What is a gift or present you received that you were less than impressed with?

The last Christmas I spent with my parents, and the first one after I moved out of their house – My husband (then fiancée) and I put a great deal of time, thought, and cost into gifts for my mother, my stepfather, and my siblings.

I received a toy (yes, a toy) coffee pot with the $5 sticker still attached, and he received a pocketknife that was part of a pack of 100 my stepfather bought of Home Shopping Network and had been giving away to people for years, as well as a re-gifted set of monogrammed handkerchiefs (luckily for my stepfather, his last initial was the same as my husband’s first initial. Ha.)

Most people give me lotion, bath stuff, etc. as a gift, and I hate it. And it’s always cheap or a re-gift. It’s almost insulting.

Unfortunately, my mother thinks she has my fashion sense down when she doesn’t. So every year for Christmas and my birthday I open box after box of clothing and accessories I would never wear. I always smile and thank her, but later on I tell her to stop buying me clothes because I would prefer to go out and buy them myself. She never listens. So the torture continues. However, instead of taking them home and putting them in my closet knowing I’ll never wear them, I’ve resorted to making her take them back to the store so she can get her money back. You think after that she’d get the hint, but unfortunately not.

I once got a Calvin and Hobbes comic book that I already owned. I didn’t want to tell the person though, since it’s the thought that counts and all haha.

@Vunessuh Aw, your mom really enjoys doing nice things for you. She loves to buy clothes for you, and you already know that she won’t stop. Please don’t be ungrateful or mean, which is what you do when you make her return gifts for refunds. This is your time to “take one for the team.” Just appreciate your mother’s kindness and thoughtfulness, as well as all the effort she put into finding gifts for you. Thank her, and have genuine gratitude, for the good aspects. Then, let her see you wear each item once before you donate it to charity.

@Primobabe Letting her return something I’ll never wear so she hasn’t wasted her money is considered ungrateful and mean? Hm. Me thinks not. I shouldn’t have to wear anything I don’t care for just because it was bought for me. I have a close enough relationship with my mother to be able to tell her the truth. And guess what? She appreciates the truth. Yes, she loves to buy me clothes because I am her only child, but last time we had a conversation about it, she told me that she would prefer if I told her if I’m not going to wear something so she can get her money back. It’s literally a waste of money if it’s going to sit in my closet. I tell her to return it and buy herself something because I don’t need anything. In fact, every fucking year I tell her I don’t need anything. I’m not 5 years old – I’m a 22 year old woman so letting her see me wear each item at least once just to please her seems rather childish to me.
But thanks for your insight and trying to make me look like a spoiled brat as if I don’t appreciate my mother’s heart and efforts. Next time, PM me instead with your critiques. I’d appreciate it.

I was friends with this woman that gave me a “regift” for Christmas one year. a “regift” is a gift someone received that they did not want and they regive it to someone else. well, i was the recipient of a regift. she told me it was a regift and at that time, i did not know what she meant. i do now. someone gave her a rubber ink pen/cellphone holder for the console in her car. since she only used her bluetooth, she had no use for the regift and she regifted it to me. i said thanks to her and i have never and will never use it. its ugly!!!!

Remember, john….its the thought that counts.(my guardian angel said that).

@vuhnessuh Calm down! I didn’t mean to be critical, and who’s suggesting that you’re a “spoiled brat”? I meant no offense, but it’s apparent that I offended you. I sincerely apologize. I hope that you’ll appreciate my apology and accept it.

Have you suggested that your mom buy you gift cards—to your favorite stores—and let you do your own shopping? That would bypass your mom’s efforts, your dislike of her choices, and your mom needing to return the gifts she’s selected. Just a thought…

Kindly don’t use obscenities when you address me. I never use such language when I post anything at this website, and I’ll appreciate it if you return the courtesy. Thank you.

@facade Please, please, please forward those bath items to me. I love them, and I’m always glad to receive them. :-)

When I was in college my mother used to send me care packages and I was more than grateful for them and thought it was sweet of her, but the fall of my freshman year she sent me one that included a pink t-shirt with a big painted unicorn on the front and I saw it and just thought ugh! What was she thinking? Who the hell is this for? And thought: “Wow! You have absolutely no clue who I am, do you Mom?” It made me kind of sad that she didn’t seem to know me at all. But we eventually worked things out. Mother/daughter relationships can be kind of difficult. Other than that, usually I try to be a good and grateful actor. Except for the year that I got a Zip drive for Christmas. I had been hoping for something, anything but a Zip drive, I guess. I had trouble hiding my disappointment and I felt bad because the giver seemed to have thought I would really like it and at the time, it wasn’t a cheap gift. It cost about a hundred dollars in 2001 I think it was. Then there are always those gifts you get from co-workers at Christmas. Oh, thanks yet another coffee cup with a reindeer on it or something you absolutely know has probably be re-gifted 3 or 4 times before it got to you.

@Primobabe I don’t understand. What kind of a response were you expecting after essentially telling someone they’re ungrateful and unappreciative of their mother’s thoughtfulness and efforts and that they lack genuine gratitude just because they express a disliking for something bought for them? You have absolutely no idea how much I appreciate my mom, and you want to pass judgment and express a hasty generalization over how I treat her because we have two totally different fashion senses? Lulz. Wut?
Having a difference in clothing and accessories is incredibly small compared to the grand scheme of things between her and I, something which you know nothing about.
And last time I checked, the definition of a spoiled brat is someone ungrateful, unappreciative and mean so I do in fact think that that’s what you were suggesting.

And yes, like I said in my answer, I’ve told her that I prefer to do my own shopping and I’ve asked her to simply buy me gift cards instead. It seems to go in one ear and out the other though. So now, we have an understanding of one another that she’ll continue to buy me whatever and I’ll be honest if I do and don’t like something so she can salvage some cash. Voila. Problem solved.

I appreciate your apology. I was quick to be defensive, but being accused of a particular behavior when it’s far from the truth irks me.
I’m curious as to these obscenities you claim I’ve used. The only word I used was fucking. Does that bother you? If so, we’re going to get along beautifully. ::sighs::
I reread what I wrote, and I don’t see how I addressed you so horribly.

Seek, that WAS lousy. i keep telling myself, “its the thought that counts”. somehow, these words just do not seem to fit your situation for that Christmas. has anything changed, since then?

One of my exes gave me for Christmas one year a book that he’d forgotten that I knew his sister had given him for his birthday a few months before. He’d also forgotten that I’d previously read the book and pronounced it “crappy”. :/

My husband surprised me with a pair of (expensive) earrings in December. They weren’t my style at all. I have conservative and traditional tastes, but the earrings were modern and edgy. I hate the color brown and never wear it; the earrings have brown topaz gemstones.

After my initial expressions of gratitude and appreciation, which were genuine, I told my husband that I really didn’t care for the earrings. I knew that he’d spent quite a bit of money on them, and I thought that it would be better to be honest and exchange them for something that I’d enjoy wearing.

The look on his face made me feel about 2 feet tall. He told me that he’d carefully selected the gift and had returned to the store several times before buying them, just to make sure that he was making the right choice. He’d asked a number of female customers for their opinions. Most of all, he paid for the earrings with funds from his personal savings account—not from one of our joint accounts—so that they’d truly be a gift from him.

You can guess what happened. I had a complete “change of heart” and told him that I liked the earrings after all and really, really wanted to keep them. I wear them every couple of weeks or so. I learned that a little white lie can sometimes be a very good thing.

Personally, I’m not hurt if someone doesn’t like a gift. I figure that all people have different tastes—that’s what makes the world interesting—and that someone doesn’t have to like something just because I do. But…

Maybe it’s a male/female issue. In general, women do more shopping, and purchase more gifts, than men do, so they might have more practical feelings about the whole thing.

It is tough, but my wife and I do our best at acting grateful when our two cats drag in gifts of critters, live or dead, in whole or parts, because, after all, to the cat, it is gift giving. It has been a lucrative spring for hunting: birds, lizards, gophers, field mice, etc (oh, the price for living on the edge of the city, along with coyote, raccoon, opossum and bobcat).
See ya…..Gary/wtf

@whatthefluther Watch your back, that’s all I can say. It’s not a gift, it’s a warning

In my family, I was notorious for my… unusual gifts. I didn’t like to give people obvious things. I liked to pick up quirky items that I spotted and save them for gifts for people I thought could use some wonder in their lives. I’d buy my brother professional clown makeup, or I’d give my extremely conventional mother a sci-fi tabletop wargame. The crowning moment of glory, the gift which went down in history in my family, was the christmas I bought my father a very expensive, life-sized, extremely realistic, and glow-in-the-dark human skull. When he opened it, total silence fell across the room. No one knew what to say, or how to take it.

It was awesome.

@lillycoyote….Thank you, thank you. I never knew. Imagine being fooled all these years.
Thomas and Buddy…...get in here!
See ya…..Gary/wtf

@john65pennington

Only for the worse. Almost a year later we had a huge falling out. Police were involved. We haven’t spoken since, and I have no intention of breaking the silence. I’m sick of being the adult in the situation – it’s been that way since I was eight years old.

@SmashTheState

I think I love you. ^_^

Two years ago my girlfriend told me she had “the perfect gift” for me for my birthday. I was surprised to say the least when I opened it up to find….. a white, silver-sparkle striped dress shirt. No word of a lie, silver sparkles.
Surprisingly, our relationship continued and I somehow managed to choke down the disgust and thank her for it. After two years, I finally had to tell her I absolutely hate it since she kept asking why I never wear it. Honestly she never has been that good at gift giving lol.

@ApolloX64 – were you David Bowie in a past life?