What was the worst gift your PD parent ever gave you?

[JustKat]

I've been sitting here thinking of all the dumb, manipulative, insulting gifts my Nmother gave me over the years and have decided that this one was probably the worst.

After I went NC with my mother I stopped attending the annual family Christmas, so she'd mail a box of gifts instead, usually cheap and impersonal items like socks and dish towels. One year I was shocked to receive a MacBook, still in its original box, but minus the outer shrink-wrap (my first clue that something was off). When I opened it there was a note inside that said (paraphrasing), "Merry Christmas. I bought your GC brother an expensive new laptop for Christmas and am sending you his old one. It's broken, but I know your husband is handy, so maybe he can fix it for you."

I took it to a computer store and gave it to them to dispose of as electronic waste.

Anyone else care to share.

[Call Me Cordelia]

Yikes!!!

I had carried a brightly colored, very distinctive purse on and off for a few years. Last gift I ever got from my mother, for a milestone birthday, was a much poorer quality version of the very same purse. She claimed she didn't realize I had something like it, but that it looked like me somehow. I tried to return it and it was $1 at the place she worked at the time.

[Cat of the Canals]

I don't think I can out-do a broken laptop... PDmil has unloaded many broken items on us, after we told her we didn't them, but NOT as gifts, at least.

PDmom once presented me with my "birthday present" by explaining that she'd bought it at an art auction (she has a lot of artist "friends") and that she wasn't sure I'd like it. It was the most bizarre and hideous art sculpture THING I have ever seen. So weird I can't even describe it accurately because it was just... bad. Tacky and poorly made but mostly UGLY.

Now, I am of the opinion that one should always accept gifts as graciously as possible, but this thing was so legitimately terrible that all I could do was let my jaw drop and say, "What IS IT?"

And she must have known how horrible it was, because she didn't make me take it or make a stink about my reaction (which is extremely out of character for her). So I know what really happened. One of her "friends" put the Hideous Thing in this auction and NO ONE BID ON IT. So my mom did, to be "nice." And then, saddled with this ugly ass sculpture, she thought, "HEY I BET CAT WOULD LIKE THIS ABOMINATION. I'LL MAKE IT HER BIRTHDAY GIFT!"

[moglow]

Mine doesn't gift, unless you consider her presence in my life to be gift enough ...
Side note to Cat - that thing would be boxed up and regifted right back to mommy at the earliest opportunity!! "Oh. You gave that to me? No wonder I thought of you!"

[Cat of the Canals]

Side note to Cat - that thing would be boxed up and regifted right back to mommy at the earliest opportunity!! "Oh. You gave that to me? No wonder I thought of you!"

It took us a while, but my husband and I came up with a few specific details of the Thing after some discussion. It was about 2-3 feet tall and looked kind of like a stretched out leg. There was a lampshade or something lampshade-esque at the top, with fringe, but it was NOT a lamp. There were other appendages (badly) glued to the "leg" that may or may not have been doll parts... perhaps just the shape and size gave the impression of doll parts? It had a loud paint job. Lots of colors and a busy pattern. And I remember there being nails protruding from parts of it, like Pinhead from Hellraiser. My husband's overall description was, "Like Tim Burton gone bad."

[Hazel Eyes]

My Cluster B nightmare of a father did not believe in gifts (tacky or not). And if my mother tried to do anything thoughtful for my brother and me, he would find out about it sometimes and destroy whatever she did for us or abuse her for it. Yeah, he was that kind of parent. Even presents from our extended family were sent back to whoever sent them, by him. Because, in his warped way of thinking, my brother and I did not deserve anything. I still struggle with it to this day. I can't wrap my head around it. 

[Hilltop]

My mother just gave me a $50 note in a card then I would give it back to her for her birthday.  I eventually said it was silly and we shouldn't do that but she got all huffy and made a big deal about having to do something. I mean a text and a card she dropped off in my mailbox without knocking on the door to say hello, ugh.  I did get her gift cards as well but then she complained about the ones I got her and she wanted a particular one which had a fee attached to it when you purchased it. She later admitted they refused to get that one because of the fee as they thought it was stupid to pay it. Funny that the one card she asked for was the one they themselves would not purchase for anyone else.  It was simply easier for me to stop.  Now its just a text with nothing else.

Hazel, I am so sorry about your father, that was awful of him to return gifts intended for you.  I hope you are able to separate his message that you didn't deserve anything and see that this is not true of you.  It's not a reflection of you, it is simply your fathers disordered thinking.

[athene1399]

What uPD M gets me isn't terrible, but what irks me is she'll ask me for a list of what I want for Christmas or my birthday. When I give her my list, she complains about how dumb the stuff on the list is and "I am not getting you any of this. Give me more ideas". Then just tell her I want nothing and she does what she wants. The only weird thing she got me was like a massaging pad you put on a chair and plug in. I kind of look at her like "what do I do with this?" And haven't used it in years. It was probably expensive, but it just seems impractical to me. Idk. And I think she did it to be nice. Or meant to. Idk

[nanotech]

Once I got to my teens I used to ask for money for birthdays, as that was the only way I'd get any for fashion clothes and make up, none of which they approved of.
But for my 21st they insisted on choosing the gift, so I ended up with a  clunky wooden jewellery box I didn't need or like, and a silver rose brooch that  I didn't like and never wore.  It was about forty years too old for me. 
I said thank you 😊

[nanotech]

Thinking about presents and how they can affect us, is so interesting.
My favourite present from my 21st was a make up mirror from my auntie. My parents later asked me to excuse the 'poor ness' of this gift, explaining that my auntie had very little money right now.   
Hey parents, I really loved that mirror,  and I used it for years. It was attractive and very useful to me as a young woman.

I still don't understand why my parents  bought me an old lady style brooch?  It was the kind of gift they would only buy for my grandmas.
Not sure what was going on there.

[Penny Lane]

My stepson's mom one year gave him a bike that she had run over with her car.

[Amadahy]

Oh my gosh, some of these are something else! 

My most memorable was receiving a breadmaker after I'd had great weight loss success cutting out bread/simple carbs from my diet.  Sabotage, much?!  LOL. 

[wisingup]

My mom buys us all clothes that she likes.  Most of them go straight into the donation bin with the tags still on.  When my nephew was young, he would cry when he opened her present because he knew it would be clothes.  She kept buying him clothes.  I wear almost exclusively neutral colored clothing.  She buys me hot pink items almost every year.

[Hilltop]

Oh my gosh, some of these are something else! 

My most memorable was receiving a breadmaker after I'd had great weight loss success cutting out bread/simple carbs from my diet.  Sabotage, much?!  LOL.

Lovely.  My MIL left McDonalds at our front door once when I was on a diet.  It's so thoughtful of them isn't it. 

Wisingup, the hot pink must be a thing, my MIL would buy us hot pink towels when everything else was neutral colours.  I guess she liked colourful things, not in her own house though, no the hot pink was just for us.   

[JustKat]

These are really something and I relate to quite a few of them.

Hazel Eyes, my Nmother returned all gifts that were sent to us from my grandmother on my father's side. She wanted his family out of our lives, so we were only allowed to have gifts from one grandmother (her mother). Everything that arrived from my other grandmother vanished.

Cordelia, yes on the dollar store knock-offs. My mother had a habit of collecting boxes from high-end stores and would buy cheap items and put them in these boxes. She'd buy jewelry from a discount store and package it in Tiffany's box. I think she got some twisted pleasure over watching the shock and excitement on our faces, thinking we had been gifted with luxury goods, only to discover we had received dime store merchandise (which I would have been fine with since I don't wear expensive jewelry anyway).

Nanotech, I would also ask for money and gift cards for Christmas so I could choose my own gifts, but it angered my Nmother and she never complied. Christmas was her big day and she needed to have tons of packages under the tree so she could photograph her fabulous "Hallmark Christmas" to show off to her extended family. The cash vs. gifts conflict was one of the things that drove me to go NC. One year I had moved into a new house that was very small. I didn't have room for more stuff so asked for a gift card to do some much-needed renovations on the place. She came unglued and started crying about how her only joy in life was buying presents for her children and that I was ruining her Christmas. She went completely infantile on the call and I ended up hanging up on her.

Athene1399, everyone in my family was also required to hand over a "Christmas list," but we never got any of the items that were on the list.

My stepson's mom one year gave him a bike that she had run over with her car.

Penny Lane, I think I'll end here. That tops my broken laptop. Just, wow.

[Boat Babe]

Side note to Cat - that thing would be boxed up and regifted right back to mommy at the earliest opportunity!! "Oh. You gave that to me? No wonder I thought of you!"

It took us a while, but my husband and I came up with a few specific details of the Thing after some discussion. It was about 2-3 feet tall and looked kind of like a stretched out leg. There was a lampshade or something lampshade-esque at the top, with fringe, but it was NOT a lamp. There were other appendages (badly) glued to the "leg" that may or may not have been doll parts... perhaps just the shape and size gave the impression of doll parts? It had a loud paint job. Lots of colors and a busy pattern. And I remember there being nails protruding from parts of it, like Pinhead from Hellraiser. My husband's overall description was, "Like Tim Burton gone bad."

I am chuckling at your description. So bad, it's .,.... baaaaaad?

[Cat of the Canals]

I am chuckling at your description. So bad, it's .,.... baaaaaad?

bad

I admittedly like weird stuff, but I really believe this thing was objectively ugly.

[candy2022]

My mother has gave me so many ugly gifts that I can only say the gift of having her in my life... about physical stuff, I can't think of the worst or were ugly:  I remember a pair of socks but also remember all the clothes she always gave me if not super small, super extra large... just to make me angry.

[blacksheep7]

My mother just gave me a $50 note in a card then I would give it back to her for her birthday. 

   That was a smart move.

Quite a few good stories.   

Knick-knacks.  I once got a vase when I was 18 or 20 still living at home.  Now what in the heck am I going to do with that?

[Leonor]

On Christmas Eve, a deliveryman knocked on our door with an enormous box. Our three year old was delighted because he believed Santa came early!

Inside was all my "stuff," including high school yearbooks and wedding presents she had insisted I register for and then had stored for me, shoved into a big wad and crazy-stuck into a huge piece of cardboard folded and taped every which way.

She had cut me off 8 months before.

No card, of course.