Spill the beans... on the worst Xmas present you got

melezka · 4 January 2012 at 12:56PM

These are very funny, in a sad kind of way. I know I don't always get gifts right and I am hoping nobody hated mine. Worst presents: for a couple of years I had a spate of very large necklaces, not really choker ones but ones that start as choker and then have more and more strings that sort of cascade down your front. I received variations of this from people including my best friend and my stepdaughter, as well as others.
The thing is, I have a short neck and truly heroically proportioned bust, and they made me look like a balloon sculpture. I NEVER wear necklaces for this very reason. Perhaps people were trying to encourage me to make a feature of said bust (along the lines of, if you can't hide it, paint it red) - but actually I hate this feature so much and the presents felt so thoughtless they just made me cry. (In private, not in front of gifters!)
On the other hand some presents I've received have made me cry because they were such a beautiful surprise. So clearly an emotional wreck

ljaybrad · 4 January 2012 at 2:50PM

BigSisShell wrote: »

My husband and I both received a beautiful Filofax....2010/2011. Can't even re-gift!!!

Could you buy the new insert? Most of them pop out and a new insert can be bought for a few quid

dee01273 · 4 January 2012 at 3:03PM

Worst present I got from a boyfriend was a huge cheeseboard with knife and pickles! I am single and might have said I liked cheese once.
Years ago my ex husband gave me a glass fruit set. :rotfl:

megamezzosoprano · 4 January 2012 at 4:23PM

One year, my SIL carefully ordered and bought all of the ladies in our family fake (and no doubt expensive) orchid plants - and we are all, without exception, green-fingered gardeners who grow everything from garlic to gardenias.... Ours was recycled to the local charity shop where it graced the window display for several months as a much prized feature (and not for sale either!) Glad someone got pleasure out of it!

Arthog · 4 January 2012 at 4:43PM

What a great laugh this thread is! At least none of you was given a hideous green tooled leather holder for the TV magazine! (We don't have a TV)
It seems as though age brings confusion about gifts - that's worrying! I'm an oldie and our Christmas card/gift list is at maximum length and starting to shorten . . .
I mostly give money plus a small gift to open on the day - one I've tried to make sure is appropriate. People complain when Christmas appears in the shops in September but it gives us longer to get our brains in order!

suzyb19 · 4 January 2012 at 4:51PM

My Husband got a Lynx gift set with 'chocolate body paint' in the set, a set of 4 Coronation Street soaps which looked about 10 years old (judging by the characters, Fred Elliot and Les Battesby), and a pair of socks size 6-9 his feet are size 11!
Guess who all these ' gorgeous gifts' where from?
His Mum & Dad! LOL!!

ahab · 4 January 2012 at 4:59PM

a few years ago my son bought me a set of 6 stick-on plastic hooks .....apparently it was a panic buy (surprise surprise!) from poundshop! They fell off the first time I used them.

Primrose · 4 January 2012 at 5:01PM

A gallon size jar of pickled onions !

Willow92 · 4 January 2012 at 5:38PM

I got some tacky santa slippers a few years ago. They hid behind my washing basket for months.

StuPompey · 4 January 2012 at 5:47PM

Christmas 2000 the year I bought my first flat and had no spare cash or savings I wrapped up an Argos catalogue for parents then wrapped up items they already owned. I did give one small proper gift but they loved their "bumper" christmas as they had more to open than they had ever had before! (benefit was I knew they already liked the "gifts")