posted on July 27, 2001 07:59:00 PM
The worst birthday gift I ever received was a
Richard Simmons “Sweatin to the Oldies” video
but I guess the thought was there......
posted on July 27, 2001 08:46:38 PM
My husband thought it would be a wonderful idea to go to dinner in a boat. Problem is, the boat was a dinghy. And here I was, all dressed up in my sunday-going-to-meeting clothes and expecting a ride in a limo or something (he said dress FANCY, so I did). Imagine my surprise when he drove us to the dock, and there was this ratty red-chipped-painted dinghy with water in the bottom all stagnated and him standing there saying "surpirse! this is our chariot!" and beaming with pride.
Like you said..I guess its the thought that counts
posted on July 27, 2001 09:01:24 PM
It was an xmas gift. I was 19 and living with my "first love" - the two boxes sat under the tree, and I thought they were a sexy nighty and slippers. They were a plain winter jacket and comfortable boots. I thought he didn't think I was sexy anymore and started crying. LMAO now of course - he was 24 - I was female and breathing - at that age, to him, I'm sure I was sexy. <chuckle>
posted on July 27, 2001 10:04:56 PM
For me, it was a wedding gift. My old roomate from college gave me the most godawful fugly candlesticks that existed on earth. They were uuuugly! The thing is, I happened to know that they were a wedding gift to HER when SHE got married about 6 years previously because we had giggled about them. She must have laughed about them with a bunch of people because she forgot that I knew they were a wedding present to HER! It ticked me off because I knew that she had fairly recently bought a piece of Correia art glass as a wedding gift for an acquaintance she barely knew who had potential business connections for her husband. It's not that I was ungrateful, it was just an eye opener as to where I "ranked" with her after all those years. Anyway, a year or so later, another friend needed a wedding gift at the last minute for someone she hardly knew. She thought they were ugly too, but she didn't care. They were still in the box unused, so she took them. Waste not, want not, I say!
posted on July 27, 2001 10:23:09 PM
I was given a kitchen knife that was inside a plastic case. It was suppose to automatically sharpen the knife everytime you pulled it out of the case. I wasn't thrilled when I opened it, but the giver thought it was just the neatest gadget on earth and insisted I give it a try. I did...pulled it out of the case right across my thumb and ended up in the ER getting my thumb repaired!!!! The next day I got two dozen gorgeous red roses and a bottle of my favorite perfume (which I can't afford to buy for myself) and a huge box of Godiva chocolates. Sure wish he had thought of that the first time around...would have saved me a lot of pain. Him too!
posted on July 28, 2001 11:48:29 AM
My son's sixth birthday, we invited my inlaws over for cake and ice cream. (For those of you who don't know, my inlaws are, well...um...different.) They showed up with a card and a box of Reduced Fat Cheese Nips. That was his birthday present.
I 'bout died. Managed not to say anything, but I won't forget it anytime soon!
Two years ago for Christmas, same inlaws got the kids Savings Bonds - and spelled their names wrong. Bizarre.
posted on July 28, 2001 12:30:01 PM
I have a relative who would demand ONLY name brand clothing as gifts for her kids. You wouldn't even THINK of getting her kids something but the best. But here are the gifts she has given others:
-- Her 6 yr nephew - a package of combs (and that was it)
-- Her 11 yr old niece - a tie clasp (and that was it)
-- Her daughter-in-law at her bridal shower - 6 items from the dollar store. (and that was it)
-- Her grandkids - a package of M&M's
-- Her 25 year old niece - a cigarette case (and she doesn't even smoke)
-- Her nephew as a wedding gift - 5 items from the dollar store - still with $1 tags! (and that was it)
Talk about bad gifts, huh?
[ edited by ExecutiveGirl on Jul 28, 2001 12:35 PM ]
posted on July 28, 2001 12:42:51 PM
We had a couple of brothers here who gave the same godaweful item of clothing back and forth for years but they finally started making it harder and harder to unpack hoping the other would not open it so they would not be able to send it back. The last 3 or 4 years they just kept enclosing the package in a bigger one until one had an old car to get rid of and he had the packeage put in the car and crushed down to a cube and shipped to the brother which finally ended it.
posted on July 28, 2001 12:50:09 PM
I have seen the worst. One year my grandmother gave my father (her son) a grave plot right next to his deceased father. She said, "he can be close to his father". Grandpa died when my dad was nine.
She never gave it any thought that maybe, just maybe he may want to be buried next to his wife.
posted on July 28, 2001 12:56:48 PM
Mine was for my high school graduation from my boyfriend. He was 2 years older than me and we had been dating for a year. It was a Ziggy soup bowl. I broke it in the bathtub when I was mad at him about 6 months later. I'm glad he got me something, but geeze. It least it could have been Garfield!
"If man were to be crossed with a cat, it would greatly improve the man, but deteriorate the cat." Mark Twain
posted on July 28, 2001 01:00:27 PM
Had a well to do Great Aunt, who had managed to bury 3 husbands and was on #4 ( A twine Barron from Illinois) We had received a letter telling us times were tough and she didn't know whether they would winter in Europe or have to go to Coral Gables, Florida.
We were dirt poor, farming, canning, working factory jobs to make ends meet along with milking cows, feeding the hogs & chickens and tending a huge garden.
My mother recieved a shoe box filled with....
various pieces, hand knotted and rolled into little balls of (you guessed it) TWINE!!(LEFT OVERS)
Mother wrote a thank you note immediately, and we all had a great laugh TIMES WERE INDEED TOUGH!!
Personally, if that happened to me I would have taken a great deal of time fashioning a noose and sending her an example of my talent along with the thank you note...but my mother was gracious, whereas, I am perverse.
posted on July 28, 2001 08:10:04 PM
This story was told to me by a dear friend who passed away last Novenber.
Many years ago his grandfather used to sell junky things that were advertised on the back page of comic books, such as xray glasses, booklets on how to hypnotize, magic tricks, etc. He, as a little boy, loved these things & always hoped his grandfather would let him choose something, but he never did. His grandfather was not poor, but incredibly cheap. For Christmas he bought a pack of gum & gave each boy in the family a stick & for the girls he bought a three pack of Sweetheart soap & gave the girls each a bar.
I told him I didn't believe him even though he swore it was true.
After reading some of these stories I'm now inclined to believe it.
How I wish I could tell him.
posted on July 29, 2001 06:38:04 PM
From my sister:
Her sister-in-law gave her a little perfume item for Christmas. Problem was, it was something someone else had given her and she didn't like. She must have forgotten that she told my sister about it ...
So, the following spring we had a garage sale and my sister sold it for a dime. She was very adamant that we keep that dime separate.
The next time she saw her sister-in-law, she gave her the dime! She said "Here is for your recycled Christmas present. I didn't like it any more than you did so I sold it at my garage sale. Here is the dime I got for it."
posted on July 29, 2001 08:01:22 PM
My (childless) sister always gives great presents, but one year she had a serious lapse of judgement. It was my son's 8th birthday and, along with the other presents she gave him, she included a set of plastic numchuks. It was only a toy, something she had seen in the dollar store or Kmart and picked up on a whim, hollow inside, with a plastic chain, not heavy, but they were hard plastic and my mother and I immediately foresaw trouble down the road involving him, his little sister, and these hard plastic numchuks.
When he unwrapped them, his eyes lit up, my face fell, and I said something like "Oh no, why did you buy those??" My sister replied with something along the lines of - "What's the matter, they're only hollow plastic, they couldn't hurt!"
My mother picked them up without a word and whacked my sister over the head with them. They hurt
I thought I had thrown them away right then, but I guess I confiscated them immediately and hid them, perhaps with the thought that one day he could have them because they turned up about 10 years later from wherever I had stashed them. At 18, I judged him still not old enough to be entrusted with them around his 16 year old sister, so I did throw them away then.
posted on July 30, 2001 09:49:16 AM
Oh these are fun to read - I didn't think I had anything to contribute until I read Mcjane's account that included the grandfather that sold items in the backpages of comic books. It brought to mind the time I opened a small package from my prankster cousin and 10 to 15 human teeth came falling out.
Seems there are some mail-order places that specialize in this type of nonconventional inventory. Leave it to my cuz to patronize them.
posted on July 30, 2001 10:30:24 AM
Funny.... my birthday was yesterday. I can't believe I get to tell this story so soon.
My son, who usually gives me nice appropriate gifts, handed me a beautifully wrapped box. I'm thinking it's that nice non-stick frying pan I've wanted. Nope.... it was a 143 piece home repair tool kit. I guess he's only looking out for himself, and rightfully so. Whenever I need something fixed around my apartment I call him. He has a choice of using the 3 "tools" I have on hand. The heel of my shoe for banging in nails, the oldest butter knife to screw in things, and the duct tape for everything else.
Mcjane: At least you still have the many funny stories he told over the years to remember him. He was one in a million. I loved the atomizer in the keyhole.
posted on July 30, 2001 12:01:08 PM
My father and his wife gave me a Navy blue cotton knit cardigan for my birthday in the mid-1960s. It had appliqued frogs leaping all over it as well as appliqued lily pads and other colorful pond growth. This stands out in my memory as the worst gift I've ever gotten - there I was, a hiphugger, bellbottom jeans wearing Child of the Sixties, and they gave me something only a Junior Leaguer could love.
I was just thankful the gift came in the mail so they couldn't see my face when I opened it.
posted on July 30, 2001 01:55:29 PM
The weirdest present that I ever received was a box of Kotex. Not exactly an appropriate present for an 11-year old boy. But, that's what happens when you have a father with a really strange sense of humor.
posted on July 30, 2001 05:11:52 PM
OH how I'm enjoying this! I was gonna just lurk here, but hubb is working late and I'm bored so...
When my sis and I were growing up, at Christmas we'd get the usual toys. My grandmother would always get us clothes. Some were ok, some were hideous.. and there was ALWAYS a package of socks and underwear. How disappointing for a kid! As my dear gram grew too old to shop for herself any longer, my sis and I carried on the tradition. Grandma died 4 years ago at the age of 101.
To this day, and as long as my sis and I are able to shop, there will always be a package of socks and underwear from "Grandma" under the tree.
posted on July 30, 2001 08:27:33 PM
My husband and I had been dating for several months and he kept talking about getting married. I kept waiting for a proposal and Valentine's Day was coming up so I was sure he was going to pop the question then. He said he had a really special gift for me, something I had told him I wanted someday. Boy, was I excited! Valentine's Day finally came and he had a package in the back of his pickup. Well, I figured maybe he was just joking around and that the ring would be in the very center of the big box. I shook the box a little and it made a noise! He told me to be careful unwrapping it and...it was a pair of chickens!!!! Yes, I told him I would like to live on a farm someday and have chickens, but not today! Not for Valentine's Day! To add insult to injury, the chickens came with a humorous card and the handwritten sentiment at the bottom "Here's a cock and pullet--haha." He's lucky I ever married him. On the other hand, he's a really nice guy (we've been married 10 years now) so I guess I'm lucky I overlooked his temporary insanity.
<p> And, guess what I have living in my shed now????
posted on July 30, 2001 10:36:41 PM
A wholesale size bunch of flowers ripped off from outside of a florist's shop by my "sweetie" when he was on his early morning run. The flowers had been delivered to the shop before it opened and were "just asking to be taken". He is not my problem any more.
posted on August 1, 2001 11:19:52 AM
The Atomizer in the Keyhole:
Thanks for reminding me bootsnana
The person with the cheap grandfather, his name is Gray, used to be a Fuller Brush Man. Years ago perfumes were sprayed with something called an atomizer. Gray would go to someone's front door & before he knocked he would take an atomizer from his case & give a few squirts of perfume through the keyhole. When the lady answered the door, if she said, "What's that lovely smell" he knew he would make a perfume sale & if she said "What's that awful smell" he would say "I don't know, I just got here & I would like to show you our new line of brushes."
Another sales trick Gray would use. One time he bought several cases of boxes of tinsel, the kind used for decorating Christmas trees. He knew they wouldn't be easy to sell door to door so he would wait until a cold rainy night, knock on a door with three boxes in his hand & say if he could just get rid of these last three boxes he could go home. People felt sorry for him and he made a sale at every house at three boxes for 25 cents.
