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bad gifts YOU gave
a few days ago we discussed bad gifts we have received. we seemed to concentrate on wedding gifts.
now, let us admit to the bad gifts we gave. (I say skip anything from before we were grown-up -- those gifts are totally forgivable - we were too young to know any better -the age of being grown-up is your call.)
I will start. My close friends birthday. I found an amazing bright pink sweater for her. It was lovely and very stylish. Except she only wore grey, black and brown. When she opened it, she said "it is so..... pink" She never wore it. I think she may have traded it in.
Another one - I gave my friend $50 for her engagement. Seems nice, except I gave it to her in a card as cash when we were out for coffee. It was awkward when she opened it. however, now that I am engaged, I wouldnt be awkward for free $50.
Re: bad gifts YOU gave
A friend got married 1 month before me. We couldn't go and sent a small gift $25 because we were invited but hadn't seen her in years and had never met her husband. A month later she bought us a $75 gift off our registry. how embarrasing.
Fortunately, we have become even better friends since then.
We gave my bff and her bf concert tickets for Christmas... even though she hates going to shows. Mostly, we didn't want to go alone and knew they wouldn't pay to join us.
I did tack on a necklace that she did like, and I think the show was fun for them. It was fun for me.
DH's good friends had nothing left on their registry so we gave them one of those 10-in-one wooden game kits. It was a decent gift, but not really wedding-level. In our defense, we were poor college kids at the time. (For myself, I consider grown up age 19+)
Other poor college wedding gift:
A bowl set that had a rebate on it, so I cut off the UPC.
One year I didn't have any ideas for my parents for Xmas, so I gave them an air popcorn popper. Not a terrible gift, but in retrospect it was not something they'd ever use.
~Fitness Blog~
For Christmas a couple of years ago I had a ton of people to buy for. I gave H's cousins purses from Bath and Body that had soaps, body sprays, and lotions. Sounds nice right? Nope. They didn't like the scents.
A close friend of mine got married at a time when I was totally broke. I got her a $10 set of 3 Pyrex mixing bowls off her BB&B registry. In my defense, I wanted to get a $20 gift, but shipping was an additional $10 so I had to knock the gift down to $10. I still feel horrible about it, but they got us a wedding gift off the clearance rack at a place we weren't even registered so that made me feel a little better in an odd way.
I went to see the live version of "A Christmas Story" at a local theater and won a free coffee mug during the show. I have plenty of mugs, so I gave it to my mom (not as a gift). At Christmas, my grandpa unwraps the mug and goes on and on about what a wonderful, thoughtful gift it was. I guess I'm glad it found a home.
When I was in school in Italy I tried to find a really unique gift for MIL & ended up shopping for her in a pretty little town. They had women sitting on the street with antique sewing machines who would embroider onto anything you bought. I picked out a frilly apron & had them embroider "Mama's Cucina". I though it was so cool and didn't realize until she opened it that it was one of those 'had to be there' things. Not a great gift to begin with, even worse to give to someone not on the trip.
At least I got FIL a good gift, I just wish I'd made it a joint present & nixed the cheesy apron. She still has it & won't throw it out and I cringe every time I see it.
2012 Book Challenge: 20 of 50
Sophia Leigh has arrived! 02.09.11
this seems pretty thoughtful to me
DH & I had been dating for about a year and were invited to one of his friend's weddings. We gave the couple a $20 set of plastic picture frames from their Target registry. DH picked it out and called it a day. He was still in college, and I didn't even know these people. I cannot even remember what we gave DH's best friend, the best man in our wedding, when he got married. It was SO early in our relationship and I know I didn't choose the gift. Good lord!
I wonder if no gift counts? We were invited to DH's former co-worker's wedding (they worked together at a summer internship, both interns). The invite appeared out of the blue, and other than a "know of any jobs in your company" conversation, DH hadn't talked to the guy for 3+ years. We were only invited to the wedding ceremony. We sent the RSVP card stating that we wouldn't be attending. DH asked me to get them a GC to Bed, Bath, & Beyond or something. I thought that was crap! He has no relationship with this guy, we weren't even invited to the whole wedding, and will probably never even meet his wife. No way was I buying them a present! I feel a tiny bit bad, but only b/c I didn't do something DH asked me to do. He never once asked if I did it, so I don't think he really even cared.
A cheap ceramic southwestern boot as a wedding gift. We were in college and super poor, so we decided to make a joke of it.
My frienemy from high school didn't register for gifts for her wedding and told everyone she wanted cash. She also messaged me one day and went on for 30 minutes about how stupid it is to register for China, and she would never use or want china.
I did not attend her wedding, but I did send a gift since I was invited. A glass platter with the text of their wedding invitation inscribed.
I knew she wouldn't have a china cabinet to put it in... but I knew she was too vain to throw away anything with her name on it.
My husband is really close to his four nieces and nephews, and the year we started dating, I wanted to get them something little for Christmas. I bought these kids' towels from L.L. Bean that were embroidered with their names -- I guess it sounds dumb, but I had one when I was a kid and thought it was really nice, so I guess I thought they would too.
My husband made this big game out of it, hiding the gifts and giving the kids clues on how to find them. They were so excited. When they finally found them... they started crying! One of the boys even screamed, "I hate it, I hate it!" I didn't know it at the time, but in their family, they almost always just get cash or really expensive gifts as presents. (I'm still mad at my husband for not telling me ahead of time.) So I felt like a huge jerk and leave the gifts (cash) to my husband now.
I bought my H a knife that he'd been researching for months for his birthday.
Turns out it was really 2x the size it appeared to be online. He sent it back.
There are many other similar stories. It's not that I'm bad at giving gifts, it's that he's so bad in receiving them
Now we don't exchange them.
When my FI and I first moved to the East Coast, we were extremely broke and so even though we talked about not giving each other Christmas gifts, I wanted to be able to surprise him with SOMETHING. He had been talking about wanting to learn how to play the guitar, and I had found a vintage guitar on Craigslist for what I thought was a good deal. I figured since he was just learning, it wouldn't matter what kind of guitar it was.
Once I brought it home (3 weeks before Christmas) I realized I had NO WHERE to hide the damn thing in our tiny apartment. In a panic, I shoved the thing under the bed. Later that night, FI went to bed and the whole thing collapsed on him! I had apparently moved the support boards while trying to shove the guitar case under there. He insisted on fixing it himself, and of course found the case wedged under the bed.
Even worse, when he picked the case up, I realized that the guitar I got looked REALLY small. When I was carrying it, it looked bigger! Turns out I bought him a children guitar. His gift to me? A pair of VS Pajamas I had been ogling for months. To this day he pretends to love it and even takes it out every once in awhile to "practice". Every time I see him holding the tiny guitar I want to laugh and cry at the same time.
Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle!
April 2011 CP @ 5 weeks