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Christmas

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Original poster

The worst present you have ever received at Christmas

83 replies

marriedinwhiteisback · 10/10/2013 20:34

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. Sad.

OP posts:
PortBlacksandByBroomstick · 11/10/2013 11:38

A paper advent calendar - opened it on Christmas morning Confused

WhatWouldCaitlinDo · 11/10/2013 12:01

Remote control tanks. Seriously. They shot little BBs and everything.

From the man who is now DH. He did do much better in subsequent Christmases.

psychomum5 · 11/10/2013 12:06

I have mentioned this before on MN, but one year I was given a second hand toiletry bag filled with NHS sanitary towels....from my mother (she is ill, so can be excused) and opened it in front of my in-laws

It is forever mentioned at christmas and is getting quite legend now.

mrsminiverscharlady · 11/10/2013 12:20

DH bought me a pancake mix one year Shock It was a 'luxury' one from a posh retro shop, but still a pancake mix. I left it until it went out of date then threw it away on principle Grin

Sukebind · 11/10/2013 13:44

Last year my PIL gave me a frog house. I think it would have been an OK present (especially as it was a last minute one due to complicated present mix up involving Amazon shopping baskets which almost resulted in me getting 3 hair straighteners) except I loathe frogs. One got stuck in the living room this summer and I thought it was dead and I was physically sick. I was shaking until my husband dragged himself out of bed to investigate. (It wasn't dead.)

My husband's Nana gave me some truly hideous 'knitted-effect' slippers/boots/socks hybrid. I thanked her profusely by letter because they were very well meant. I then took them to the annual present swop at a mum's group I go to (we try to bring a mixture of nice and awful 'less-nice' presents otherwise the game doesn't work) and the poor lady who got them was really fed-up and took them straight to a car boot sale. I felt very guilty and couldn't bring myself to own up as she was my daughter's ballet teacher...

SunshineAndPeardrops · 11/10/2013 13:47

Family secret santa, budget of £20 I got:-

Mug from Thorntons with hot chocolate sachet and Marshmallows

Some teaspoons Shock

£20? yeah right.... It was then I realised SIL didn't like me.

I'm still seething about it a year later Angry but it's not as bad as some on here.

Sukebind · 11/10/2013 13:48

WhatWouldCaitlinDo - my Dad has one of those tanks and he loves it! Clearly I can understand you would be less thrilled with one.

TitsMcGee · 11/10/2013 19:48

Ahem, swift nc for this one...

I am a bit of a bookworm, so eagerly unwrapped book-shaped present from now XH, the Christmas our DC were 2yo and 5mo. It was a festive tome, entitled 'The Sex-Starved Marriage' - really got me in the mood, I can tell you Hmm.

It was meant as a 'joke' apparently. Did I mention he is now XH?

HuglessDouglas · 11/10/2013 20:07

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

notagiraffe · 11/10/2013 20:18

Christmas after DTs were born, I'd lost all my baby weight and really wanted a warm but stylish coat as I spent hours outside with DC walking in parks etc. DH got me a poo-brown granny coat about 4 sizes too big. I tried really hard not to be upset but I cried. It was really expensive and he returned it but refused to let me have equivalent money to buy a new coat. (Maybe he'd got it from a discount place.)

Upandover · 11/10/2013 21:04

Marks and Spencer's chocolates marked as a free gift on the label ... A good few months out if date from my lovely step brother Grin

Upandover · 11/10/2013 21:08

Oh and a charity goat when I was about 12 from a aunt

nickdrakeslovechild · 11/10/2013 21:45

I have 2, the first was a toilet brush and holder with the holder being a ceramic baby on a potty. And an really tight ex once got his sister to make me a hamper with some stuff she had in the house so I got a dusty basket badly wrapped in cling film with some dried up cracked soap in and half used bath salt cubes. My lovely DP got me an Ipad this year so my pick of men has got better thank god!

AnnaBegins · 11/10/2013 21:49

2kids, my DH just got me one of those car cameras for my birthday. I did want one but he wanted one more and it was not present material! Was my main present too :(

marssparklesdownonme · 11/10/2013 22:01

DH gave me a computer printer a couple of years ago. He couldn't understand why I was so upset. It was for his benefit, not mine.

FiveHoursSleep · 11/10/2013 22:17

A smoking baby ornament. From SIL. I hate smoking and I'd just had a baby. Hmmm.

RueDeWakening · 11/10/2013 22:29

My uncle is a legend in our family. Everyone came to ours for Christmas when I was younger. His main gift to my mum one year? A sack of potatoes. That he intended to eat while staying for fricking ever that Christmas :o

My worst present recently has been a pair of 2nd hand old lady slippers, 2 sizes too small. From DH's granny. Yes, they were hers but she'd been given some new ones...

2kidsintow · 13/10/2013 17:22

Nope, Anna , def not present material.

Shodawnofthedead · 13/10/2013 17:48

DH, on our first Christmas together, bought a selection of gifts from a catalogue company- not quite Ann Summers, but not far off.

One item was a white all-in-one sort of... body thingy. It had four thin strips of material coming from the neck (two for the front, two for the back), joining at the waist, then two slightly broader strips of material (one front and back) which joined in a wide Velcro strip at the crotch. (Nicely placed to snag hairs, obvs)

Apparently he thought it would be useful for me to wear while doing karate training...

dingit · 13/10/2013 17:52

Not me, but my best friend got one of those ceramic chickens that you keep your eggs in. It cost her dh £100. If it had been my dh he would have been off to a&e to have it removed from certain parts of his anatomy.

hearthwitch · 13/10/2013 18:07

my mother who I'm now nc with was really bad at presents. the best was the year when my twin got a set of matched luggage and I got a pile of second hand skirts from the charity shop wrapped in a black bin bag. but apparently she had spent the same on us both. Confused

babyseal · 13/10/2013 18:17

One packet of deep frozen onion bhajis, the one packet bit being important, as it had "Buy one Get One Free" emblazoned over it. Hmm They were from my ex-ils, and it smarted particularly as their other dil got a vaseful of twiggy shit.Grin

DontMentionThePrunes · 13/10/2013 18:24

A 4-plug adaptor socket thing. Big whoop!

SarahFx · 13/10/2013 18:25

My MIL is legendary for her crap presents. She's not so bad at mine, I generally get some trinket from Accessorise but her son's are embarrassing.

The best one was a Fruit Bosket (that's not a typo) which was a wicker fruit basket imported from Romania, manufactured in 1977 ( it said on the box) which she'd picked up from a flea market. It came complete with a large muddy footprint on the front. Another year I suggested a new dressing gown. Perhaps from the White Company.
She bought him a hideous waffle number from Asda with the £4 reduced sticker still attached.

I'd rather she bought him nothing as she upsets him every Christmas with her shit gifts but rings up weeks in advance to ask what we are going to buy her! I normally suggest a flick of the V's when she rings to enquire.

sadeyedladyofthelowlandsea · 13/10/2013 18:35

My birthday's three days before Christmas, so I'm going to pretend my 18th birthday present from my then boyfriend was a Christmas present.

A single white candle - the type that is sold as a 'household candle' in a red box, for use in power cuts.

Three gurning ceramic frogs, about an inch high, with wibbly wobbly eyes, one of them clutching a key that had '18!' stamped across it.

A ceramic money box, in the shape of a treasure chest with a teddy bear lying on top of it.

It was a very good thing he was away in Costa Rica for four months at the time. Within thirty seconds of opening it, I decided he was regulated to 'ex' status.