What is the worst Christmas present you have received?

[KookyGreenHelper]

I will start. Every year a certain family member gets me bath bombs. I cannot use them as i am alergic to them. I have suggested things i would prefer every year like chocolates or a good bottle of wine. This family member always fails to listen. I am fed up of pretending to be greatful.

I know, he is very caring but he has no idea how to spoil me or think of a little luxury without major prompting. Still, I wouldn't swap him for the world and felt a bit mean posting that!

My grandparents used to use sterilised milk in theirs, which they bought when my grandpa retired in the 1970s so they no longer had to get up early in the mornings.

I think Teasmades are over-complicated - you could just keep a small travel kettle by your bed and make yourself a tea/coffee if you wanted one before you got out of bed.

A book from my religious grandmother titled “what I cannot tell my mother is not fit for me to know” which I attempted to read, though I knew it was going to be awful (and it was. It’s still the only book that has given me stomach ache, 20+ years later). I quietly put it in the charity shop pile once I was certain she’d forgotten about giving it to me.
And a pink battery powered shaver when I was about 10… from my parents. So fucking cringe!

"Save money on an expensive 'Teasmade' by simply moving your bed into your kitchen."

Sethera as a soon to retire person who enjoys a cup of tea in bed, thank you. I am going to put a little kettle and some teabags in the bedroom - and one of those mini fridges you can buy now. I don't know why I hadn't thought of it before.

You don’t really need a fridge in your room. I pour some milk into a small thermal cup and stick it in the fridge for a couple of hours and then take it up at bedtime and it’s lovely and fresh in the morning.

Enjoy 😊

An awful kitchen clock one year from my awful ex SIL and another year from the same SIL a £5 gift voucher which had her DDs name on it (obviously regifted to me)!!!

About 15 years ago my husband bought me an apple mac book for Christmas. He had been talking about how amazing they were for months and I kept saying that they would be no use for me as it wasn't compatible with windows, at the time and I only used a laptop for work.
I opened it, and he had already set it up. When I said thanks but I couldn't really use it he said that's ok he would have it.!

That should really say your ex-husband! What a selfish thing to do.

Sounds perfect - I'm very envious! Enjoy your cosy morning cuppa!

At one of my first workplaces (a major high street bank) someone tried to 'send me a message' by getting me some joke body spray called 'you stink'.

At the time I had a health problem that caused it and the entire workplace knew about it, but there was a massive bullying culture and when I burst into tears everyone laughed.

It was traumatic at the time but the experienced pushed me toward my current career so was probaby worth it.

OMG, what an awful thing to happen!

I'm so sorry you went through that, but you are well shot of that place and those colleagues.

A size 22 Disney onesie - I’m a size 10 adult fgs
one of my children was given a dog toy stocking from pets at home one year 🤣

Second hand bar of soap. It was an animal one from the body shop. It had been used so much it was distorted and still had dried white foam
on it. This was from a child in the school I was working in.

Have you really kept them all these years?

He is very anti-throwing things away / donating them so I felt obliged to keep them!

Wow, would he really know if you threw away something he gave you decades ago? I wonder whether he's passed that trait on to you!

I'm his inhouse carer.

My ex once went in an an about my gift being something I could wear, something I'd be really pleased with, something he was sure I'd love etc etc for weeks before Christmas. There's me thinking jewellery, maybe even an engagement ring.....it was a Walkman!

Rather than a fridge, one of these dinky thermoses might do the job https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08DFTHW8P/ref=sspa_mw_detail_0? - I looked at them wondering what they'd be used for and lots of people said milk!

My worst was a secret Santa gift. It was a single ticket to a metal band. I am a pop gal. I like Kylie, I like Steps! I didn't get it at all and it felt mean. Apparently it was meant as an in joke based on something I'd said quite a lot at work, but the thing I'd said was related to some unnecessary and ongoing stress on the project. Such a waste of money.

My best friend gave me an ashtray about ten years ago. It was in the shape of about 20 different sized skulls, and I think she thought it was quite trendy and goth-y. The ashtray was plastic. And I stopped smoking 25 years ago. 😳

I spent 17-21 in the RAF, I have done more than enough ironing to a very high standard to last a lifetime, you do you but my ex should have known better.

PollyValente · 22/11/2024 16:54

Nothing at all. Likewise for my birthday. Presents for me aren't a thing any more.

@PollyValente coming in late to the thread to say I'm so sorry to read this. I hope you spoil yourself rotten on your birthday and every other possible occasion!

No reflection on you@Spriterat, but could this have been something the child had done on their own, in desperation? Maybe all the other kids were mouthing off about presents for you but this kid knew their family couldn’t afford it, or had a mean mum who could afford it but just wouldn’t, no matter how humiliating that was for her child? My mother delighted in that sort of behaviour.

A bright red jumper, from my then boyfriend. Why? Because I walked passed it in the shop and felt the material as I do when I walk passed things. It was hideous and got returned.