<p>One Christmas when I was quite small my champion trap-shooter Dad (who obviously was looking to expand his gun collection) gave my Mom a spanking new twelve-gage shotgun. My Mom is a petite lady who has never held a gun in her life. The gun was even better received than the vacuum cleaner he gave her one birthday. ;)</p>
<p>BIL gave SIL a trash compactor one year. Now that’s romantic.</p>
<p>My BIL gave my MIL a GS to home depot for her 75th birthday.
The worst thing my H did (and he isnt a good gift giver) was to get my Christmas stocking from newbury comics. a Jon Bon JOVI action figure, silly string, car freshner, and several other useless thoughtless gifts. " Well I thought you like Bon Jovi" yes I like thie music but dont follow groups in that way. Anyone who knows me would never buy my gifts at newbury comics. I took them out and made him take them back. Last year on my 50th i was ill , I got a blanket for my birthday, WELL I just got some diamond earrings and pendant for my birthday six months later once I was up and about . LOL</p>
<p>H gave me a bathroom scale for Mother’s Day one year. Not very well received.</p>
<p>The scale I could throw; the exercise bike would take more effort.</p>
<p>One birthday after hinting like mad to my H that I wanted a certain necklace, I put on lipstick and brushed my hair before dinner so I’d look my best when I put it on. I was quite deflated when the gift was a cellphone. </p>
<p>This was about 16 years ago when phones were big honking things that didn’t hold a charge for even a day. I felt like I’d been given a ball and chain as I hated getting calls when I was out and about. My, how times change.</p>
<p>One Christmas, my FIL gave my then 13 yr old son a chicken claw mounted with the middle claw extended. It was then we knew he was starting to decline.</p>
<p>Now wait…if we’re talking bad gift GIVERS…my husband is right up there. For the first 20 years we were married, he would give me a sweater at Christmas in size large. Now keep in mind…I wear a size SMALL…sometimes extra small. He said the same thing year after year “they didn’t have your size so you can exchange it AFTER Christmas”…Hello…if they didn’t have a small BEFORE Christmas, they are not likely to have one after. </p>
<p>Yep…he does his Christmas shopping on Christmas EVE…closes the stores. And he WONDERS why they don’t have my size!!</p>
<p>Thumper1, you need to introduce DH to online shopping at your favorite store.</p>
<p>MD Mom…he no longer buys me clothes! Thank goodness…I DO go online now and pick out exactly what I want…not clothes. This year…I got a new computer!! </p>
<p>Word of warning to all…be careful what YOU give. In DH’s family…when his parents moved to a smaller dwelling, we got ALL of our presents returned to us (picture frames and the like). Oh well. At least they were NICE gifts we gave them!!!</p>
<p>My grandmother wrote the name of the person who gave her a gift on the bottom, so that it could be returned when the time came.</p>
<p>A mounted chicken claw? Where could you even find such a thing?</p>
<p>Many years ago, when I was leaving a job, there was a going-away party for me at the office. My boss (a wealthy surgeon) gave me a black leather purse. I opened it up and there was also a leather wallet inside. I actually looked in the wallet in front of everyone at the party, was visibly disappointed, and complained that there was no cash inside. (Someone presented me with a penny. . .) The next day, a couple of the ladies came in my office and said, “We don’t think you know what kind of purse that is. . .” I had no clue what they were talking about. They explained that it was an expensive brand name purse/wallet that cost over $400. (My boss had given them the $ and told them to "get her something nice."They were baffled and disappointed that I wasn’t really excited when I saw the purse.) I was poor at the time and never knew any stores or brands. So I was thinking it was kinda cheap of my boss not to include some cash with what I assumed was a $20-30 gift! I did use that nice tasteful purse for years until the strap broke. And my husband actually still uses the wallet.</p>
<p>My mother gave me a plastic rocking thing that you lay on and it was supposed to help while doing sit-ups. This was after a C-section and having my gallbladder out 3 months later. I couldn’t bend over or lift my son, much less exercise! She thought I should get my figure back as soon as possible. I gave it back to her unused.</p>
<p>My mother likes to watch the shopping channels on TV to pass the time, so for years I’ve gotten useless gadgets she let herself get suckered into buying, like a flashlight that has a crank on the side that you turn to generate power instead of using batteries, or a piece of stone with plastic around it that you heat up in your microwave to put food on to keep warm, or some calculator-like thing with a 1-line 20 character display that has AAA info that you can use to somehow look up hotels or restaurants or gas stations when you are on the road.</p>
<p>I’ve tried to tell her not to get me this junk, but something shows up every year. Thanks, Mom. :)</p>
<p>My mother was the worst at giving presents. She bought everything at consignment shops. You never knew what was going to be in the box, and sometimes the stuff was truly awful. Used, stained gloves. Books with a strong scent of mold. </p>
<p>But occasionally she scored. Big silver serving spoons. An exquisite china teacup WITH A SAUCER THAT MATCHED (I still have that one). Costume jewelry that was actually cute (my daughter has the pearls).</p>
<p>Not long before she died, she told me very proudly “I never spend more than a dollar on your presents, dear.” Yep, mom, we knew.</p>
<p>I have a sweet friend who every year gives me one of those orange chocolate apple things (I love chocolate but NOT the orange flavored thing), a bottle of cheap sweet white wine (I love good, full bodied reds) and usually a cheezy framed thing with some quote on it. I know she means well, but every year it is the same thing. We get a real kick out of it at our house. When we go to her house, we usually bring a nice red wine. I WISH she would re-gift it. Now, to her credit, when it came to birthday gifts for the kids (her s and my younger s are the same age and are good friends) she gives my s a bag full of singles (all crumpled up)!! That is a GREAT gift. Its usually $20-25</p>
<p>jym26- Your friend is a dear. Within the framework of her experience, her gifts are well intentioned and sweet. OK. “Sweet.” But I get that her intentions are good, as you acknowledge. </p>
<p>Hooray for bags of cash for kids. It always fits.</p>
<p>Oh yes, she has a heart of gold, for sure. I almost forgot-- she broke tradition this past xmas-- and what was funny was that I gave her a whole set of monogrammed kitchen things (hotplate, potholders, wine bottle stoppers etc) and-- she gave me monogrammed little cheese spreaders!! We roared about our identical gifts!!.
My birthday was 2 wks ago. Three guesses (with slight variation)— . Sweet wine, a pad of paper, and white chocolate bar</p>
<p>We have a family tradition: for the past 25 years I have given my BIL the Annual Tacky Gift at Christmas. Every year, something new and tacky. Over the past 25 years, I have given him such winners as an electric bug swatter racquet; a coconut bikini top; Nunzilla, a sparking metal windup toy; a plastic rocket which you fill with water and pump up the water pressure before firing (the water all went in his face); and a tacky beer boot from Berlin (try saying that really fast 3 times!) with seams up the sides from where the mold was joined together. One year, I found a slot car racetrack, but instead of slot cars, you raced grannies in rockers around the figure-8 track. Woe to the racers if the grannies collided at the crossover! It was a moment of pure Tacky Gift triumph as everyone clustered around to watch Racing Grannies.</p>
<p>I already have this year’s Tacky Gift which I cannot divulge because sometimes my BIL reads CC.</p>