What Is The Worst Christmas Gift You Ever Received?

I was just talking to my father about the worst gifts we've seen at work gift exchanges. Last week at the gift exchange his co-worker opened and envelope with a Starbucks gift card (they were supposed to bring 1 gift up to $10). There was no price on it so she asked out loud how much was on it and received the reply "About $10." Everyone looked puzzled until the gifter explained that his wife received it with $25 on it and had used it a few times and he had "gifted" what was left over.

For those of you struggling on making an awful impression on someone by giving them an awful gift, might I recommend anything from this list....


http://shopping.yahoo.com/articles/y...-nobody-wants/

I've never received a decent Christmas gift I could use until recently: so now, it's either money or gift certificates

I can't remember anything that bad, but I do remember it always being a letdown when I got a present I already had.

Originally Posted by dganderson

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I was just talking to my father about the worst gifts we've seen at work gift exchanges. Last week at the gift exchange his co-worker opened and envelope with a Starbucks gift card (they were supposed to bring 1 gift up to $10). There was no price on it so she asked out loud how much was on it and received the reply "About $10." Everyone looked puzzled until the gifter explained that his wife received it with $25 on it and had used it a few times and he had "gifted" what was left over.
aah. what the hey, it's just coworkers at an office party. gift supposed to be more of the thought and effort, wouldnt hurt me ,but just makes a commentary on the person who brought the gift.
i rather receive a 5 dollar starbucks card if i knew he trekked 10 miles in the snow to get it for me than a leftover 25 and some change card he had in his wallet unused. actually, i would prefer the latter sorry.

Originally Posted by acidboy

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when I was about 9 or 10, my baptismal godparents gave me one of those japanese anime robot figurines. when I excitedly opened the box, the styrobox inside was partly destroyed, the "metal" plastic parts of the robot was bluish instead of metallic, and some parts were missing... a few months later I was in their house, and I saw that same damn toy in their kid's room- all pristine and complete. what assholes!!1!!!

this story disturbs me.
assholes indeed.

We do a Secret Sants gift exchange here at work, which can get a tad hairy because, as a manufacturing firm, we have people from all different slices of the socio-economic ladder - unskilled labor, admin, accounting, engineers, salespeople, and business executives.

One year, one of our production guys, an older fella who lived in a trailer, drew my name. I think he wanted to get me something sort of "classy" for a young, (then) single guy, but couldn't afford much. He got me this awful boxed set, probably from the cheap department store - it contained an awful poly tie, a really flimsy tie chain clasp thing, and a bottle of cheap cologne. I didn't even know how to re-gift it or even what to do with it. I could see he was excited to give it to me so I felt terrible, some months later, when I just decided to toss it.

This is many, many years ago. The parents of the girl I was dating at the time gave me a Gideon bible...can't remember which hotel they stole it from.

Originally Posted by Douglas

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We do a Secret Sants gift exchange here at work, which can get a tad hairy because, as a manufacturing firm, we have people from all different slices of the socio-economic ladder - unskilled labor, admin, accounting, engineers, salespeople, and business executives.

One year, one of our production guys, an older fella who lived in a trailer, drew my name. I think he wanted to get me something sort of "classy" for a young, (then) single guy, but couldn't afford much. He got me this awful boxed set, probably from the cheap department store - it contained an awful poly tie, a really flimsy tie chain clasp thing, and a bottle of cheap cologne. I didn't even know how to re-gift it or even what to do with it. I could see he was excited to give it to me so I felt terrible, some months later, when I just decided to toss it.


That is quite the sticky situation for a gift exchange. Like you said, the socio-economic ladder encompasses both extremes. Was there no $$ limit on gifts purchased?

Xmas is just right around the corner!!! I expect to hear about some great (see also: horrible) gifts received this year!

Once one of my brothers gave me a tie I had given him the year before, and he didn't even know it. Another time, my other brother gave me a free gift he had gotten from buying some cologne. He definitely knew. Assholes.

Originally Posted by Imhoff

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For those of you struggling on making an awful impression on someone by giving them an awful gift, might I recommend anything from this list....


http://shopping.yahoo.com/articles/y...-nobody-wants/

The dog mustache toy is awesome

Originally Posted by willpower

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The dog mustache toy is awesome

Agreed. Purchased.

Originally Posted by sho'nuff

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aah. what the hey, it's just coworkers at an office party. gift supposed to be more of the thought and effort, wouldnt hurt me ,but just makes a commentary on the person who brought the gift.
i rather receive a 5 dollar starbucks card if i knew he trekked 10 miles in the snow to get it for me than a leftover 25 and some change card he had in his wallet unused. actually, i would prefer the latter sorry.


this story disturbs me.
assholes indeed.

hey maybe they bought two, one for you and one for their son who messed with yours, but they didn't know.

This, by far, is the best threak on Styleforum right now.

When I was in 7th grade, my uncle gave me . . . . . . it was wrapped in gift paper and everything. I ate some of them right before I got a stomach flu - now I can not stand the taste of chocolate-mint to this day.