I’m already in the holiday mood, Pandas, and I hope you are, too. I’ve been listening to Christmas songs at work and I’ve been polishing my rusty cookie baking skills (so far, it’s all gone disastrously wrong). But! Most importantly, I’ve already started searching for gifts for all of my loved ones. It’s far from easy to be original every year and sometimes we simply mess up. And the internet has proof of this.
Internet users have taken to the r/AskReddit online community to share the very worst gifts they’ve ever gotten. There are more than a few twists and turns in their tales, however. Take a break from school or work, grab yourselves a big mug of tea and some snacks, and let’s dive deep into the world of horrendous gifts, dear Readers. As you’re scrolling down, don’t forget to upvote the stories that took you by surprise. And if you’re feeling up to it, why not open up about the very worst presents you’ve ever given or received in the comments?
I also reached out to author and child independence expert Lenore Skenazy for a few comments about gift-giving and the burden we face as the holiday season comes every year. Scroll down to read what she told Bored Panda. Spoiler warning: we shouldn’t focus so much on the gifts themselves, nor about trying to be ‘perfect’ but about the holiday spirit and being genuine!
#1
When I was 8, I told my gran that I liked jeeps. So every year, for Christmas I got a crappier jeep. The first year was a model. Ok I like models I put it together it was fun. Next year was a remote. Then a matchbox. and so on. When I was 15 she gave me a jeep calendar. I love my gran so I hung the calendar and told her I loved it.
On my 16th Christmas, she gives me a key ring that says Jeep. UGH. Then asks me to go out and get some preserves from the barn. In the barn was a brand new 86 jeep! Gran plays the long game.
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664points
#2
Growing up I used to hate that my uncle would get all of us kids the same $1 pair of cheap one size fits all gloves. I clearly remember thinking how I'd really rather just have the dollar, and yet he never failed to get them for us. It was always the last gift my cousins and I would open... Thanks uncle Craig.
Craig was developmentally disabled, and although he was well into his 30's when we were kids he would come out into the street and play baseball with us, he'd ride bikes across town with us, buy us beer and nudey mags when we were older... And yet every year, these damn gloves even when we were grown adults and his health was fading, and we all moved away. This will be Christmas number 3 without Uncle Craig, and as I look back at it now it makes more sense. He was living in a shack that he was renting for $350 a month there were 15 nieces and nephews... We knew he couldn't afford to get us any toys or anything, but he wanted us to have something more meaningful than a dollar bill, and Christmas was his favorite holiday.
RIP Uncle Craig. I wish there was a poorly wrapped pair of gloves under my tree this year.
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540points
#3
Ex boyfriend gave me a pack of cigarettes after I had quit for 3 months to "celebrate my progress".
Most memorable thing he gave me was clamydia though.
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363points
Lenore, the president of Let Grow, a nonprofit that promotes childhood independence and resilience, and the founder of the Free-Range Kids movement, told Bored Panda all about how we can ease the burden of the holiday season. In her view, all we have to do is turn on the power of our imagination.
“To ease the burden of the holiday season, think about two possible scenarios,” she said.
#4
I met my wife in january of 2010. For her birthday in July I bought her a crockpot. She was .....appreciative, but later had told me she was upset. Her sister told her to break up with me cause what kind of guy buys his new girlfriend kitchen appliances.
About 2 months later she finds a recipe she wants to try and busts out the crockpot. Inside it she finds a smaller gift. It was a brand new ipod touch.
She was pissed.
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339points
#5
It was nothing. My in-laws bring gifts for my husband but not me because I'm not "real family".
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320points
#6
My wife used to give me things that were intended for herself.
This was a win-win for her and a lose-lose for me. She could give me something, then get mad at me for being unappreciative. One time, she gave me a frilly picture frame, thinking I would never use it. I thanked her and took it to work.
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295points
The expert then went into detail about the two scenarios we should think about and compare in our minds.
“In one, you are invited to a party at a very fancy home. Everything is perfect, clean, expensive. Everyone there is on their best behavior. No one shouts, runs, slips, yells, spills, eats too much, or bursts into song. They can’t wait to go home and take off their too-tight shoes,” she went into detail.
#7
About 10 years ago my uncle was giving out Christmas gifts to everyone in the family. He's mentally handicapped but he makes sure to go to the dollar store to buy everyone something, typically mugs. Now my uncle doesn't really put much thought into who gets what mug. He just wraps the mug and puts someone's name on it. Sometimes people get multiple mugs and other times you get none because he doesn't keep track of who has already been assigned a mug. Well my cousin was married to a Muslim (it's relevant, I promise) and her gift was a mug that said, "Jesus loves you." It was the only religious themed mug out of probably 50 and she got it. The entire family was laughing, including her. She thought it was great.
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283points
#8
I'm asian. My secret santa gave me a box of instant rice. I wasn't offended by the rice. I was offended that it was the instant kind.
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283points
#9
I’m gonna speak on my husbands behalf here. We don’t speak to his family or see them at all, there’s a history of abuse and just a lot of toxicity so we cut them out of our lives. It’s been almost 3 years of radio silence, which is amazing and it was absolutely the right choice for us. Whelp, unfortunately my husbands parents live in the same city as us and they know where we go to church. So this year, on my husband’s birthday, my MIL dropped off a gift at our church for him because she doesn’t know where we live and can’t contact us any other way.
The gift was the DVD of the movie I Can Only Imagine. If you’re not familiar with the premise of the movie, let me fill you in. It’s about a man who was abused by his father as a boy. He leaves home and stops having a relationship with his dad. Years go by and the man decides to reconcile and rebuild a relationship with his dad, who was previously abusive but because he found God, he isn’t anymore.
It was really f**ked up to get that movie from someone who manipulated and abused my husband until his early twenties. So that gift absolutely takes the cake. And in the event MIL or the family finds this comment and reads it (though I doubt they use reddit), the only thing I’ll say directly to you in 3 years is “Shame on you.”
227points
Lenore then painted us a word picture about a different sort of party. One that’s more genuine, heart-warming, full of good times with loved ones.
“Now imagine you’re invited to another party the next week. The house is kind of messy and some of the food looks like leftovers. Someone’s playing the piano and people are singing. Someone else is showing the little kids a magic trick. Someone in the kitchen is making hot cider and the dog is sniffing everyone in a slightly embarrassing way.”
#10
My sister received a brand new bike.....on MY birthday. My grandmother felt bad, so on her birthday she got me an Encyclopedia
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224points
#11
It wasn’t really the gift itself, but what my dad said after I opened it.
It was one of those ninja blenders that a lot of people starting using instead of juicers. I was 16 when my dad gave the blender to me, even though I had never expressed any interest in wanting or needing one.
After I opened it, he said he chose this gift because he wanted me to live a healthier lifestyle and hopefully lose a few pounds.
At the time, I was taking ballet classes 5 days a week, and I often performed with my dance troupe on the weekends, so I was pretty fit at the time.
It didn’t help that he said this in front of his entire side of the family.
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223points
#12
My extremely cheap uncle visited my family once for christmas and upon his arrival he gave me and my brother the chips that he had gotten on the airplane. This man is a Neurosurgeon.
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212points
She continued: “The teens are rolling their eyes in the corner, Grandma is repeating that joke she tells every year, and uncles are one-upping each other with stories about the times they had to sneak into the house after curfew. Which party is more fun for everyone? The one that gets people together with a chance to be themselves and feel unself-conscious.”
According to Lenore, it isn’t expensive and fancy things that we need. In fact, we can have an amazing holiday without them if we focus on our family and learn to relax instead of chasing the ‘perfect’ way to celebrate.
#13
Nothing. One year my very well off (we're talking millionaires) aunt and uncle got everyone in the family a gift except for me because suddenly, since I was 20, I was "too old" for gifts. But all the other aunts and uncles got gifts, so it wasn't just me being singled out among the many cousins, but among EVERYONE. If they were not absolutely loaded and they had also not given anything to the other 18+ people I might have understood. But they didn't.
As an already very stressed out, poor (parents were lower class) college student it really upset me. I spent most of the celebration crying in the bathroom and trying to hide it.
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201points
#14
My mother in-law have my wife and I a book about surviving infidelity. Neither of us have ever cheated on the other in 20 years of marriage. Merry Christmas.
196points
#15
An ashtray. I was 7 years old. I didn't smoke then, and I don't smoke now.
193points
“People might think you need fancy food, gifts, clothes to have a truly wonderful holiday. But really all you need are people you love (and a few who drive you crazy), some food, and some time together. Don’t stress about spending money and time making things perfect. Use that time to connect with each other instead. That’s a holiday everyone will appreciate—including you!”
#16
When I was a little kid (going back about 25 years) I cut the legs off a pair of sweatpants and gave them to my dad for Christmas as "leg warmers." No clue where I came up with the idea. Found out a few years ago he still has them and it still cracks him up whenever he sees them.
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189points
#17
As a small child I got a water bottle and a helmet for Christmas and nothing else. I was totally pissed because I thought my mom just thought I was extra special and needed a helmet to not hurt myself while running around and that I was especially underhydrated. Turns out I had actually gotten a bicycle for Christmas but all of my presents were stolen except for the helmet and water bottle. The worst gift I received wasn't those presents, it was the knowledge that the world is a cruel and uncaring place.
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172points
#18
My husband received his recently deceased grandfather's used disposable razor as a Christmas gift from his grandmother. Complete with hair and all.
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168points
#19
A box of Hillshire Farms sausages from my wife's grandparents. I'm a vegetarian, they had known me for 10 years at this point.
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168points
