What is the worst Christmas present you ever received?

[Newdad19]

In the spirit of helping others prevent the same mistakes... what is the worst Christmas present you ever received?

Mines has to be the sculpted hand photo frame I received one year... that looked like someone's decapitated hand that held a photo for you in its palm

Mil likes to give me second hand presents that's she's clearly already been given from previous years. I've had a scarf with no tags on so clearly already worn, crappy soap set that had obviously been opened and was actually dusty and a box of chocolates that when I turned them over to take the plastic wrapper off someone had stuck a Jurassic park shower gel sticker onto it 😂 so I assume it had been given the Christmas before and one of the kids had used it to get rid of their unwanted sticker 😩 and nail varnish as a single bottle but when you look more close it says not to be sold individually so has clearly been part of a pack. I always spend a lot of time and money on her but this year she might be getting her dusty soap kit back tbh x

A towelling dressing gown that had lots of pulled loops, one arm about 5 inches longer than the other, faded colour in some folds and grey water splash marks along the bottom hem- I think from the state of it that it was bought off a market stall (sunlight faded some parts of the fabric,grey water splashes along the bottom)

oddly enough, once given a good wash and nipping off the pulled loops, it was serviceable, and I used it for many years until I had the 'I'm worth it' epiphany, and started using my nice things all the time, ditching anything that was 'just make do'/ugly stuff.

At age 10, a toilet roll cover in the form of a doll with a white crocheted dress.

I hated dolls and was horse mad.

From an Auntie who probably bought it from a Church bazaar.

My 'D'H bought me a set of silver metal plated (that all started to peel off) napkin rings, they were huge and you would of needed massive napkins to fill them and a cruet set that would of looked at home on a set of Downton Abbey

He had delusions of grandeur and thought them 'posh' and expected me to use them on special occasions...to basically impress no one

@OhThatChicken

A six month online subscription to Slimming World. I was overweight but had expressed no interest whatsoever in doing anything about it.

Thanks mum.

Sorry that made me LOL Your “ Thanks, Mum” part.

That was so rude of her though.

From a very lovely lady in her mid 90s - a gifty plastic tube of brazil nuts. Except that the label clearly said chocolate coated brazil nuts and these most definitely did not have chocolate on. Not sure what happened, but given that the tube wasn't sealed and the nuts looked a bit funny, there was a possibility she'd sucked the chocolate from them and put them back . If it was that it wouldn't have been intentional, probably forgot and then came across the pot again when looking for a gift. They went in the bin though.

@TheLightSideOfTheMoon

As a child I got a lot of crafty kits and sticker books and such.

Nice presents. But my control freak parents never let me do them.

The kits they would do for me, I’d have to sit and watch. And the stickers were never allowed to be used, they had to stay in the sticker books.

So basically they were not presents I could use. Disappointing.

That is really sad. The whole point of sticker books is to stick the stickers everywhere! On chairs , on bookcases - as long as it’s in the child’s room. I’m sorry you weren’t allowed to use them. That’s very unfair.

A pair of size 24 leopard print knickers (I am size 12) and a child's size 8 ski jacket

@Rodion

From a very lovely lady in her mid 90s - a gifty plastic tube of brazil nuts. Except that the label clearly said chocolate coated brazil nuts and these most definitely did not have chocolate on. Not sure what happened, but given that the tube wasn't sealed and the nuts looked a bit funny, there was a possibility she'd sucked the chocolate from them and put them back . If it was that it wouldn't have been intentional, probably forgot and then came across the pot again when looking for a gift. They went in the bin though.

Haha!! I bet she’d sucked the chocolate off too!😂

@nonevernotever

If that was the case why wasn't they speak up at the time?!

My poor granny gave me a completely inappropriate present completely by mistake when I was about 13. She knew I liked Roald Dahl (not the children's books, the adult short story ones), and I didn't have my own copies but took them out of the library. So she bought me a "complete set" of four of them, all together in a nice box labelled something like "the best of Roald Dahls' short stories". Fantastic gift, right?

She didn't look at the titles of the individual books though. One was "Switch Bitch", which some people may remember contain highly graphic sexual stories. I won't say I was scarred for life but I remember feeling very puzzled by some of the goings-on in that book.

DH and I don't give each other either Xmas or birthday presents. We thereby avoid all the potential pitfalls. If either of us wants something special we just buy it for ourselves.

A humane rabbit trap.

DH thought this was a perfect present for a rural keen gardener in rabbit-infected country, and still can't understand why I wasn't thrilled

A rape alarm…it was given with good intentions (I think!) but doesn’t really scream festive, does it?!

@2bazookas shoot me down if you will, but I don't understand either! Because it wasn't a classy present, or because you wanted an inhumane trap?!

A Martine McCutcheon book.

@nonevernotever

Lovely DSister noticed, and was mortified. That was also the year though ,that she'd given me a truly wonderful gift. (We'd both gone to a craft workshop earlier in the year and she'd won the raffle prize of a huge box filled with the most amazing embroidery threads, metallic threads, silk threads, beads etc. She'd decided she wouldn't do it justice and wrapped the whole box for me.)

She wrapped it and gave it as a present… something you knew she’d won?

She could have just bloody passed it on to you!

And as for no one noticing you had a tub of sudocteam from your parents whereas she had a mountain of gifts from your parents… is odd!

There have been two.

One, from the best man at my marriage to ExH. It was a set of three T light holders from Sainsburys. Not wrapped just in a small Sainsburys bag.

Two. My lovely step daughter usually chooses something she knows I’ll like … a book she thinks will interest me, some earrings. Not wildly expensive but thoughtful. A couple of years ago I got a small earthenware jib about the size of a tea cup. It was rough hewn, the type of item you’d find in a Greek taverna with oil in it. It was indeed from Greece (so I’m guessing someone gave it to her and she didn’t want it). On the bottom was a little label saying “Not for use with fluids”.

It lives in a cupboard to this day and I’m still completely baffled. So is DH 😂

I asked husband for a nice scented candle - he bought me a glade air wick! I now make a very definitive list!

Not a Christmas present, but once a male colleague gave me a box of tampons. His v young girlfriend had seen the light and ended the relationship. The tampons had been her emergency supply in his car. He no longer had a use for them and so he presented them to me.

For my 16th birthday the only gift my mum got me was a colouring book...

When I was about 20 I received a small pair of decorative clogs from the boyfriend of the moment - he had returned from Holland on Christmas Eve and it was a last moment purchase.

I actually laughed (couldn't help it) and he was very offended

Matching his & her watches,that broke when taken out.
A wine gift set,I'm not a wine fan.
Both from the parent in laws.
One year,I was 16,living on my own,put huge thought and effort in to my brother & sis in laws gifts,they knew this,I got a felt bag with santa on it with chocolate inside.

A copy of the Big Issue as a Secret Santa present. The limit was £10 .

My mums eldest sister once gave her a bunch of plastic carrots 🥕