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

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

What was the shittest present you ever received?

850 replies

BrightonOrLancaster · 11/12/2021 22:52

Christmas I was 13, got a lacy training bra from an aunt I wasnt close to. WTF? I had to open it in front of family, was fucking mortified.

Birthday present from ex: dumbbells with flashing colour changing lights from ALDI. Lol. No comment

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
herewegoOVERANDOVERagain · 12/12/2021 07:57

My BIL bought his wife a bread board for her 40th.

They're now divorced

babouchette · 12/12/2021 07:59

MIL once gave me two boxes of supermarket herbal teabags, each separately wrapped.

Happytodayhappytomorrow · 12/12/2021 08:00

@Darkpheonix

On the other side, the worst gift I have given was when I was about 6.

Mum and dad had split up so my Auntie arranged her Christmas present from us. She asked me if mum had said she needed anything. I remembered she needed a new whisk. So my auntie got her that 🙈

As I got older I made sure I always got her a really thoughtful gift as I always felt so bad about it 🤣

She passed away just over a week ago. I found the whisk, completely, knackered in a drawer. Over 30 years later. I bet she has kept some of the more 'thoughtful' gifts I gave her. It made me laugh and cry and the same time 🤦‍♀️

Sending you condolences Darkpheonix. I hope that, in time, more memories like the whisk one will over power your grief.
linnyb71 · 12/12/2021 08:01

Oh and tbat same Christmas my daughter was given a bottle of perfume that had been given to my daughter in law by her own sister and she had used a bit out of it and decided she didnt like it.All this she openly admitted when my daughtet unwrapped it.was very hurtful to both of us
We could not understand it.It was saying to me how little they cared about us..There were many other incidents and was weird because we got on well .I just hope one day he will come and see us again.I have tried contacting him on his birthday .no reply.i told him i loved him and my door was always open to him.

Darkpheonix · 12/12/2021 08:05

Thank you @Happytodayhappytomorrow

user68901 · 12/12/2021 08:06

My brother was about 10 when he received a book on funghi from my aunt. She did have form so we had a good laugh.

cptartapp · 12/12/2021 08:08

A plastic lazy Susan from Home Bargains and six bags of Cheddars from SIL/BIL. BIL then ate the cheddars.
Pan scrubs from MIL.

TamarilloTrifle · 12/12/2021 08:15

XH got me a book about the uses of vinegar. We were still happily married at the time. Looking back I should have taken the hint.

SquashedSquashes · 12/12/2021 08:16

MIL gave me some beauty face masks one year. I found this pretty thoughtless and low-effort, but also didn’t want to be ungrateful.

In the middle of thanking her, she breezily said “oh yes, we got the same gift for our cleaner”.

Good to know where I fit in Hmm

Whattheduck · 12/12/2021 08:16

My mil always gives rubbish gifts one year she gave me a takeaway container with a selection of quality street chocolates in that she had obviously taken out of a box or a tin.
Another year she gave me non alcoholic wine as every other Sunday she would come to us for dinner and I’d open a bottle of wine she thought I drank too much (I would have a glass with my dinner and so would she) so wanted me to try a non alcoholic version.

DickMabutt73962 · 12/12/2021 08:19

I'm drinking a large cup of coffee and every time I read one of these I have to put it down because my hand starts shaking from laughter 😂

I honestly rather no present at all that something thoughtless, it'll only end up in the bin. Like all of the chocolate I constantly receive from close friends who know I don't like chocolate, plus I have dairy intolerance Hmm

TankFlyBoss · 12/12/2021 08:21

During a particularly difficult financial year my stepmother gave me a carluccios gift set of pasta and sauce. Basically what we had eaten all year.

SydneyCarton · 12/12/2021 08:24

My aunt once gifted me and my two sisters a pair of knickers each from an M&S three pack

Moneypenny007 · 12/12/2021 08:26

Granny bought me clothes from Evans , possibly around the time I was pregnant. All sizes 18-20 .... I was size 10-12 at best even with the bump! The woman in the shop thought it very funny when I went to return them.

My in laws knew I loved cats... so bought me a robotic purring cat one year, it was creepy as f*.

Lockdownbear · 12/12/2021 08:27

@OwlinaTree

Tube of Pringles?! Does she vary the flavour?

I got a roll of cling film in a dispenser one year. Tbf I do still use it.

Would that be the cling film dispenser that only takes 300mm wide rolls from lakeland when most are 350mm wide?

A window cleaning gadget is probably my all time low, except I'd already bought one of the useless things.

DickMabutt73962 · 12/12/2021 08:27

Not mine but one from a friend. She'd spent Christmas with her partner's family and his grandmother had given each grandchild a kitchen utensil, like a spatula or spoon. Became very clear that it was all from one set, and she'd just split up the items.

Friend mused that grandma must have imagined a day when all the family would come together to cook a meal, united by their separate utensils that would make them whole again and save the day. That gave it a wholesome spin 😂

tangyandsalty · 12/12/2021 08:29

In laws used to have regular parties at their house and people used to bring bottles of wine etc but in laws didn't drink much themselves so there was a cupboard full of surplus wine gathering dust. I spotted a bottle of my favourite wine and mentioned it thinking they might offer it to me - they did give it to me, but for Christmas six months later.

DickMabutt73962 · 12/12/2021 08:30

@SpindlesAdventWhirl

My mother would often buy me something she wanted herself, wrap it, and then after I'd opened it take it back saying that it was 'too good' for me.

As we only got one present and a few sweets and orange/walnut, this was a bit of a blow.

But what teenager really needs a carriage clock for their mantlepiece?

Confused was your mother an overall horrible person?
BrightonOrLancaster · 12/12/2021 08:30

@Moneypenny007
My in laws knew I loved cats... so bought me a robotic purring cat one year, it was creepy as f
😳☺️ I would actually secretly quite enjoy this...

OP posts:
theremustonlybeone · 12/12/2021 08:34

Shampoo for blonde hair, I have auburn.

my DH got his mother a tin opener....that did not go down well

Motheroftigers · 12/12/2021 08:34

I moved in with my dad and step mum when I was 11.

When I opened my presents it was all the stuff I actually needed for school. Alarm clock, travel hair drier, school shoes, pencil case ect..

She also never put any names on the presents so we had to sit there and wait for her to feel each present and hand them out after we had unwrapped the last one in turn.

My two half siblings got normal toys, gifts. My dad had a row with her in the kitchen about it.

DickMabutt73962 · 12/12/2021 08:36

@BelindaBumcrack

After DH and I had got engaged, my paternal grandmother gifted me a plastic spoon rest and a tea towel - for my bottom drawer.

She wasn't a very nice person. My DF was terrified of her. She had zero maternal instincts. She was never like a grandmother at all. Just an unpleasant old lady I was related to.

You must be my cousin Grin
speakout · 12/12/2021 08:36

A toilet seat from my mother. Not a funky one, wasn't a joke present, sje had just noticed the old one was it wobbly.
She has hsitory on this too.
My sister married at 17 against our parents wishes.
Our mother gave a wedding gift pack of an iron, clothes pegs, scouring pads, a scrubbing brush, dish cloths, mop and bucket, bottles of bleach, wash up liquid, an apron. I wa only 10 years old and remember thinking what a shit thing to do.

WhoAre · 12/12/2021 08:36

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

Snowmanuel · 12/12/2021 08:38

My inlaws all give really random gifts. My H isn’t too bad but he’s made some really odd choices on occasion.

Over the years my SIL has given me four doorstops, in various shapes. I’m baffled. I don’t know if I live in a super privileged world of being able to open my doors and them staying open or what, but why would I need multiple doorstops?

My FIL gave me glue that you set with UV. No idea what it’s for, the boat on the packet suggests marine usage.

One year there was some huge and exciting looking parcels under the tree from my husband. Turned out to be individually wrapped saucepans.