What's the worst present you got for your parents as a child?

[dinglefeckingscarecrow]

I was about 8 or 9 and my mother asked for something for the house as a Christmas present.

I hoofed it to Woolys after school, and proudly bought her a shiny new.........

......dustpan and brush

I remember my uncle practically pissing himself when my mum opened it on Christmas day.

Please tell me I'm not the only one.

I got my mum a framed picture of Mark Hughes once because I knew she fancied him.

I mean what 40 year old woman doesn't want an action shot of her favourite footballer on her bedroom wall?

A reverse here (twice).

My mother asked what I'd like for a fourteenth birthday present and I asked for a black handbag. I got a brown one and will never forget that.

Before my twenty-first birthday (when I would become eligible to vote which shows how long ago it was), I said well in advance that I really did not want a watch. What did I get? A watch!

quietbat That's lovely! It is.

I once overheard my mum telling my dad she needed a new bra, so I promptly went to the local department store and bought one for her. Had absolutely no idea what size she was and just bought the one I thought was prettiest and that I could afford. It was actually a 32A and my mum was of very ample proportions. Bless her, she appeared to be "delighted" when she opened it!

Not me but last chrismas ds (then aged 4) went into the 'secrets room' at his cousin's school Christmas fair, with his older boy cousin who helped him chose a lovely present for me. It was beautifully wrapped and when I opened it it was... A set of cuff links and a tie pin!of course I pretended to love them but unfortunately don't have anything I'd need cuff links for of course so I just had to wear the tie pin as a sort of brooch! At some point he must have twigged it was a men's gift really as he regifted to them to DH on Father's Day! Kudos to him for remembering them though.

I bought my mum at least one frying pan. One for her birthday, and then I think maybe again several years later as a souvenir of Woolworths Ramsgate. In my defence, we're talking 45 years ago. Mothers were different then ….!

For my Mum, Devon Violets perfume. Yes really. Every Xmas for about 4 years when I progressed to 'Panache'. Heavens above...

This year my DS bought me something cheap for the kitchen. it was at my request but a month later I broke it so back to square one. Wonder if he will think of buying another one for Christmas?

This thread has triggered my first ever post!

When I was around 8 mothers day was approaching and I remembered my mum had said she found looking at fish tanks really relaxing. I came up with a cunning plan to buy her her very own fish tank.....except I couldn't afford it on my £1 a week pocket money. My best friend at the time was struggling with her mums gift and she suggested that we club together to buy a fish tank. No, we didn't have the same mother, and we lived 3 roads apart....... so of course the perfect solution was to TIME SHARE the fish tank between our mothers! genius! So we pooled our money and got a fish tank the size of a shoe box and 2 gold fish with our £8.37. Every 3 days we had to bag the fish, empty the tank and move it on a skate board across 3 roads and try not to break the tank or kill the fish. After 6 weeks or so the wheel fell off my skateboard and Julie Williams got to keep the fish as my mother refused to carry on with my crazy shenanigans.

Another one, I bought my nan some of those horrid fruit slice jellys and some lavender soap for xmas the same year. Of course wrapped them well in a single parcel and my poor nan forced herself to eat the soapy tasting revolting fruit slice jellys :(

Timeshare goldfish! Gee-nee-us! Lol. Laughing so much at this thread!

I also did the homemade perfume with rose petals and potpourri (ah the 80's). For my day I dutifully bought him a bottle of brut aftershave or old spice for birthday and Xmas for YEARS!

Oh I am crying and laughing here. I love the fish tank time share. So far I have had good gifts as DH has been the guiding hand in choices...part from the year he forgot and I received a microwaveable fluffy giraffe thing to take to bed. Which would have been great except it was for a child so is tiny.

This year for Father's Day, I encouraged the purchased of a mahoosive waterpistol....as Father's Day was about being a father so he could play with them. Didn't quite match up to the tickets I received for a Muse concert.

outs self to sisters One year my mum got my dad an antique wing chair for Xmas. He got her a packet of radox bath salts...

I always used to shoplift something nice for Mum but choose something as crap as possible for Dad so as he wouldn't get the wrong idea.

I remember giving (and have recently received myself) a long green box, devoid of cellophane and full of tiny envelopes smelling of dark chocolate and wafer thin mints....

As a teen I popped in to Woollies on the way home from school every friday until I had purchased a whole tea set piece by piece for my Mum. It was truly awful: white porcelain with a scarlet rim on every cup, saucer, plate etc. It cost me my allowance for months. With four children giving her terrible gifts for so many years she did have the patience of a saint but not that time. Completely flipped and the whole lot ended up in the dustbin. With hindsight I don't blame her but I fully intend to keep smiling and accepting from my kids whatever they bring because no child shoudl feel quite as miserable as I did that day.

With four children giving her terrible gifts for so many years she did have the patience of a saint but not that time.

Aw momb. :( I feel so sad for all the little MNers who had their presents rejected. Surely people don't actually expect their kids to be able to gauge an adult's taste?

My brother and I made a Blue Peter gift for my Mum. It was to be scented bathsalts - you needed white bathsalts, a pretty jar, scented colouring gel, all tied up with a lovely bow. We lived in the deepest rural Ireland of the 70s, where nothing of this type of thing was available, so what Mum received was an old jam jar half filled with Daz washing powder that had been coloured a violent fuschia colour with cochineal food colouring! She pretended to be thrilled!!

Packets of crisps enough times until it was gently pointed out how mind bendingly stingy that was.

Bought my grandparents a matching set of plastic tubs that were specially designed to keep your false teeth in...

Many years later, Ds bought the same set of grandparents (his great grandparents) a large bag of pan scourers.

We are great gift givers in our family.

A calorie counting book

I love this thread so much! I got less than 10p a week pocket money until I was 8 so most of my presents to parents were handmade or super cheap (think painted toilet rolls, 5p knitted egg-warmer from the school Xmas fayre etc). The sweetest thing is that up until VERY recently (I'm mid-30's now) my dad still used the tin can with a piece of fabric glued to it (pen holder) in his office.
Now that I'm a parent I just remind myself that anything my kids give me is all they have to give and they have chosen to give it to me. Then it is easy to show delight when receiving it, even if it is just a stick... Which it often is