Time for a worst/most bizarre Christmas present thread

[pinkksugarmouse]

Ex DH and I separated on good terms and the first Christmas exchanged gifts in front of our 12yr old DDD.To show we were friends. He got me 2 lush bath bombs. Now I have life long Rheumatoid Arthritis and haven't been able to use a bath since I was a child. We'd been married for 14yrs. We'd lived in a place with a walk in shower due to my arthritis. I wasn't upset just baffled.

Yes. Fusty, OR foisty. They are both correct. Foisty is used more in Scotland.

I also remember (1970s and 1980s,) receiving notelets, address books, bath salts, Terrys Chocolate Orange, a bottle of Cinzano Bianco, tins of perfumed talc, and pairs of American Tan, or Ecru tights! And record tokens and book tokens.

And of course, I would also got an annual. Blue Jeans, Jackie, or Mandy, (as a teenager,) or Twinkle or Rupert (when I was much younger...) I also got a Charlie's Angels annual, a John Travolta annual, and an Abba annual in the mid-late 1970s. I loved them so much. (Still have them, in the attic!)

Also, one Christmas (when I was about 14,) I got seven, yes, SEVEN make up kits, like the ones pictured. (From various aunties and older cousins and a couple of neighbours...) So weird. All came at once. (That one Christmas when I was 14.) I kept 3 of them and used the other 4 for re-gifting.

Oh, and I got Enid Blyton books too most Christmases. Maybe 7 or 8 books of hers, over 8-10 years. I loved reading her books when I was a child.

Also, I remember (when I was late teens/closer to 20,) getting bottles of perfume. Gloria Vanderbilt, and Charlie and Anais Anais.... Ah, so many fond memories.

.

I had many dreadful presents from my late in-laws (not missed).
A bottle of Poison perfume
A chevron striped head scarf
A cream satin set of french knickers and camisole (really creeped me out)
I was in my early twenties and they were definitely all regifted.
The old mare had a room full with dates on and the givers name.
Hated them so didn't care haha.

My exH was a terrible gift giver. In no particular order he bought me:
A cafetière (I didn’t drink filter coffee back then)
Series 3 of Friends on VHS because the one shop he bothered to go into didn’t have series 1 or 2… That was the year he spent all the money I’d saved up to buy a TV on a laptop for himself
The best though was a pair of those weightlifters baggy pants from the 90’s as he had a pair (the only weight he ever lifted was a pint…) and I said I liked them - on him! On me they looked ridiculous!

Another ex bought me a bread maker and an iron one Christmas. We split up not long after…

And back to the 70’s bottom drawer gifts… talc! So. Much. Talc!

My current DH’s brother bought him a small cheese bowl one year. It didn’t even have the cheese still in it! My brother got a flan tin for his birthday once off a friend of his. Does anyone even make flan anymore?

And bath cubes that left a gritty layer on the bottom of the bath, @BronwenFrideswide - free exfoliation for your bum!

@BronwenFrideswide

I recall the bath pearl things where the outer shell didn't dissolve properly in the bath and floated around then stuck itself to the side or bottom of the bath like superglue when the water was let out! Fond memories.

OMG. 😂 I remember that. Now THAT has made some old 1970s Christmas memories resurface. It was a pinky purple colour IIRC. Also bath salts. Legend had it that if you got bath salts as a gift, that the person didn't like you much. (In my world anyway!) They were very cheap to buy! 😆

Oh yeah, they were gritty and gravelly those bath salts. 😆

Foosty

I assumed it was a typo for cruet set.

Well then, this is your answer. He's just a bit clueless. You figured it out all on your own!

Well then, this is your answer. He's just a bit clueless. You figured it out all on your own!

My elderly mother sends me a cheque for Christmas and this can work well saving her the trouble of buying and posting presents but I have had them with the wrong year written on them, not signed, but my personal favourite was the one made out in my maiden name after I had been married over 40 years. She is so embarrassed when she gets it wrong and it becomes a nightmare of indecision for me, should I tell her and upset her or forgo the cash?

As we are staggering down Christmas memory lane - walnut whips- what did you do with the nut at the bottom?

One year I bought my boyfriend some aftershave and gold eyebrow bar.

In return, he gave me £10 in a card.

Then, he had a go at me for making him look bad.

A bottle of non-alcoholic wine from MIL that expired two years previously

I do, Im 52.
Padded hangers and a lavender scented draw liners from a Great Aunt when I was 10.

My elderly mum always asks me for ideas of what I’d like for Christmas & picks things from these suggestions so it’s a surprise. However she insists on choosing a couple of gifts herself and every year there’s an ‘interesting’ choice.
Last Christmas I was given fingerless ‘mermaid’ chrochet gloves. They are an ombré shade of purple, blue and green with gold thread running through them and are far worse in person than the photo.

My mother bought me over the counter herbal sleeping tablets last year

A handheld electronic sudoku game and Sharon Osbourne’s autobiography

That would make more sense 😊

Size 26 pyjamas from my MIL.

I was a size 14-16 and just given birth and was recovering from nearly bleeding to death.

I told her to wear them as she was the one who was the size of a bus not me. She cried. I told her I didn't care. She'd been bullying me for years.

I did burn a few bridges that X-Mas because once I had my kids I started standing up for myself more.

Ex mil gave me a size 18 blouse from Tesco one Christmas when I was a size 12 at the time! Mil was about a size 20 herself so I think she got a present of that blouse and regifted it to me as it didn’t fit her!

My ex mil laughed in my face after I had just given birth saying I still looked pregnant "tinkly laugh" my hard stare at her large stomach didn't go unnoticed and she did look embarrassed her husband said to her you deserved that he then refused to drive her home immediately because he wanted to see the baby she sulked in the café until he was ready

She could be quite mean and immature

Ooo when I was about 14 I got a bottle of knock perfume from a great aunt

It smelt like goats piss

Everytime I went round she asked if I wore it to school

What’s knock perfume when it’s at home?

@DaxieTaxi
DD made me a flan for my birthday this year! I had a sudden, strong hankering for one, and described it for her. She ordered the right pan(!) and surprised me.

Just remembered the birthday when exH bought me a bottle of his mother's signature perfume.