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.

The actual present I had given them the year before, complete with a layer of dust where it had lain, unloved for a year. Ho fucking ho MIL 🤣

XH once bought me a coffee table book about Take That. No idea why but he was spectacularly bad at gift giving throughout our marriage

Why does she think they're posh, they're a budget range in Home Bargains.

My dad was a spectacularly shit gift-giver. He was, neurodiverse, incredibly self-centred and ruthlessly ambitious, an unholy trinity which led to a complete lack of empathy and to him buying presents for us as children which he thought we ought to want as opposed to presents we actually wanted. Sometimes they were so awful it was pure comedy.

For my eighth birthday he bought me a first edition of an 18th century tome by some philosopher. Not only had I not heard of the writer, none of the adult members of my family had either.

He also bought me men's aftershave when I was about 13 because I'd asked for a specific perfume (Giorgio Beverly Hills) and he was too lazy and self-centred to follow instructions so he got me Giorgio Armani aftershave.

He's dead now and he had many good qualities but it still stings that couldn't be arsed to just use his imagination and get something which was at least age and sex appropriate.

My DF freely admits he is shit at both giving and receiving gifts. When I was in my teens I got a selection of very practical gifts from him that I really didn't need or want back then - mini toolkit, rubbish bin for the car, penknife, pack-a-mac etc. Now I'm middle-aged I've ended up digging them all out and using them!

@Thepeopleversuswork is your dad related to my father in law? Twins maybe 🤣🤣

A laptop bag 18 years ago was ripped , I didn't own a laptop.
A money pig that was filthy with an old coin stuck in it.

I actually don't mind a dove set or similar and would rather that that shit that went in the bin

A 'preloved' floral, quilted nylon, housecoat type dressing gown, shoved into a grubby, much used carrier bag, from my mum. She told DH she hadn't got him a present as she knew he didn't like them. We still miss her.

Just remembered another one.

Last year my sister in law bought my husband a bottle of Fahrenheit. Oh he said I used to love this. This must have cost a lot, (60 odd quid when I looked it up).

I looked at it the other day & said to him is that how you spell Fahrenheit ?

She'd actually bought him Farenight - a cheap knock off.

He says I just thought there was something wrong with my nose & that's why it didn't smell right.

It must be a MIL thing! My ex MIL was barking mad anyway, but some of the shit she put my way at Xmas was off the charts. Charity shop slippers in a size 8 (I’m not an 8, not that she asked just used her superpowers to guess..) is one that sticks in the mind. Another good one was a roll of cling film. All her DILs got one that year. Mental. I can still remember being agog at that one. Although at least it was practical I suppose…

A polar bear salt n pepper set
A pair of thick socks with a weird pattern and Pom poms on them dangling down
A Slazenger headband and sweatbands - I get this every year. They must have bought a job lot
A torch that was also a pen
A torch that was also a screwdriver
A key ring with I love Australia on it, with a kangaroo

All from same person. I dread opening their gifts in front of them.

A cheap, flimsy A5 diary from WHSmith (about £5). Yes I did ask for a diary but hoped to get a nicer one than that.

A purple pink and red hand knitted twisted scarf - looked like a piece of large intestine.

3 tins of tuna gift wrapped separately by an elderly aunt who considered it to be a luxury treat.

A white and lurex hand crochet baker boy cap (by the same giver as the intestine scarf).

I used to be friends with a girl who was a private banker whilst I was working for NMW in a bar. She had love bombed the friendship hard at the start and wanted to see me all the time and then gradually started to change, make "jokes" that I was the butt of in front of other people, and criticise everything about me (my clothes, my body, my hobbies, my friends). I thought I must be being oversensitive.

At Christmas, I went to a shop that made handmade luxury bathing products, which I knew she liked, and spent £30 which was almost a day's pay for me at the time.

We met up with a group of friends just before Christmas, I gave her the box of fancy bath bombs and scrubs etc., and she gave me a novelty pen, a pack of novelty post-its and a pin badge. The total value can't have been more than £2 and no thought had gone into it. She gave me a smug smile which left me in no doubt as to what her intention was. She had bought beautiful and well-thought out gifts for her other friends who were there. I was totally humiliated as it was obvious that I was the least favourite friend and looked so silly giving her a lovely gift and receiving that in exchange.

Anything my mum sources: Hurrah for Gin book (I can’t bear unfunny novelty literature), vile M&S jumpers (can’t beat pure polyester), bottles of spirits from low-end supermarkets. I’ve suggested a present amnesty the last few years, just to save the bother of these items being dispatched to charity shops.

My ex boyfriend's mum. I had worked so hard to get from a size 18 to a size 10. She got me an ugly blouse (never worn a blouse in my adult life) in a size 20. Told me that people who lose a lot of weight always put it back on and a bit more so she wanted to make sure I had something to wear. Even if she had been right it was like she thought I would go to bed a 10, wake up a 20 and none of my clothes would fit. Could have been worse though, that was the year she sat in front of all of us and told her other sons wife that she hated her guts so didn't see why she should spend money on her so she was getting nothing. That was a fun Christmas.

Small wicker fruit bowl. I was 15.

A 10 year old sponge bag from M and S.

Two champagne glasses that were engraved and so clearly freebies given at a works do.

A single pair of pants.

Both from my mother who gave lovely, generous gifts to literally everyone else. For example the year I got the pants my brothers girlfriend got the same pants I got plus matching bra, camisole, nightie and dressing gown.

Toys for the dogs. Wrapped up and addressed to me… Oh and another year, a multi pack of knickers from a creepy, overbearing neighbour when I was 13.

A bottle of salad cream! Yes, really.

It looked like it was from the Queens Jubilee as it said "salad queen" on it. But it had already expired so wasn't even usable!

The person who bought it (sent to me by post) told me to open it last, as if it was going to be some big surprise. When I did open it, we all just sat there in bewilderment. I'm assuming the giver thought it was some sort of joke, but I really can't figure out what the punchline was meant to be! I did ask later but they just laughed and changed the subject 😕

That wins !!!
😂😂😂😂

A laptop, sounds nice in theory but hear me out.

My previous laptop (used as family computer) was on it's way to become outdated, but still working and I we didn't really have the money to replace at that time. DH, who new I was saving for a new one decides he is going to get me one for Xmas, but leaves it way to later and it doesn't arrive on time. No biggie, most people would get a token box of chocolate to open and explain the delay. Not him, he has nothing to give, which I didn't actually mind that much until assumed I was going be upset, so go pre-emptively defensive and sulked all morning. It was such an awful atmosphere I ended up taking the DC to my mums and leaving him at home.

Better still, when it did arrive it was a cheep notebook with lower specs then the one I already had. It could also only be returned for store credit, so the only way to not waste the £100 he'd spent on it was for me to fork out another £500, to upgrade it to something we'd actually use. (I would have paid it anyway, but in about 6 months when I could do so more comfortably).

So yay, I got a god awful day, followed by the obligation to spend money I didn't really have on something that I use least out of the whole family.

Earrings from an ex bf. I don’t have pierced ears.

Large framed picture of Warwick Castle.

I promise Warwick Castle doesn’t mean any more to me than any other random person reading this.

a tyre for my car
it was the wrong size