter written in blood.

We're going to need some more details..

An older friend gave me a second hand dress one birthday with the words “it was too big for me so I thought it might fit you.” The dress in question was grey (the very worst colour for my complexion - death warmed up) and of a style that could never have been fashionable . I was around size 14 and this monstrosity must have been around size 28. 😲 I was amazed that a local charity shop accepted it.

Cracked Nipple cream and Cellulite cream. I had neither. Was also both out of date by years !!!

A set of 3 ‘hatbox’ cardboard storage tubs, knowingly been on relatives window sill for a good 15 years. Smelt very old, now in garage with nails in. Prior to that a bag of pasta shapes. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

A book on how to rid yourself of cellulite - from a good friend for my 40th birthday.
My body has many issues but cellulite is not one of them.

My mil on our first Xmas together gave me, dh and his brother a stocking each. Mine had paper napkins, chocolate coins and we all got a glow in the dark whistle and wind up robot. She's a great gift giver now, always say bubble bath or slippers if she asks and no complaints.
For my husband's 40th she got him a 16 piece dinner set from asda, some tea towels and a lint roller

One Xmas my aunty gave me choc liquors that were a year out of date, which I only realised once I bit into one,and some size 16 when I was 11

Some "onion glasses" from my mother in law. Extremely strange!

i was a big teenager.
6ft by age 12 with size adult 11 feet and dd/e cup boobs

for my 12th Christmas i got from a distant 3rd aunt ive never met.
trousers with a 25 inch leg and 28 waist, i was(and still)a 36 leg and at the time a 34
size 2-3 slippers. i was an adult 11(now a 12) and a 32aa bra ,i was a 38E at the time

most pointless gifts ever. she clearly didnt know me

I've just remembered another one.

I was 17 and spending Christmas with my then boyfriends family. His mother cheerfully presented me with a present to unwrap there and then infront of the family. It was a tin of mints shaped like penises

Both he and his mother turned out to be nutters, unsurprisingly.

My mam once gave me a box of cat food for Xmas, for the cat obviously but wrapped up with a little bow and my name on the label. I also got two bottles of frizz ease shampoo. Thanks mam

My mum was living with us whilst she moved house around Easter so when I got husband and daughter an egg I got her one as well (a nice one). Next time she went to the supermarket she proudly presented me with - 2 avocados “as I knew you wouldn’t want an egg. Err ok, but that’s not the point, even if I didn’t want into could have shared it with the rest of the family.

DH proudly presented me with a Bi-Orb fish tank one birthday. Complete with lamp, decorations and two little fish in a plastic bag waiting to go into their new home.

Only he knows that I hate fish. I don't eat them, don't swim in the sea as I'm so freaked out by them. They're bordering on a phobia tbh. He nearly was chopped into tiny bits and fed to said fish. I was open mouthed with shock all day. And honestly didn't know whether to laugh, cry or scream.

I should have known that my sister was the one who'd suggested it to him. One of the many reasons that we're now NC.............

A wheelbarrow.

In fairness I was saying for ages that I'd love one. There it was outside the back door,the morning of my 33rd birthday,complete with squirrel ornament sitting in it

The best one I ever read on one of these threads was the woman whose partner got her a pork pie for her birthday. He’d forgotten to get her something so popped to thr butchers and came back and presented her with a pork pie resplendent in its grease proof paper.

Still makes me laugh when I think about it. 😂

The first Christmas after I split with an ex that I lived with, and moved into a new home at the mere age of 24, my uptight mother family gave me sheets. They were yellow, which was bad enough as I hate yellow and had been redecorating the flat to not be yellow, which they knew, but also they were for a single bed.

I'm not sure whether it was assumed I'd never sleep with another person again, or a passive aggressive hint that I shouldn't.

For my 21st, my partner told everyone I was obsessed with cats and to get me cat things. I had and have a cat. I like all animals. But not enough to get everything with a picture of a cat on.

@Cocolapew, it was from my boyfriend at the time, and the blood was his own (I hope!). He turned out to be very weird in many ways. I dumped him shortly thereafter.