Best and Worst Presents You've Received?

[BaileyCatts]

We give a lot of stupid gifts in my family that are just a waste of money. Although I don't anymore; I'm done with gift giving. We (brother and sister) are all almost 50 freaking years old. How many 50 year olds still give gifts to their siblings? My mom stopped w/her siblings when they were 30. Don't think my dad/siblings ever gave gifts as adults. I wish we would stop with the damn stupid waste of money gifts already. If I want something, I'll go buy it. And I don't want some random piece of crap cluttering up my already limited space.

That said ... the worst gift was a half used bottle of vitamins (yes, half used!) from my mom for Christmas. She said maybe they would make me a nicer/happier person.

[Scintillation]

My grandmother once got me size xxxl sweatpants for Christmas. I wore a small. She included a note that she didn't want them to be "too small" for me now that I was "at the age where you gain weight". I was 20.

When I was 15, in band and taking piano lessons, she got me a used "magical musical thing" toy.

And I have vivid memories of getting one of those freebie paper coloring books with four pictures for my 6th birthday from her. My brother, at the same time, was given cash and two new books and some records. For my birthday. On my 18th birthday, I got $5 from her and my brother got $20. He was kind of embarrassed about it by then.

Dude. WTF.

[made_in_canada]

The first year my parents were married my Dad gave my Mom a toilet seat cover for Valentine's Day. His reasoning was that she had complained about the seat being cold at one point. They're still going strong 38 years later but my mom still brings it up before gift-giving holidays.

[Jayar]

My grandmother once got me size xxxl sweatpants for Christmas. I wore a small. She included a note that she didn't want them to be "too small" for me now that I was "at the age where you gain weight". I was 20.

When I was 15, in band and taking piano lessons, she got me a used "magical musical thing" toy.

And I have vivid memories of getting one of those freebie paper coloring books with four pictures for my 6th birthday from her. My brother, at the same time, was given cash and two new books and some records. For my birthday. On my 18th birthday, I got $5 from her and my brother got $20. He was kind of embarrassed about it by then.

Is she a step-grandmother?

[PDilemma]

Is she a step-grandmother?

Nope. This was my father's mother. She played favorites with her grandkids until the day she died. My brother was the oldest and the only grandson who "could carry on the family name" and thus the favorite. He always got presents on my birthday until he was around 30. By then, it was always cash and he used it to buy me something extra because he felt horrible about it. My mom recently told me that when I was a baby, this grandmother actually refused to hold me because it would upset my brother (it would not have...he was nearly six when I was born and understood).

We moved to a different state when I was two, and she decided that I was not really her grandchild because I was not raised there. She usually called me "the Nebraska child". I was the only one of her 14 grandchildren she never made a quilt for, the only one whose H.S. graduation she missed, and a host of other things like that. Out of 14, I was absolutely ranked number 14.

My grandpa, who died when I was 19, tried to make up the difference, giving me cash and candy and cutting flowers from his garden for me when we visited. And my mother's parents were the greatest grandparents ever.

[BigB08822]

That breaks my heart, PDilemma! She doesn't sound like she was a very nice person, at least not to you! You were just a child. Thank goodness you had a loving grandfather and another set of grandparents.

I remember the worst gift I ever got. When I was about 10 or so my parents and my aunt and uncle decided to draw names among the children. The idea was that instead of buying so many gifts for the kids each kid could get 1 nice gift. It was supposed to be understood that even though the kids were drawing the names, the parents would be buying. I was 10 and the oldest, so all the other children were 8 and younger, down to about 5. My aunt forced her two kids to work around the house and earn money to buy the gift. She paid them about $1 to do things and therefore they had to buy something for less than $5. Then she forced them to buy their gift from the flower shop she ran with her mom. I was drawn by one of them and received a very small teddy bear with a pencil. It was leftover from Valentines day the year before and had hearts on it including a heart eraser on the pencil. As a boy, I was just thrilled. My mom was so mad, after we left she took us to the store and bought me a gift and got one for my brother too, have to be fair!

[jenny12]

Best gift: Surprise tickets to the US Nationals Ladies long program back in 2002 from my boyfriend at the time (now husband). He couldn't stand figure skating before we went, but knew I was dying to go. I do think seeing figure skating live made him appreciate it more.

Worst gift: Golfing clubs from my brother. I don't play golf so it was clearly a gift for himself.

[Myskate]

Worst gift: While dating, my husband bought me a trailer hitch for my car because he needed to tow a trailer and had a company car that he couldn't alter.

The best gift: A trip to Tahiti from the same man. After 15 years he had learned alot.

[Aussie Willy]

Best gift - my Dad and his wife (it was more from her because as much as I love him he is not that thoughtful) gave me a genuine aboriginal painting as a housewarming gift for my new unit. The amount of thought that had gone into it, including how she got it framed (simple black frame) and the actual colour of the painting because she knew that I had red furniture (it was in brown tones) was probably the most thoughtful thing someone has even done. It looks fantastic in my living area. Even my mum liked it.

Worst gift - not so much myself but my mum. She had brought herself a lovely modern sofa with an aztec type designed fabric. My Nanna decided to knit her a cushion to go with it in apricot colours (the kind you get at a craft fair with flower patterns knitted in). In fact my Nanna knitted cushions for all the family and it kind of became a bit of a family joke. I am not sure if I still have mine tucked away in the cupboard somewhere.

[rjblue]

The first gift my husband gave me when we were dating was a fancy Christmas card, that when opened revealed a spot for a lottery ticket (that was back when lotteries were newly legal), and a very big deal. It was a card his mother bought for the ticket, so he reused it for me.

Thirty-three years later, he bought me my entire Amazon wish list for Christmas.

He's a keeper.

[leesaleesa]

I'm not one for holidays, but I remember one Christmas when I was underemployed and my roomate's business was slow. He re-gifted me a pair of Florida Panthers flip flops, and I got him a 6 pack of tightie whites. I needed flip flops, he needed underwear. We went to Taco Bell and picked up a bottle of cheap wine at Chevron after. One of my favorite Christmases ever.

His Mother got him a plastic bucket from the dollar store. I guess we were all on a budget that year.

Oh, there was the year a friend got me a cheap wig at the Swap shop. I sort of loved it because it looked like Dr. Ruth's hair, and I wore it on a few dates I knew wouldn't go too well.

[PDilemma]

That breaks my heart, PDilemma! She doesn't sound like she was a very nice person, at least not to you! You were just a child. Thank goodness you had a loving grandfather and another set of grandparents.

She really wasn't. She died a year ago in March. I went to the funeral for my dad's sake, not for any other reason. When my dad's sister, my dear aunt, was killed in a horrific car crash last month, and we went for her funeral, I found that I felt more part of the family without her presence hanging over everyone. It was a nice feeling in spite of the awful circumstances of the visit.

My grandfather was a piece of work but he was loving in his way. My fondest memory of him was when we were at their house the summer I turned 14 and I was in an incredibly awkward stage with thick glasses, braces, and bad hair. He came in the house one morning with a red rose cut from his garden and presented it to me and said that he did it so I would always remember that my grandpa was the first man to give me a rose. I will always remember that. So I guess that is the best gift I've ever been given.

[LilJen]

I think my favorite bad gift was a set of tools - hammer, two screwdrivers, and a pair of plyers - with floral print handles. Who says tools can't be pretty?

One of the BEST gifts we ever got was all the tool essentials from my FIL for our wedding gift: hammers, sets of screwdrivers & pliers, a ratchet set, wrenches, you name it. He went all out with really great quality stuff that we still have 17+ years later. (Funniest gifts, on a related note: Old family friends all threw me a "garden party" because I'd be moving into dh's and my new house after the wedding--I kid you not, I got shovels, pitchforks, pruning shears, etc. AWESOME.)

Dh's paternal grandparents always gave us the weirdest gifts. They were extremely frugal, so usually it was a cheap phone that said "TIME LIFE BOOKS" on it (which they'd gotten free with a subscription) or an "as seen on TV" cheapo. In our minds, though, the Tater Twister takes the cake. Yes, you too can make 1 curly fry from a potato and waste the rest of the potato.

[ChelleC]

Worst gift---the year my mom bought my underwear for Christmas.

Best gift---Every year at Christmas, my grandparents always bought one of the granddaughter Hallmark keepsake ornaments, and had it on their tree. I had no idea about them, until the year they boxed all of them up, and gave them to me as a Christmas present. I still have them, of course.

[ballettmaus]

I don't really remember a "worst" gift. Though I guess it would be underwear for me as well. My aunt always gave me underwear of some sort after she started drinking. Fortunately, there weren't so many more birthdays she was invited to afterwards.

I remember one year of Christmas when I didn't get anything from my wish list, I was very disappointed. It wasn't that I didn't like what I had gotten but my wish list almost always had things I really wanted and were saving for my Christmas list as they were either too expensive or something else to get "just because".

My grandfather stopped giving gifts altogether a couple of years ago when he decided not to get out of his bed anymore despite being a healthy man. My parents did get some pralines for Christmas (my mom's cooking for him more or less daily and she's "only" his daughter-in-law) but that was it and it wasn't his initiative but the person who takes care for him (doing everything else but the cooking). He didn't even call his son on his birthday or gave him a card. Needless to say, I don't get a call or a card either. And I guess it's not so much about the gift but wanting to be remembered/thought of.

[lmarie086]

PDilemma, that's heartbreaking! I can never understand how some people can be cruel to a child, but unfortunately it happens. Was your grandmother a fan of your mom? I only ask because my mom's mom has never liked my dad, and it's reflected upon my brother and I. We are the only ones she's never wanted to encourage in anyway, though he and I have done well in school and have never gotten in trouble. But that's a long story, and not one for this thread.

My best gift actually might have been from this past Christmas; I've always wanted a cameo necklace, and my mom always said she wanted to be the one to buy one for me once I found one I loved. We haven't had too much luck until last Thanksgiving, when we were on Etsy and found this beautiful vintage cameo necklace! My mom and I both loved it, and it wasn't terribly expensive at all. So she went ahead and ordered it once I was back at school and I got it at Christmas, and I wear it all the time now. I have a few others that I consider "best presents," but that sticks out in my mind at the moment.

I can't really think of any that are the worst, but the same grandma I mentioned did my brother a Clifford dog for his 18th birthday, just because he's an animal person.

[PDilemma]

PDilemma, that's heartbreaking! I can never understand how some people can be cruel to a child, but unfortunately it happens. Was your grandmother a fan of your mom?

She was rather ambivalent toward my mom. She wasn't outright mean to her until the last ten years or so of her life. But she didn't like that my dad married someone not from their little county and not even from the same state. My dad's parents did not come to their wedding (canceled at the last minute which made a mess of the wedding plans as my dad's siblings, too young to travel on their own, were to be in the wedding party) because she was upset that he was marrying someone not from there. And she blamed my mother for their decision to move back here later, even though it was mostly my dad's choice for the sake of a better economy, better opportunities and having some distance from his parents who tended to meddle.

She favored grandsons over granddaughters, except for one favored granddaughter who made such a fuss of it all when she died that another female cousin and I suggested between ourselves that the obit should have said she had nine grandsons and one granddaughter and forget the other four of us. And growing up out of state away from Appalachia made me the permanent outcast.

[BigB08822]

Apologies if this isn't my business, PDilemma, but I am curious, did she leave anything to her grandchildren after her death? I am curious if the boys got something and the girls, you especially, were left out. That is, if she had anything to leave.

[RockTheTassel]

My grandfather was a piece of work but he was loving in his way. My fondest memory of him was when we were at their house the summer I turned 14 and I was in an incredibly awkward stage with thick glasses, braces, and bad hair. He came in the house one morning with a red rose cut from his garden and presented it to me and said that he did it so I would always remember that my grandpa was the first man to give me a rose. I will always remember that. So I guess that is the best gift I've ever been given.

Aw, that's a really sweet story. At least it sounds like your other grandparents made up for your awful grandma.

I have two best gifts and two worst gifts. One of the best gifts was a restored corona typewriter from the 1930s. I love old typewriters and had been searching for one, but I hadn't found anything. My mom came across a nice one, my dad found someone to restore it, and they surprised me with it one Christmas. The other best gift was a beautiful handmade journal my sister gave me. She knows I love famous quotes and once asked me for some of my favorites because her friend wanted a list of good quotes for an art project. I told her some quotes I liked, and a couple months later I discovered that her friend's art project was a journal decorated with the quotations I mentioned that my sister asked her to make for me. Both of these gifts were so thoughtful and lovely.

One of the worst gifts I got was the Kardashian sisters' book (I think it was called Kardashian Konfident or something ridiculous). My mom got for me for Christmas, wrapped it beautifully, and then gave it as a joke because she knows I hate the Kardashians. I returned it and used the money to get something extra for my fifteen-year-old brother, who was a bit glum since everyone ended up giving him clothes that year. The other bad gift that wasn't a joke was a huge pack of lint rollers from my mom that included a lecture about taking better care of my coat.

[PDilemma]

Apologies if this isn't my business, PDilemma, but I am curious, did she leave anything to her grandchildren after her death? I am curious if the boys got something and the girls, you especially, were left out. That is, if she had anything to leave.

I just found out that there were $200 worth of savings bonds for each grandchild except the youngest. All of us, girls and boys. Since there were none for the youngest, I am assuming that grandpa was the one who purchased those, not her. The youngest grandchild was born one year after grandpa died. If not for that clue that she was not in charge of that, I would have been exceedingly puzzled that there were some for me.

(My uncle, who was executor of the estate, with the agreement of all the siblings, arranged for an equivalent in cash to be given to the youngest in the interests of fairness).

She did, however, leave behind lists regarding giving away possessions that gave expensive items to the boys and the favored granddaughter and designated that the other four granddaughters got to choose among the knick-knack type stuff. My dad and his siblings, for the most part, ignored those instructions. I didn't really want anything anyway, but was given a nice crucifix from her house, being one of only three grandchildren who is a church-going Catholic. I'm told my great grandmother, who I remember and had a connection with as a child, bought it for my grandparents when they were first married, so it does have more meaning to me than anything else I could have taken would have.