Worst Christmas Gift Ever....

MIL gave me a straw bag with kittens on it. She's told me that we all have to go green, so we all have to use these bags. I certainly am not short of green bags, what gets me is the kittens. I know that I'm the youngest whenever I'm with them, but I'm not 5!

Got a bag like that last year (but not with kittens on) and MIL said the same thing.  As if I need to be told to "go green"--I've been recycling trying to avoid plastic packaging and bringing my own bags when I shop for at least 15 years.    At least the message is getting out there, though.

<giggle> My MIL gave me one of those Dove bath gel sets that you get a boots or morrisson's. She also gave me some sweets and a nice 2010 diary, and some money, so, I overlooked the bathgel set. I just thought it was hilariously funny. I told DH that I'll use the poof when we go on holiday somewhere, and that the bathgel was great, because in the States, I'd have to spend around $10 for both of those. But, thinking about it now, it's just funny. Why would you give someone bathgel for Christmas?! <giggle>

I got some bathgel and body lotion from my secret santa this year. Usually I love this sort of thing but it's the kind of bathgel and lotion you'd give a preteen, full of glitter and scents like bubblegum, so I'm regifting it to my 8 year old niece for her birthday.  Waste not want not.

I love nice soaps and bath gels.  But not stuff like Dove or anything you can get at the grocery store!  At my old work we had amazing stuff, stuff that's homemade, natural, fair trade, etc.....

I love nice soaps and bath gels.  But not stuff like Dove or anything you can get at the grocery store!  At my old work we had amazing stuff, stuff that's homemade, natural, fair trade, etc.....

Oooh, if I had gotten something handmade, I would've been over the moon! I love handmade stuff as well!

I got some bathgel and body lotion from my secret santa this year. Usually I love this sort of thing but it's the kind of bathgel and lotion you'd give a preteen, full of glitter and scents like bubblegum, so I'm regifting it to my 8 year old niece for her birthday.  Waste not want not.

Yeah, I totally re-gift too. I would've done the same.

I don't know why but I hate getting those perfume gift sets from boots (or places like them) every year I see the shelves loaded with them and I just hope I don't get one

This year, I got M&M pajamas from my grandmother. Just what every newlywed wants/needs.  they are mens XL and huge on me. She also gave me a "how to decorate your home" book from the 1980's. Lol!

This year my aunt gave my husband a box of "Soothing Bath Herbs for the Weary Golfer." He doesn't golf. Never has, never will.

OK, it's not the worst gift ever, but it did make us laugh. 

Hooray!  I love this thread.  Glad to see it back.  Keep adding them folks.

A number of years ago I received a gift from a Secret Santa.  It was a mug with the name Doug on it??   Did not know anyone with that name.  Did manage to re-gift it years later when my 3rd cousin married a man named Doug.

A number of years ago I received a gift from a Secret Santa.  It was a mug with the name Doug on it??   

That's hysterical! 

Well, this year on the way to the inlaws I asked Mr A which he thought I'd get: a handbag or a scarf.  Basically, every year since practically forever this is what I've gotten.  Sometimes I get them for my birthday as well.  They are never anything I'd carry (or if a scarf, nothing I'd ever wear).

So we were opening our gifts and I got a handbag.  We were about to move on when my mother-in-law told me to look inside because there was a matching scarf.  She must have seen it and thought of me.  Perfect.  Both a scarf AND a handbag (although it seemed to be one of those free gift things for ordering stuff and smelled heavily of dye so I doubt she saw it anywhere before it ended up with a shipment of other stuff from a catalogue).  It was all Mr A and I could do not to burst out laughing and couldn't look at each other for over ten minutes.

MiL says (as she has in the past) that I am so hard to buy for.  Almost everyone else I know says that I am one of the easiest people to buy gifts for.  I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but their family's gifts always seem to reflect what they judge is the economic makeup of our marriage.  I literally get stuff from charity shops or the stuff that looks like they came as a bonus gift to catalogue orders.  They always splash out for my husband.  Yes, he is their child and I don't expect parity or anything.  It's just it's hard to say that it's the thought that counts when there wasn't much thought in any gift they've ever given me.  Well, that's not true.  My FiL usually hits it about spot on when he goes shopping, but he's rarely well enough to do it on his own.

Ha. This year, DH (who never feels the cold) got a Zippo brand hand warmer. Which would be cool if A) he ever got cold hands (he never ever does) or if B) you didn't have to POUR LIGHTER FLUID IN AND LIGHT IT ON FIRE before putting it in your pocket.  In theory there's a cover that would protect you, and since it's Zippo, I'm sure it would, but I still don't want him putting actually flames in his pocket!
This was from his dad, who, one would assume, would know his son always runs warm anyway.
Of course, he gave my SIL a "maze money bank" with 20 quid in it.  With a little note that said "At least you won't spend it so fast if I make it hard to get to!"    We had a great time smashing that to bits with a hammer after he had left, I can tell you.

back when i was working in an office we had a secret santa thing. Everyone exchanged gifts,but I just sat there..my then boss says to me "oh sorry I forgot about you, I'll get you something tomorrow". fair enough. But a week goes by and she finally comes into work with my "gift"... it was one of those things you would give a kid... a mug that you paint.
I gave it to my daughter!

I once made the mistake of pretending to admire MiL's garden gnomes. Well, at least they weren't the really tacky plastic ones but ones that her father made out of plaster. Sure enough, next Christmas (or it might have been a birthday) she gave me a very colourful plastic one -- you know, the fisherman one with an old boot on the end of the fishing line. I was overwhelmed. Put it in the garden whenever she visited.

I love these gift stories.  Honestly, I don't care how tacky or useless or extremely odd a gift is.  I just love that someone thought of me or remembered me or very quickly wrapped any old thing up for me.  It gives me something to smile or laugh or wonder about for ages.  Except that I don't like to see people waste money, time, resources, etc. 

My MIL (I adore her!) gave me two lovely cardigans this Christmas.  Both would probably fit a 12 year old girl.  Isn't it sweet that she thinks I'm so skinny?   
 
My first MIL (a sad sort of person with serious issues) once gave me a used set of hot rollers.  When I told her I already had a set she said "Oh good, I wanted some of these myself so I'll just keep them."