Best gift you ever gave/ best gift you ever received?

zaxdog

Best gifts given:

1. A mad lurcher puppy for my OH who has always wanted a dog of his very own lol. They are so close and people even comment now when they see OH without him.

2. My parent's birthdays are close together so for their 60th I spent 18 months beforehand e-mailing/writing to their favourite authors/chefs/actors/musicians and compiled the cards/photos etc into a personalised book with messages from me on alternate pages. They were sooooooo touched. Special thanks to author Kinky Friedman who sent a message in one of his books, Felicity Kendal who sent and actual birthday card and Alan Rickman who even though he was on Broadway at the time sent a lovely inscribed photograph.

Best gift received:

The tiny four week old kitten that was hanging on by a thread that my OH brought me, we worked so hard to save him and he is now a HUGE big fluff monster.

coinxoperated

Gifts given:

A glass box I had made for my younger sister with some inspirational writings engraved. It made her go on to go to Uni and follow her dreams

Best received:

A cheap, plastic 'child size' doll house. I would spend literally HOURS in there playing with my dolls. In Winter, I made my parents put it in my bedroom so I could sleep in it! Haha!

Nan63

Best given: A scrapook of my daughter's life for her 30th birthday. I bawled like a baby putting it together and then we bawled together when she opened it!

Best received: It was a significant birthday recently and I had a party but told everyone 'no gifts please'. Well, my daughter decided not to listen to me (well there's a change....:rotfl:) and told all my friends that I'd always wanted a piece of jewellery from Tiffanys and got a collection together (unbeknown to me I might add). How gobsmacked was I when I opened my surprise present and not only was there a gorgeous pair of earrings but a beautiful necklace too!

Yes, I bawled again....

daska

Best gift received? Physically that has to be a pearl bracelet from DS2's dad. Simply because it's perfect. It wasn't particularly expensive or refined or even that well executed for that matter, but it was exactly right for 'me'. But emotionally it was hearing DS2 call me mummy for the first time, I think he was about 3 at the time, I had a longish wait.

Best gift given? Hmm, difficult one as this also qualifies as the worst. I paid for one of my oldest friends to have some marriage counselling, it was peanuts to me but also a no-brainer, I had the cash she had the need etc. But she and her family were incredibly grateful and I know it saved her marriage at the time and she told me a few years later that it had been a real turning point in improving things between them. What I didn't know at the time was her husband's ABI would result in a progressive deterioration in his behaviour. In hindsight it would probably have been better to let them split up and save her from then enduring years of increasingly violent abuse which last year resulted in her being within a hair's breadth of being killed. It's sometimes difficult to foretell exactly what the outcomes of our actions will be.

Katgrit

Aw this thread has proper made me wail. Such lovely stories!

The best gifts are the personal ones. Here's mine:

Best received from family - a couple of years ago my Dad had a bone marrow transplant and was in isolation on the cancer ward for a month afterwards. Before he went in I taught him how to play Angry Birds on his phone. He's very anti-modern fads, and usually will point blank refuse to do ANYTHING he knows is popular, just out of sheer stubbornness. But he likes physics, and thinking, so I knew he'd love it with all the trajectories and angles. While he was in isolation I made the 200mile round trip 2 or 3 times a week while my brother who lived 8 miles away only went twice. He was JUST ok ready for Christmas, in fact Christmas Eve was the first day he was allowed to eat "normal" food again. I'd unwrapped my presents and my Dad then said "Heres some extra presents. Your Mum has gone mad at me for spending so much, but I thought it was worth it and they're just for you". And I unwrapped them to find a couple of posh boxes of Balliss and Harding, and an expensive looking shoe box. I thanked my Dad, but he told me to open the boxes. And inside weren't Balliss and Harding bubble bath, or posh shoes, but big plush angry birds, every single kind from the game. He'd been in the hunt and got them imported from America. Mum just didn't think it was worth it, but it was the first time either of them have gone "off list" for my presents. I was thoroughly thoroughly touched, and I have them all sat up in my bedroom - it's crisp white linen and chic and sophisticated so they look horrendously out of place, but I love them. We aren't always a close family, but they remind me that special time between me and my Dad, and of walking down the hospital corridor watching him waving through his glass isolation room window looking so alone as I left to drive home.

Katgrit

Best gift from a friend was a simple postcard in a cheap plastic clip frame. It just a had cartoon on about eating half a chocolate digestive and losing the other half after putting it down somewhere (which we've ALL done!) . She knew I'd admired it for years hanging on the landing in her house, but wouldn't let me have it because it reminded her if her younger wild days going raving and having the munchies! Years later I helped and her young daughter move house, and she gave it me as a thank you present.

Best gift given was....oooh there's been a few. I bought a boyfriend some 2nd hand headlights for a car he was doing up. He couldn't afford them once the bidding started to go up, and was gutted. I borrowed a friends account and won them, drove miles to pick them up and gave them to him for Valentine's day. He'd not long come out of a relationship with a selfish materialistic tart, and had never ever been spoiled or treated to anything. He opened the box, and was so overcome to find the same headlights he'd wanted so much he closed the box again and had to just get up and walk round the living room for a bit. He just couldn't cope that someone had been so nice to him. His teenage son just kept saying "Don't worry, he does like them, you like them don't you Dad? He does like them".

For my Grandad's 80th, who's a freemason, I trawled the internet and found a set of tiny silver masonic emblems in a velvet presentation box. They looked a lot more expensive than they were and as he's never really heard of the internet, eBay or Amazon he was thrilled. Then the year after I found a set of Robertsons Golly pin badges, each one holding a different masonic emblem. I bought a very similar velvet presentation box, wrapped it all up posh and he laughed his socks off when he opened it. He used to save us his Robertson's jam tokens to send away for badges for me when I was little.

Once when a friend and her hubby had scrimped and saved to take their kids on a caravan holiday I knew they weren't too flush for cash, and I put some money in an envelope through their door, with disguised handwriting. Little did I know they'd already set off, but I was really pleased when she told me about it the Week after. She had no idea who it was off, still doesn't to this day, and the day after they got back their Washing machine packed in, so the money had saved the day. Still feel happy thinking about that, because I wanted to bless them and I knew they'd never accept money as a gift off me. :-)

Jinx

Best pressies were the canvasses I had done recently for landmark birthdays - I raided everyones photo albums and the results were mosaic canvasses going back decades. Took a bit of time to do but the recipients were over the moon.

Also bought a matching red leather bag and briefcase for my mum when she started her business. She adores them and has used them frequently for years-they still look pristine and she always get asked where she got them by other commuters.

Best pressie I got, could be the free membership of a dating site that was starting up - found a hubby lol Or the stained glass handmade wedding present we received.

butterfly72

My best pressie, a joint christmas and 12th birthday one, was my first pony.(and subsequent ponies and horses). They gave me years of fun, taught me how to be responsible for another living creature and stopped me hanging around the street corners.

I've been very lucky and other top pressies include my well used kitchen aid and magimix, a piece of original art which I admire every day and a cruise with my family.

Best gift I've given is a ticket to the last session at the velodrome at the olympics. We had an awsome day and the recipient said it was one of the best experiences of his life!

Sneezy

Best present received - there have been a few

The watch I got for my 21st birthday off my grandparents - I wear it infrequently as it has a lot of sentimental value and I dread the day I'm clumsy when wearing it.

My Grandad was given a medallion when he was born by his father with the year he was born inscribed on one side (as we're all his siblings). When I was born he had it polished up and my DOB on the opposite site. Because its so unique it means a lot to me.

Best gift I've given - I took my sisters to NY for little sisters 18th and middle sisters graduation both loved it.

When my friend found out she was pregnant the first thing I did was find a knitting pattern for a blanket. It took me 5 months but I finished it the day he was born and my friend loved it (and its still used today nearly 2 years later!)

neverdespairgirl

BEst given - not exactly from me, but I helped bring it about.

My Granny was ill in hospital, in November, and she was worried about Christmas presents, thinking she wouldn't be able to buy any. So I asked her what she wanted to give my mother, and she said she'd love to give her a black shawl for concerts - my mother sings. So I bought 4 different ones, and she chose the one she wanted, and I took the other 3 back.

She came out of hospital, but then got more ill and died 10 days before Christmas. She'd already wrapped the black silk and velvet shawl up, and I abstracted it from her wardrobe and gave it to my mother quietly on Christmas Day.