The worst present you have ever received at Christmas

[marriedinwhiteisback]

Prompted by the Christmas wish list:

What was your worst Xmas Present
From whom; and
Why

Mine was a knit your own acrylic tank top and a pair of fake patent mule slippers from M&S - I was 24 (a very long time ago)

From my mum

And awful because she is incredibly stylish and it summed up her opinion of me as a mousey, boring, frump. .

[FreeWee]

Every year my aunt gives us a can of deicer. Even my sister who could neither drive nor owned a car Fortunately she can now drive or what would she have done with all that de-icer?

[alliwantis]

Omg this thread is the one that has prompted me to become a proper mumsnet'er and not a lurker! My dad's wife (yep, not comfortable with step mum) has a habit of buying gifts so awful (I don't wish to sound ungrateful) that a new Christmas tradition of ours is to leave their gifts unopened til Boxing Day when we have our best friends over and we open them in front of them so they can 'enjoy' them too. They range from knock off perfume that gives rashes, out of date chocolates to tattered second hand clothes that are truly, truly worn. My worst but best gift was a glass cake plate and knife that came in the most godawful box held together with duct tape but I use all the time for my cakes!

[FreeWee]

Oh I forgot the year my FIL spent more on his dogs' presents than mine I know this because he asked me to go and get some of the presents for them and I knew how much what I asked for cost! Not that I'm materialistic or anything!

[2kidsintow]

I had to struggle not to cry one year due to what DH gave me.
He'd clearly gone 'oh shit, it's Christmas next week' one night and gone to....

Halfords.


I had a car alarm. And a thing that you stick on your visor to put your CDs etc in.
I'd have loved a car CD player, but the alarm made me


He's improved since then - mostly due to the opening of a handy shopping centre nearby, then by him taking to shopping online at amazon etc.


Although last Christmas he did buy me a camera to mount in the windscreen of my car to record my journeys. His own one was his favourite new toy since someone ploughed into him and claimed it was DH's fault.

Still hasn't been fitted though. It was £££ and he's not impressed.

He's already bought me a nice coat this year, so I shall remind him of that when he's thinking of gifts as I'd rather he claimed that as Christmas present that bought me something crap.

[gail734]

Last year my MIL gave me a little heart-shaped trinket box. She had obviously forgotten that I had given it to HER several years earlier! It was half of a set, with a little matching photo frame, which she uses. Also, an ex boyfriend who gave me a Lionel Ritchie CD. Just totally random.

[topbannana]

Well a non present first..... I always wanted a dog, I asked every year, Christmas, birthday etc, a puppy was always there on the top of my list from the age of about 4.
Fast forward to Christmas Eve when I was about 13 and I was trying to trick my parents into telling me what they had got me. My oh so fucking funny wankstain of a father piped up with "you wouldn't believe how hard it was to get that puppy in the box"
I truly believed I was finally going to get one and when I predictably didn't I was absolutely gutted :(
Then there was the year I learnt to windsurf. Christmas Day arrived to find a large flat package on my pile which I deduced could only be a windsurf board. I opened all my other gifts first then nonchalantly turned to the big one, only to discover it was a head board for my bed (that I hadn't even realised I needed)

[SugarHut]

I dated a guy briefly over last Christmas whilst on a break from DP. He gave me a stocking and in the hustle as guests arrived early I lobbed it under the tree to open with other presents when everyone had settled. The bastard did not tell me it was a "saucy" stocking, and I opened what felt like some kind of perfume bottle, I sat in front of everyone holding "Booty Relax Anal Lube." I chucked it behind the sofa quickly, but everyone saw. Including my 78yr old grandmother: "What was that dear??!" "Bodyscrub Nanny!!!" He was killing himself in silent laughter.

[Nicknamegrief]

When I was 11, RSPB membership from my Grandparents.

[2anddone]

Shoelaces from my Aunt in New Zealand. I was 9 years old and they were bright coloured with kiwi birds all over them! They were also the longest shoe laces in the world I couldn't use them as they trailed on the floor!!

[CoconutRing]

My ex-SIL gave me a used M&S £25 gift card. When I tried to purchase a top, the rather embarrassed young lady on the till had to explain that the card had no money on it.

[Flumpyflumps]

An ironing board.
With cover.
Enough said.

[mumtoone1]

A bottle of baileys from my db & sil with a use by date of 2 years previous..

[attheendoftheday]

Coconut that's brilliant! Not for you, obviously, but a genius way of not buying a present for someone.

[RalphGnu]

DP's grandparents brought a present round for us about a month before Christmas so we kept it put away and then under the tree. While trying to find the source of a god-awful smell we realised it was coming from the wrapped gift.

It was a cheeseboard. Camembert, stilton and brie had formed a lovely 'juice' that seeped onto our carpet. I will never forget the smell.

[Whereisegg]

A meat thermometer from fil.
He also bought me luggage scales once despite knowing we couldn't afford a holiday.
There was a tiny part of me that thought he was going to offer some cash for a bargain last minute break somewhere, but no

[buttercrumble]

A box of after eight mints, a £1 scarf which she boasted about how cheap it cost all day and a porcelain jug. All from MIL

[MarjorieAntrobus]

Yup, my late MIL used to give me a box of after eights for Christmas. Such a "non-present" that actually nothing would have been better, I used to think.

[MrsHoratioNelson]

Mine all come from, you've guessed it, MIL.

Placemats with a line drawing of DH's old school on them (yes, they were for me, not him), a god awful gold lamé handbag from Tesco, a chipped bowl retrieved from her loft "to match the kitchen" (wrong shade of green) and a vase and some sort of pot with a lid "to match the bathroom" (we'd just moved in and hadn't decided on the colour scheme). These last two were retrieved from DH's grandma's house when she had died, 9 moths previously .

In relation to her own presents MIL is an odd mix of demanding and ungrateful. I've never heard her actually say thank you for the expensive gifts she had specifically requested. One year, she insisted she wanted a metal detector from FIL and then refused to use it "in case someone saw her"...

[LadyBigtoes]

I would be ok with the after eights! I would rather have something small and edible than things like scarves and vases i dont like - doesn't add to clutter, dont have to asked why if I wear/use it for the next 10 years when I have furtively given it to oxfam, etc.

Worst present ever was an owl made of bread. Not edible bread, it was one of those varnished bread sculptures. Omg, it was hideous. I was a teenager and it was from this bloke my mum was having a post-divorce fling with. Perfect storm of embarrassment.

[LadyMedea]

Tesco value cheese from BiL...

[ArbitraryUsername]

My DH got me absolutely nothing last year. The idiot!

Getting nothing for Christmas is pretty depressing. Luckily (anticipating his cheapness) I took the kids to the shops so that they could choose me presents, which meant that I didn't sit there utterly presentless on Christmas morning (and because I want them to grow up to be decent gift givers). DS1 put lots of thought into his presents and even insisted on paying with money from his own bank account, which was very sweet.

[fancyanother]

My MIL once gave my DH ( her son, obviously) a plate of dried fruits and chocolate covered nuts, two things he has hated since childhood! She got me some quite nice presents!!!

[Indith]

I got a jam pan from MIL once. I can't actually remember if it was for Christmas or birthday.

Jam pan not too bad a present. I don't really make jam but tbf to MIL I do make syrups and cordials and stuff.

However it was accompanied by telling me how she had originally bought it for her stepson's girlfriend but they had split up and she didn't know what else to do with it .

[WhispersOfWickedness]

A rose scented soap/lotion combo when I was a teenager, with the tombola sticker still attached