What's The Worst Christmas Gift You Ever Got

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OK we've all got em, I really don't want to say to be honest-humiliation comes easy here. Just curious what's the worst Christmas gift you ever got???
#worst christmas gift
  • Profile picture of the author Marbeloa
    It has to be the "Extra Large" Christmas sweater... It may have doubled up as a tent in the summer, but leaving the house with it would have probably resulted in being arrested...
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    • Profile picture of the author MrCeo22
      Mines what have to have been a pack of pencils for school lol.

      Ah man, I was soo pissed
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  • Profile picture of the author subisa852
    Picture frame, coffee mug, flip flops that's not my size.
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  • Profile picture of the author frankhill
    .....chuh chuh chuh chia!


    Frank
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  • Profile picture of the author Sumit Menon
    Originally Posted by craigslist View Post

    OK we've all got em, I really don't want to say to be honest-humiliation comes easy here. Just curious what's the worst Christmas gift you ever got???
    I beg your pardon?
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      That video was cruel - I felt so sorry for that little boy. What stupid adults in that family.
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      • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
        Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

        That video was cruel - I felt so sorry for that little boy. What stupid adults in that family.
        I can understand it if you can't afford what the boy wants, but why post that video showing his disappointment? I can't think of one good reason for that.
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        • Profile picture of the author Sumit Menon
          Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

          That video was cruel - I felt so sorry for that little boy. What stupid adults in that family.
          Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill View Post

          I can understand it if you can't afford what the boy wants, but why post that video showing his disappointment? I can't think of one good reason for that.
          The YouTube page on the video says that he got the XBOX.
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          • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
            Originally Posted by Sumit Menon View Post

            The YouTube page on the video says that he got the XBOX.
            That's nice. Why not post that video instead? A child's personal disappointment in a family setting wasn't meant to be aired worldwide, IMO.
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  • Profile picture of the author thunderbird
    I barely recall what I got for Christmas as a child. I mostly remember the anticipation of looking at the presents under the tree, Christmas meals, then finally unwrapping the presents, but not actually remembering what the presents were, LOL.
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  • Profile picture of the author terrabethbytes
    Gift card. It shows there was no thought put into it.
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    Some people just shouldn't have video cameras.

    I got two that I remember that were pretty bad. One was as a kid. I got bedsheets for Christmas. They weren't even kids sheets with cartoon characters or anything. Just bedsheets for a 7 year old kid whose parents could well afford, and dd afford nice ones. Useless and thoughtless gift.

    The other was a bathrobe that looked like it was something an 80 year old woman would buy for herself. It was from my significant other (at the time) and it was extremely insulting - especially when you put it next to the nice dish clothes and towels he also gave me. That was our last Christmas together - it didn't get any better after that. LMAO.
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    • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
      We never celebrated Christmas, when I was growing up. So I never got a bad Christmas gift.

      But I did get a bad wedding gift (first marriage), a coupon for money off for some store. I had to act like it was exactly what we wanted.

      I used to give out gift certificates for a free pizza as part of an advertising campaign, and someone got one of the certificates for a wedding gift. When they called to redeem it (I gave them the cash value to avoid hurt feelings), I told them what a great gift it was. I didn't want to ruin it by saying the person got it for free.

      In school there was a kid who was very poor. Every year, kids would talk about what they got for Christmas. He always made sure that he told us that he got more than everyone else. He got teased about it...I felt very sorry for him.
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      • Profile picture of the author Kay King
        Isn't it strange those memories stick with you when so much else is forgotten?

        I was in about grade 4 when a little girl named "Hazel" was in our class. Her clothes were clean but totally worn out and old fashioned - seemed to be handed down multiple times. She clearly had nothing and I remember our teacher telling my mother she'd had to provide basic school supplies for Hazel as the family was "in poverty".

        A few of the kids made fun of Hazel and for a time I was proud I had never done that - till I realized though I never did anything TO her...I didn't do anything FOR her, either. Mostly, we all just ignored her. She was gone the next year and I always wondered what happened to her and how she ended up.
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      • Profile picture of the author garyv
        Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

        I used to give out gift certificates for a free pizza as part of an advertising campaign, and someone got one of the certificates for a wedding gift.
        Claude, being the best vacuum cleaner salesman in your town, I have to believe you're partially responsible for a majority of the worst Christmas gifts there...

        I made the mistake of getting my wife a vacuum cleaner early on in our marriage. - Live and learn.

        As for myself - as a kid my mom would always buy an "uh oh" gift. That's what she called it. It was always a generic gift she would buy and not put a name on it, in case someone showed up that they hadn't anticipated. One year in my late teens, I some how got lost in the shuffle of Christmas. I had to witness my mom awkwardly give me the "uh-oh" gift and pretend that she forgot to put my name on it. What she also forgot was that it was a ladies wallet. I pretended that I really needed it. - It honestly didn't upset me too much, because by the age of 12 I was making money and buying what I wanted anyway.
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        • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
          Originally Posted by garyv View Post

          Claude, being the best vacuum cleaner salesman in your town, I have to believe you're partially responsible for a majority of the worst Christmas gifts there...

          I made the mistake of getting my wife a vacuum cleaner early on in our marriage. - Live and learn.
          .
          Funny you should bring that up. In our store, we get husbands buying their wife a vacuum cleaner for Birthdays or Christmas. I always ask "Do they know they are getting this?"

          Of course, it isn't any of my business, but I tell them that a wife, unless she specifically asked for one, won't appreciate a vacuum cleaner...any more than a husband would appreciate a snow shovel for Christmas.
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          • Profile picture of the author garyv
            Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

            Funny you should bring that up. In our store, we get husbands buying their wife a vacuum cleaner for Birthdays or Christmas. I always ask "Do they know they are getting this?"

            Of course, it isn't any of my business, but I tell them that a wife, unless she specifically asked for one, won't appreciate a vacuum cleaner...and more than a husband would appreciate a snow shovel for Christmas.
            LOL - wish I would have known you sooner.
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    • Profile picture of the author Karen Blundell
      that was an awful video - why even take it - geez! that poor kid!

      Even though I have received my share of gifts that were not the best - I was brought up to be grateful and thankful for any gifts I got - so even if I didn't like the gift, I appreciated the gesture.

      I think the true meaning of Christmas is lost - it never was supposed to be about the gifts we got - it was always supposed to be about family and friends enjoying the spirit of the holidays and the love we share.

      There are no bad gifts when the giver has given what he or she could from the heart - that's what I think, anyway.
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  • Profile picture of the author Frank Donovan
    Originally Posted by craigslist View Post

    OK we've all got em, I really don't want to say to be honest-humiliation comes easy here. Just curious what's the worst Christmas gift you ever got???
    Yay! Another chance to use the OT word of the month:

    - complaining about Christmas gifts is...churlish.

    Seriously, it is ridiculous. It's a gift. You're no worse off than before you received it. All you have to do is accept it in the spirit in which it was intended, and be gracious about it.

    I know this conversation comes up every year in the OT bar, but I think we'd all be better off if Christmas presents were only given to children. Perhaps that would reel back the rampant consumerism a touch.

    And we'd all have more money to spend on booze.


    Frank
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      My husband at the time gave me a fancy ice crusher for Christmas. It was exactly what HE wanted.

      He later told people I threw it at him - not true. It slipped...about 6 feet.
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  • Profile picture of the author laurencewins
    Why should any gift be a bad one? Whether it's a gift card or something you don't like, the person buying it cared enough to at least give you something.

    I disagree about gift cards being gifts that no thought are put into. My parents love movie vouchers because they can go and enjoy themselves without cost.
    That's just one example. Others are vouchers for your favourite store so you can buy what you really want.

    Consider this...if you hadn't received any gifts at all, you would feel far worse (generally speaking.)

    I don't really want/need gifts nowadays but am always appreciative, no matter what I get. We all should be. There are countries where people (especially children) NEVER get gifts.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
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  • Profile picture of the author marketingva
    A children's suitcase when I wanted an Easy Bake Oven. I was 9.

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    • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
      Originally Posted by terrabethbytes View Post

      Gift card. It shows there was no thought put into it.
      I prefer gift cards. That way I know exactly how much I'm worth to them.

      JUST KIDDING!

      I tell my family not to spend money on me, get something extra for the kids. I'm serious when I tell them that, but they never listen.
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    • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
      I gave my son (when he was already an adult) a Gift Certificate for a bookstore we both shopped at.

      He asked me what made me decide on it.

      I said "Because it shows I love you, when I take $50 you could spend anywhere, at any time, and force you to spend it at one place for one kind of gift, before it expires. It also shows that I'm a brilliant shopper, for trading real currency for a coupon that will expire eventually". :rolleyes:

      I really said that. Yup, it's how we talk to each other.


      He really did appreciate it. We just say the most evil things to each other. We call it "Riffling". (OK, I made that part up, but I thought it was pretty funny)


      Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill View Post

      I prefer gift cards. That way I know exactly how much I'm worth to them.

      JUST KIDDING!

      I tell my family not to spend money on me, get something extra for the kids. I'm serious when I tell them that, but they never listen.
      For years, my mother-in-law would give my wife and I a card at Christmas with $25 in it. All my wife's brothers and sisters got the same thing. After a few years, I decided to play a prank on my in laws. So I took $500 in twenties and stuffed the card with them. Then I showed the money to all the in laws, and acted like I thought everyone got that much money. The men all laughed...the sisters? not as much.

      For the next 4 or 5 years, my brother in law kept the tradition up, and he and I would pretend to get ever increasing amounts of money. It got up to $5,000 before we stopped. My mother-in-law never caught on, and had no idea what we were doing.

      On a related note, every year the in laws (and us, it's a big family) would buy my wife's parents a huge gift; a TV, sofa, that sort of thing. But when we asked our mother-in-law what she wanted, she would always say some minor kitchen utensil.

      One year she said "What I'd really like is a good spatula."

      I really tried to get everyone to agree to just get her a spatula that year...and present it first, as though it were the only gift (Of course, there would be another one too).

      But no, and they were right, she wouldn't have understood the humor.
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      • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
        Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

        For the next 4 or 5 years, my brother in law kept the tradition up, and he and I would pretend to get ever increasing amounts of money.
        So . . . evil runs in your family, even on the in-laws side.
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        • Profile picture of the author Kay King
          My mother (now 95 and moving to the inner realms of dementia) was the ultimate Princess. In her world it WAS all about her.

          She could not stand the idea that she might receive a gift that she didn't choose - being in control was critical to her.

          As a child I saw my mother as living with "mind pictures" - it was the only way I knew to describe her. She had images in her mind of how things "should be" on certain occasions....and if the reality didn't live up to that it was meltdown time and the anger could last for weeks. Her "mind pictures" included how other people acted and reacted - what people said - how they complimented her, etc. Very few family gatherings lived up to her expectations.

          So - she would buy her own Christmas gifts in the months leading up to the holiday. She would have them gift wrapped and put them in the back of the closet. Then on Christmas my stepfather was to pull out those gifts and present them to her - at which time she would ooh and ahh and thank him.

          For other family members (my stepbrother and I) she gave broad (hit you up the side of the head) hints of what she wanted as a gift. She was known for "returns" - and returned almost every gift we gave her so she could pick out something herself instead. Exchanging gifts she was given was an art form for her.

          My stepbrother was easy going and went along even after he was an adult. I was stubborn and used to take the tags off gifts so they were "non-returnable" - drove her nuts.

          kay
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        • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
          Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill View Post

          So . . . evil runs in your family, even on the in-laws side.

          My one brother-in-law and I were the only real joksters in the family. He would do things to make me laugh while the whole family was praying....or someone was telling a story that was not funny. To be honest, he was a little better at it than I was.

          To prove a point, I would say something funny, and nobody would laugh (by this time, it was understood that I wasn't funny. Finding out I was an atheist was a real deal breaker). My brother-in-law would make a point of saying the exact same thing a few minutes later, and everyone would laugh. He did it just to prove that it wasn't what I said, but who said it.

          Once, at a wedding. He talked me into this; He walked over to his wife (my wife's sister) and stood next to her. I stood behind her and grabbed her butt, and kept playing with it. She was making funny noises, thinking it was him. Then he just walked away while I was still doing it. She screamed.

          He was very bright with a wicked sense of humor. The rest of the family was highly educated, very proper, very religious, very kindhearted, and dull, dull, dull.

          My wife's older brother....

          At the first Christmas dinner I attended, I sat next to the Mother. After I got used to the patter, and how everyone complimented everything anyone said...I decided to test the waters.

          My wife Cheryl, had just had her hair done. So I said "Cheryl just had her hair done, isn't it lovely?" (of course there was a chorus of praise) "You know, it wasn't until our second date that I found out that Cheryl isn't a natural blond".

          You could hear a pin drop. One second...two...three...and then you could hear this deep laugh starting at the end of the table. Slowly at first, and then he couldn't contain himself any longer. It's the longest I've ever heard anyone laugh.

          When we left, I asked Cheryl "Do you think anyone but your brother got it?" She gave me that "You're a 5 year old" look, that I still get occasionally, and said "Everyone got it. Nobody in my family has ever said anything like that. And nobody was going to admit that they even knew what you meant".

          No, she didn't think it was funny.

          But from that point on, her oldest brother thought I was the wit at the table, and my one brother-in-law was my foil. The brother would just listen to my brother-in-law and me. And frankly we were both just there to joke with each other. He was just better at hiding what he was thinking.
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          • Profile picture of the author MissTerraK
            Well, that's an easy one. I'll never forget it!

            It was a pile of dog crap. Serious!

            The first Christmas after I got my beloved Snoopy, my Dad brought out a plain white square box tied with a red ribbon after all of the other gifts had been exchanged.

            He told me it was from Snoopy. I opened it excitedly and then was mortified when I saw what was inside!

            It was a gag gift of course, but it was extremely life like. My dad laughed so hard, he scared me! I mean his face turned all red and it looked like he had quit breathing.

            That was a very strange Christmas morning for me. And quite honestly, I'm glad I haven't experienced another anywhere near like it.

            Terra
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  • Profile picture of the author Riggs
    In retrospect, probably a packet of elastic bands. It was all I wanted for Christmas at the time. Just so I could make one HUGE bouncy ball of elastic bands.

    Unfortunately, like most things we want and eventually get, we're never truly happy. I was soon disappointed that I'd passed on the only opportunity I might have had of getting a new gaming console.
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