“What Is The Worst Gift You Ever Received?”: 45 Undeniably Bad Gifts, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community

A metal strap watch. From my ex. Despite him knowing that I absolutely hate metallic stuff. I don't wear even any kind of jewelry. I despise wearing any. All this after 6 years of being together. The added insult was him saying 'giving you gifts has become an obligation'

Trust issues! At Christmas when I was 7 or 8 I was on the phone with my auntie who lived abroad and she said she would send me something for my birthday (which was a few weeks later). I was excited - what kid wouldn't be? My birthday came, but the gift didn‘t. I thought nothing of it....maybe it takes so long, because the package comes from abroad (neighboring country). I checked the mailbox every day after school - it was long after Easter when I finally stopped. It didn‘t get lost in the mail, she simply forgot.
Moral of the story: Never promise something you can't or won't keep - especially to a child.

A book on how to handle my introverted mindset.

I grew up in a rural area. Neighbors were miles away. I was the youngest of 3 and we were many years apart in age.
In other words, I only had “school” friends.
Yet, my parents got me multi-player board games. Like, sorry, you won’t be getting to the Head Of The Class in this Game Of Life.

Suddenly a lot of makeup... Right after I came out as nonbinary.
I got back at her by using it to do goth makeup, clown makeup, and sfx stuff and sending her pictures.

I got a rotten pumpkin... Worst. Birthday. EVER.

Spoons.
My dad thought it would be a fun joke to give his son, fresh home from college after having eaten nothing but soup for a month...spoons. For Christmas. This was after I had told them all about what I had been going through. It was the first present I opened. I was so heart broken while he just giggled like he'd done something clever. I just dropped them and went back to my room and locked the door sobbing. Both me and Mom were so upset by that Christmas and the lack of effort he put into getting us anything that we actually didn't celebrate Christmas the next year. I don't know if he ever learned anything from the experience. I've given up caring about people who don't even know me...

For my 17th birthday, my mother gave me a carton of cigarettes. This was about a month after my stepfather and I had a knock-down drag-out fight, which I lost. She made her choice as to which one of us was more important. I was living with my father at the time. The worst part? Christmas was three weeks later and guess what I got for that one?
Another carton of Marlboros.

There was a year when one sister got a scrapbook set (complete with scissors, paper books, embellishments, etc). Another sister got a new TV, brother got tires for his truck... I got a pair of $7 earrings that were hideous.

Husband: sister and brother had tons of presents, beautifully wrapped, including new PlayStation... He received a black garbage bag of clothes- not in his size, with the clearance Kmart sticker on them. Nothing wrapped nicely. Just the trash bag.

For my 35th birthday, my mother gave me absolutely nothing, not even a card. I wouldn't have cared, but 6 days earlier, she gave my husband a card, $100 and a beautiful cake. One of the many reasons she is no longer allowed in my life.

A birthday card, wishing me a Happy 30th Birthday. On my 29th birthday. From my mother.

Not a gift for me, but my in-laws gave my son a trash can a few birthdays ago.

Used soap! My grandparents were poor farmers and never gave gifts to my brother and me. Except for one year, I received a gift in the mail, wrapped and everything! I was 9 and felt so special. Inside was a large, pink, scented heart soap. Okay .. then I noticed a line around the middle, it opened up and there was a key made of soap inside. It had been used a few times already. I was so sad!! It took me years to realize how poor they really were and had probably gotten it from their church not knowing that it had been used! But at 9…

Everything my mom and stepdad bought me as a kid. Literally, everything felt like it was designed to remind me that they had no idea who I was or were intentionally ignoring what they should have known about me.
Usually, really girly/feminine gifts when I was an overt tomboy (trans but we didn't have the verbage for that in the 90s), but not as like a manipulative tactic, they didn't care that I was a tomboy at all, they weren't trying to change me, they just didn't bother to notice anything about my personality. I kept just asking to go to the library more often or get new books, and the closest thing they did was get me American Girl books which were waaay below my reading level and not my preferred genre. I pointed out a cheap boys' bike at a thrift shop, and they got me a more expensive one that was a brand new heavy pastel pink cruiser with streamers. Even when they'd ask what I wanted they just didn't listen.
To their credit I never told them I didn't like the things they got me, that felt like it would be super rude, but it was hurtful and uncomfortable enough over the years that I stopped talking about my birthdays in hopes they would just forget.

When I was seven, my great-grandma bought my 2 cousins hundreds of dollars worth of toys, which I got to see them open. Then I was given my gift, volume 1 of an animal encyclopedia that you got for free with any purchase at the grocery store. I was pretty excited at first thinking about all the books I was going to have to read when the rest of the series came, until I found out volume 1 was the entirety of my present.

The Evil Goat Puzzle. My uncle took a photo of some mountain goats, got the photo turned into a 2,000-piece puzzle, and gave it to my grandparents. It would've been cool, but the resolution of the photo was so bad, and the colors were all the same (just gray, black, brown, and white) so it took us MONTHS to finish. Every time anyone visited my grandparents, they'd have to work on the Evil Goat Puzzle. My grandparents just couldn't manage it on their own.

(Oh, I forgot to mention! When my grandparents first started working on the Evil Goat Puzzle, my uncle decided to help them. They made a lot of progress in the first couple of days. Unfortunately, they'd started it on the kitchen counter, so they had to move it to another table. My grandma was about to move it using some cardboard, but my uncle got frustrated and took the whole thing apart. It was a bad, bad day.)

Used foot lotion. It was a secret Santa in the family that year. My youngest sister gave it to me. I guess she was too young to realize she could spend money instead of stealing it from our mom's closet 🤷‍♀️

I still laugh about this. I absolutely do not like cake. Don't like the texture. Don't like the sweetness. Just not a fan. Never was. For my birthday I always ask for a pie instead of a cake. My wife and I were together for several years at this point and she knows my unusual dislike of cake and had always gotten me some type of pie. I loved every one. One year. She gets me a chocolate cake. I'm weird and don't like chocolate either. The wife and kids were happy to finish the cake. I bought myself a pie during my lunch break.

I got a sponge with a face drawn on it for my birthday, courtesy of my Uncle Corey. He didn't get any birthday cake.

Got a trip to spain from my mother. As soon as we took of, she told me I have to pay for it.