The Cheapest Gift You Have Ever Received

[sparks19]

Well I feel kind of bad posting this because they really didn't have to give me anything for Christmas... but my husbands Uncle gave me a gift certificate for Mary kay.... while on it's own it is a very nice gift... the part I found cheap about it is that it is his daughter who is the Mary Kay rep.... so I kinda felt that they only gave it to me to help her advance and make money lol. To me that seems kinda cheap and cheesy. My MIL received the same gift from them.

[Catty1]

sparks - you and your MIL can find another Mary Kay person...try the white pages! (mean, I know!)

[cyber-sibes]

Some of these make me laugh, others just make me shake my head in disbelief! I think it's safe to say I never got anythg quite as bad as a couple of these --- like "sampled" jellies or antsy fruitcake!
I guess the cheapest gift was from one of my old bosses - a candy cane, a few stale Hershey kisses & one rock hard envelope of hot chocolate mix stuffed into a dollar store mug. Oh well, at least all us employees got the same thing.

[ramanth]

This didn't happen to me, but my sister once recieved dollar store extra large panty hose during a family gift exchange from our uncle.

Same sister got as a wedding gift from the same uncle a book about dieting.

My sister and her hubby barely weigh 100 lbs.

We were rolling with laughter.

[Blue_Frog]

From a Secret Santa excange with my extended family:

A box of Nice'n'Easy. For Beards and Moustaches. Thanks guys, last time i checked i was a girl

[WELOVESPUPPIES]

OMGosh you guys have me rolling !! Sorry Blue_Frog but I about fell out of my chair laughing at yours, LOL.

I am happy to say I cannot remember any cheap gifts of my own but I do have a really good friend whose birthday is Christmas Eve. One year relatives gave her a gift, one for her birthday and one for Christmas morning. When she opened her birthday gift that evening it was a slipper, yes A slipper...guess what she got for Christmas....yep the other slipper. Now that is cheap.

[Gin]

Some of these people sound, not just cheap and thoughtless, but mentally ill as well. How else do you explain one slipper, sampled jelly, beard & moustache dye for a girl, ancient fruitcake, and rancid perfume?

[cassiesmom]

Zippy Kat, I had to read your post about the clock more than once to figure it out! I am dense. Medusa, what a great story about the water bottles. I just had a friend tell me that my Christmas gift was going to be the Chia pet grass planter but it was sold out. (No problem there!) My mom received a beautifully wrapped handkerchief for her birthday. One handkerchief. Yes, it's linen and yes, it's embroidered. I asked if the person who gave it to her had done the embroidery? Nope, it was store bought because there was a gift receipt in the box. What a strange gift.

Another year she gave me a jar she had put popcorn kernels in and a little baggie of seasoning mix to put over them after they are popped. Again, container from the Dollar Store.

I have a question about the popcorn kernels, and yes, I know it's probably dumb. My mom went with a friend to the Amana Colonies in Iowa this fall. She brought back a big container of Amish popcorn kernels and for Christmas gave some to me in a cute jar with a Christmas sticker on the lid. I think the jar might even be a re-gift of its own. Is that a lame gift? It's not the only thing she gave me. I've made the popcorn, it popped into huge puffs and tastes great. My dad loves popcorn, but there was no way he and my mom would have finished all of it, so she gave some to me.

[Jessika]

How about nothing at all.... not that I honestly care about gifts or anything, but this Christmas...

My sister-in-law was pregnant and well to put it in a nutshell hasn't had the best relationship with her parents or siblings because she was a bit of a rebel child throughout high school (which she didn't even finish and ended up getting herself knocked up instead). Her and I have had a lot of rough times with each other (she would spy on me, steal letters I'd written to HJ and photocopy them to try to black mail me, go through my stuff, spread nasty rumors about me at school, etc), and while she irritated the crap out of me I told myself I was a better person, people could change, and I needed to forgive and forget...

So this Christmas I put everything behind me, she's been around more since her pregnancy though her and HJ still weren't really on speaking terms. We were Christmas shopping and I said, "You know what I think your sister would appreciate, a day at the spa for Christmas. I know she's going to be getting a bunch of baby stuff, I think she would like something for herself and can just relax."

So HJ went and bought a $150 spa package for her at a really nice spa here in town.

Christmas Eve HJ's brother came up to him and said, "You know, [sister's name] said she wasn't going to get you or Jessie anything for Christmas because you weren't going to get anything for her."

Honestly, that was a slap in the face. ESPECIALLY considering we spent Christmas morning together as a family and watched as everyone else opened presents from her. And when we gave her her gift... she just opened it and looked at it. Didn't even get a thank you.

Now I know Christmas isn't about getting, but about giving, but dear God, she is so heartless... she says she's changed yet pulls crap like that on her brother. And I KNOW HJ loves her, she is just... difficult to deal with. =/

And it just hurt that she would pull something like that on us, on me especially, when I've been trying to hard to be civil and pull them closer together, especially after her baby, MY NEPHEW, was born. =/ It just hurts.

[Uabassoon]

I come from a large family and we all get together every Christmas. There are tons of cousins to buy gifts for so I realize that my aunts don't have a lot of money to spend due to their being so many of us. Now I don't mind the aunts that buy me things like a single pair of socks, because I at least do wear socks on a daily basis. Every single year I have two aunts that insist on buying me horrible costume jewlery. Anyone who has ever met me or even seen a picture of me would know that I would never ever wear girly costume jewlery! Every year I would rather that they didn't spend the $3 on the tacky bracelet for me. I think what's more annoying than anything is how thoughtless the gift is. In the past years I never had much money but I would always put some thought into buying gifts for all of my aunts.

[kt_luvs_kitties]

I remember one....

My mother in law had bought my husband a really nice leather coat, and brought it on a visit months before Christmas, just so they would not have to get me anything. Right in front of me.....

I told my husband, after Christmas passed with NO present, card or phone call that I was upset. He told her....

About a month later, I got a package that contained two shirts from my mother in law. BOTH way too big, complete with chub rolls of the "person" previous wearing them, and deodorant stains in the pits Hows that for thoughtfulness???

A few weeks later, she called hubby to make sure they arrived, and I said yes, but the deodorant stains would not come out

Ever since that Christmas, she has gotten me nice gifts. A cat purse, gift cards, and this Christmas, cash

Usually when you point out that you arent happy, they will try harder next year. But it still makes it feel like the presents are only to shut you up.

Point: If you MUST regift, make sure that you WASH the item first

[gini]

One year I received a sterling silver spoon that had clearly gone down the disposal. It was so mangled that you couldn't use it.

But my friend kept saying "it is your pattern"...............yes, she was right - it did match my Grandmother's sterling..........but, what was I to do with it?

I still have it and laugh everytime I see it.

But this particular family has a tradition passed down by their mother of giving used gifts - and they even carefully fold the wrapping paper to use again. So their presents always have folds in the wrapping paper that you can tell wrapped something else before it was given to you along with scotch tape markings from the earlier wrapping.

What about the people that return every gift they receive to the store - after using it for several months?

[jazzcat]

I have a sister in law who buys us bad gifts. Over the years I've recieved a fitted sheet - not a set of sheets, just the bottom fitted one and used none the less, an old worn out diet book, a child's cowboy hat when I was about 16 years old, a set of three disposable razors, a broken Rotato (one of those cheap plastic potato peelers), and for my birthday one year she sent me a box of cake mix and a package of McDonald's paper cups.

She gave my Dad an empty plastic jug of BBQ sauce that hadn't been washed, she gave my mother several used articles of clothing in size 3X (my mother was by no means that large) and she gave my husband a child's small t-shirt one year.

These are just some of the things I can think of off hand that she's given over the past 30 years and the sad part is she and my brother are very wealthy. I think my brother finally realized what tacky stuff she was giving and he started buying his own gifts to us which are always very nice and thoughtful.

[Daisy and Delilah]

Last year at Christmas I got a calendar from my Mother. It was really cute with puppy pictures in it. When I was ready to hang it in my sewing room, I noticed January was filled with my Mother's appointments for the month. Thanks Mom for the used calendar

I figured she must have accidentally given me her calendar and kept the new one. I later found out that she had missed two appointments in the early part of the month. I was about two weeks into January when I found time to hang it. Ooooooops

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

When I was still a kid, I loved to draw on the pavement with white chalks. I always helped my teacher to wash the black board, and that is where I got the chalks from: leftovers
One Christmas I got a box with 12 new chalks! Oh my, I was sooooooooo happy with my "cheap" present!!!