Ho, ho, ho, pandas, what did Santa leave for you under the Christmas tree this year? Was it the present that you wanted? Or maybe it was Krampus who visited you and left you with a big pile of disappointment?
In that case, don't be too sad knowing you're in good company. These people from the r/AskReddit community have found some duds under the Christmas Tree too. The user SwirlyStarrs asked netizens to share what's the worst gift they received and the answers ranged from cringy to downright offensive. Perhaps Krampus possesses some people to gift empty boxes and library books that are soon to be due?
We were lucky enough to be able to chat with the person who posted this question on r/AskReddit. SwirlyStarrs agreed to have a brief chat with Bored Panda and tell us more about her reasons for posting this question.
#21
I was in debate my freshman year, it was a blended grade class. The teacher arranged an optional secret santa for the class. One of the seniors got my name.
Exchange day comes around and I get a $20 gift card to Starbucks. Cool, he didn't know me that well so a gift card was fine.
At the time I'd never had Starbucks so I was happy to try it. Went to get something and found out there was $2.73 left on the card... he literally just gave me his used gift card. D**k.
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93points
#22
I got perfume samples, the kind you find embedded in the pages of magazines, and two 99c cans of shaving cream. My stepmonster was irritated I wasn't more appreciative of her "practical" gifts.
My stepsister got a horse.
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89points
#23
A set of used, mismatched, still dirty kitchen knives in the box for a nice set of knives from my MIL.
What do you even say to that?
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89points
#25
A fire notice from my job. They put that s**t in a gift box.
85points
#26
A Christmas card that said "roses are red, violets are blue, youre a jew, so no Christmas for you." Grade 4 truly was a special time.
85points
#27
A kitten. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my cat and I'm so happy I have her. But when my mom got her for me it was a poorly thought-out surprise. It was even a surprise to my grandparents, who I live with, and had no idea they'd be getting a cat in their house. She also didn't provide a litter tray or litter, or cat food. So my Christmas became a fetch quest of trying to get together everything the kitten needed, with all the shops closed.
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84points
#28
A blouse my MIL pulled out of her closet. I made her squirm by asking for the receipt so I could exchange it for a different size. She said she must’ve misplaced it. B***h.
82points
#29
Earrings from my boyfriend... when I didn't have pierced ears. And when I saw the box, I thought it was a ring and he was proposing. AND when I reminded him I didn't have pierced ears, he returned them and kept the money.
78points
#30
An empty box, apparently the look on my face as a kid was the present my family needed.
75points
#31
Got a crucifix one year from my grandmother. The same year I told my family I was atheist.
74points
#32
Not me, but my cousins (sisters, aged about 5 and 8) got a small bottle of Johnson's Baby Powder. As a JOINT gift from their great-aunt. SMH. It just smacks of "She's old, Rusty, she and Uncle Louis don't have a lot of money so she takes things from around the house and wraps them up."
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72points
#33
A huge bag of disposable pink razors paired with thick off brand pads to open in front of my entire extended family.
69points
#35
A German, meat based cookbook from my now ex mother in law. She knew I had become vegetarian and disapproved. The thing was, I dropped it at Goodwill the following week and a couple weeks after that she asked if she could borrow it.
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65points
#36
A ziploc bag of muddy buddies, with fruit flies all over them.
A bag of tortilla chips, they were stale.
Another ziploc bag filled with nail polishes, all old and separating.
A bag of tortilla chips, they were stale.
Another ziploc bag filled with nail polishes, all old and separating.
Those were all the same person.
A GF at the time was yelling at me about giving her a stupid and thoughtless gift, before tossing their gift at me and stomping away. They gave me a book. A beaten-up, used book. I know it was used because I was the original owner of the book, and had lent it to her months before.
64points
#37
That would be the pair of Christmas socks where they claimed "one sock was for Christmas, and one for my birthday" while laughing hysterically. My birthday is the 24th. A runner up to worst gift was a rubber band ball (i was 16) and it wasn't a gag gift.. tied in place with the book I gave my mom - 2 years later, regifted to me, as she said she didn't want it, and if I didn't either to just throw it away. It was a memory book. I canceled my birthday and only started recently doing holidays again for my kid.
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63points
#38
Not me, but my MIL gifted someone a library book that had to be returned in a week.
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60points
#39
My dad got me a snow shovel and even wrapped it and when I opened it up, he told me to go use it on the driveway.
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59points
#40
A half used bottle of bubble bath. Used I know because it had ran down the sides of the bottle and dried.
56points
Gift-giving during the holidays often brings mixed experiences, and sometimes the intentions behind the presents matter more than the gifts themselves.
For those interested in exploring stories about surprising reactions to holiday gifts within families, this look into family gift dynamics offers a heartfelt perspective.