The most favorite season of the year is not only highly anticipated because of the cool breeze, Christmas decorations, and food. It is also highly awaited because of “gift-giving” that’s why it was tagged as the season of giving.
Christmas presents are supposed to shower you with happiness. But what if a present gives you embarrassment, tension, or discomfort? Would you let it ruin your Christmas? These Redditors share the most peculiar gifts they received that turn this holiday season into a different tone. Come check these out!
1. Hairy Christmas Gift
My uncle has the coolest beard ever. I used to admire his long and thick beard because he was like a movie character with that. One day, I told my uncle one year that I wished I could grow a beard like his.
When Christmas came, my uncle handed me the present I never thought he would actually get me. I unwrap it and what do you know, it's his beard in a ziploc bag. I don’t know what to feel.
Ainen
2. Blush Worthy Granny Gift
I had received a gift card to a lingerie store from my grandma. That wasn't the worst part. The messed up part wasn't the gift itself, but the fact that she made my poor 19-year-old brother go in and buy it.
He told me how it went by, as he was trying to purchase the gift card, the cashier asked him, As he told it, “Are you shopping for your girlfriend?" My brother awkwardly answered, “No, my sister, well my grandma." Then proceeded with awkward silence.
Handikat
3. Christmas Console Confusion
My parents are separated and when I was younger I wanted a game console. Both my Mom and my Dad asked what I wanted, and I told them, along with my grandparents.
Come Christmas morning I was delighted to find a game console beneath the tree. Lo and behold I went to my grandparent's house later that day to open one last present under the tree. A game console (atomic purple controller too).
My mom hadn't been talking a lot with my grandparents at the time and the miscommunication about who was getting what was pretty obvious based on the look people were giving each other.
The next day my mom dropped me off at my dad's (they didn't get along a lot at the time) and jokingly said, "I don't suppose you got him a game console too?" and my Dad's eyebrows shot up about a foot. Donkey Kong edition. To this day I still have all 3.
Cephe
4. Poor Man’s Luxury
In the late '70s, all the cool kids wore this particular brand of clothing. It was quite expensive and there is no way we can afford even just one piece of that brand. We were kinda poor so my mom and grandma made most of our clothes.
My grandma, did her best to give us a present. Made my pants and hand-stitched the letters of that expensive brand on the pockets. Looked nothing like the real thing. I had to wear them.
[deleted]
5. Quirky Christmas Present
When I was 12, my great-aunt randomly visited one Christmas. She had brain damage (when she was a baby she asphyxiated on a string of popcorn one Christmas) so she was known for giving odd gifts and sending weird notes in the mail.
She is a sweetheart though and was always nice to me. Anyway, when we were opening presents her gift to me was oddly shaped.
I opened it and it was an old Blockbuster-stolen VHS copy of Weekend at Bernie's wrapped in a pair of giant value-village blue jeans.
My grandma gave me a face that said, "Don't laugh, just say thank you" so I held my laughter in and said thank you. Funny memory though.
DIAMOND_TIPPED_PENIS
6. Eccentric Gift Conundrum
My Grandma got me a douche and a hospital gown that "would make a nice dress if someone sewed it all up" for me. That was the weirdest and most awkward gift anyone had given me.
I'm a girl. Grandma also has severe diabetes and dementia. She is lovely otherwise, now she just gives money instead of gifts. She also thinks nurses are trying to steal her teeth. So there's that.
pyewacketcg
7. The Gift Dilemma
When I was a kid, my grandma heavily favored me over my little sister. One year she bought me a cool set of my favorite cartoon game, which was my absolute favorite thing at the time. She bought my sister a weasel ball, a toy meant for cats.
Some places sell weasel balls as kids' toys. I've never seen one marketed for anything but cats
My sister just reminded me that when she gave her the gift, my grandma told her to share it with the cat. The cat whom my sister was nigh heavily allergic to.
Alliptera
8. Block Of Surprise
My uncle got me a giant block of cement once. It was odd to give me that as a gift because I don’t what is the actual purpose.
I found out eventually that he put random things throughout the block and gave me a miniature hammer and chisel. I actually chiseled through the whole thing and found some coins and what appeared to be an arrowhead. My uncle is the strange one in our family.
nathanlegit
9. Unsettling Baby Present
I didn't see my grandpa that often as a kid. So whenever he bought presents for me and my brothers they were always the cliche, "terrible grandparents gifts."
One year, I remember he got me this INCREDIBLY freaky porcelain jester baby-sitting cross-legged on a pillow. When you wound up the key on the back, it would slowly start spinning at the hips while playing a song from a tiny internal music box. It made the best torment fuel against my brothers for a long time though. So that was good.
PermanentMoccasins
10. Tonk-A-Thong
When I was younger, I always gave my mom a list of things I wanted for Christmas. She would share it with my family (extended as well). During my freshman year in high school, I thought I should get a thong or two. That was meant only for my parents to see.
That year, I was immediately embarrassed. My grandparents bought me two thongs from a very famous lingerie brand with animal print.
LDR-Lover
11. Misleading Sock-Gift To Huge Surprise
One Christmas I got 18 pairs of socks. I was probably 12 and I tried hard to look grateful and thank my parents, but with each pair I opened I got progressively more upset. It didn't help my brother was tearing through his toys and video games.
I ended up excusing myself to go to the bathroom and started crying. My mom came to get me and asked me what was wrong. She said to stop crying and come back to the living room. She then gave me my real gift, a laptop.
The reason I got socks was my mom just wanted me to have something to unwrap because my brother had a lot of cheaper stuff, whereas I had one bigger thing. I felt incredibly spoiled and embarrassed. Definitely a happy ending!
politicalpartygirl
12. Laptop Rocks To The Real Deal
My dad did always a classic misdirection. I tend to be gullible as well so that makes it easier and more fun for him and everything else.
I had asked for a laptop for Christmas as well but saw nothing remotely resembling it under the tree that morning. Finally, he says “Hold on a second” and appears with a wrapped box, approximately laptop-sized. I open it and it's a laptop box.
Not quite the type I had wanted but hey, who was I to complain? I was getting a laptop. I proceeded to open the box and they were rocks. It was full of newspaper and rocks. I gave him a queer look as I said, 'What?' He replied, “Well, don't you like it?”
After responding awkwardly, he said, “Oh come on I'm just kidding, here's your real gift.” He tosses me the box, and because my hand-eye coordination is crap I drop the box, and I hear a crash and clang of metal and plastic colliding, and I start to panic and panic to unwrap and open the box. As I'm doing this I start to quietly yell “Why would you do that?”
He just shrugs his shoulders as I open the box and it's a somewhat disassembled laptop. More specifically it was my brother's laptop that was bought 12 years before and was completely toast well before this Christmas came around, so I knew for a fact it was junk.
I wish I could have seen the look on my face because my dad thought it was hilarious. Through the laughter and my confusion my dad had pulled another box out of somewhere and slid it over to me as he said, “Merry Christmas.” Lo and behold, it was the laptop I had asked for, and all I could do was laugh.
My dad is a genuine troll dad, and I love him just that much more for it.
cheatreynold
13. Google Eyes Undies With A Twist
I always thought that my grandma was quite odd. So I try to get ready for whatever gift she tries to get for me.
But this season, I received the most peculiar gift I have ever received in my life. My grandma gave me bright red undies with googly eyes on them and an extra piece of black cloth to put the male organ inside as the "nose.” I couldn’t believe she would give me that because I'm a girl.
Sbo8890
14. Dirty Santa Toy
My first Christmas with my wife's family. They have a dirty Santa. Her dad takes it seriously and gets adult-themed presents, but he is the only one.
I just happened to pick up his gift bag. It's an intimacy toy. It got stolen from me later, but then I showed them all by stealing it back in the last round. It sits on my nightstand now 7 years later and I still poke my wife and ask her if she wants to try her dad's toy from time to time.
Stilesja
15. Lost In Translation Turn To Mishap
I received a gift that still makes me laugh to this day. It was a shirt that had, "I'm not a gynecologist but I'll take a look anyway” print on the front. It was from my stepdad's mom.
She knows I want to be a doctor and her English is no bueno. I found it hilarious. Once we translated it to her she almost cried from embarrassment. I proudly wore it for the rest of the day because it was a genuine gift with a little mistake in the meaning.
wheelchair_boxing
16. The Beaver Lover Shirt
One of my sister's friends was in the early stages of learning English, she has been trying hard to understand the language. She knows I love animals and she decided to give me a gift related to it.
So, she got me a cute little shirt that said "I like my boyfriend but I love my beaver!" I was 8 at the time so I had no idea. My sister told me the story a few years later, and we still give the poor girl a heck about it.
Lady25
17. Unwanted Hygiene Awareness
I was dating this girl. She knew I was self-conscious about my teeth. I have a case of fluorosis and that was not even my fault. Because of it, I wouldn't smile very much and when someone talks to me, I barely open my mouth and cover it with my hands. When I did, I'd try really hard to hide my teeth.
Well, this girl's family bought me a toothbrush. It even had my name on it. It was so embarrassing that I think I could cry.
dark_not_evil
18. Gift From The Grave
My cousin had passed away in a drunk driving accident a few months before, so my mom got me a breathalyzer keychain. I know she was just trying to be concerned about me and wouldn’t want me to have that same unfortunate fate.
It wouldn't have been so bad and I would have appreciated it, but the card it came with said it was "from" my cousin. I see what my mom was trying to do, but still messed up.
heyitsEnricoPallazzo
19. Unintentional Awkwardness
Three years ago I got a shake weight dumbbell on Christmas morning. I know how to properly use it but it didn’t stop my dad from doing a demo for it.
When I opened it my dad laughed and yelled "It's for practice when you get bored in the dorms" while making an up-and-down-hand gesture in front of my grandparents. I don’t know if I should just be embarrassed for him or not.
Kaodonnell
20. Leaf Lighter Misconception
When I was 8 years old, I got a lighter from my grandmother, I was not done yet it was not a simple lighter like I first thought. On the lighter was a weed leaf and it said "Nature's way of staying high." I was so shocked.
My grandmother had thought it was a cartoon of a plant giving a high-five, and I thought it said "Nature's way of saying high" with "high" as in "hi" with a plant hand.
Approvingcanadian
21. The Case Of Confused Aunt
My Aunt who is missing a few pieces bought me weed leaf slippers for Christmas once. They were big, plush weed leaf-shaped things and I was stoked that my Aunt knew that 14-year-old me would like them. She kept saying that she knew I liked frogs.
About a week later I remembered that I had called her when I was eight to tell her that I had gotten an A on my report about frogs. Somehow, six years later, this turned into weed slippers.
[deleted]
22. Creepy Surprise
It was a really notable birthday gift for a 16-year-old girl. My twin sister and I received coordinating lingerie from my older brother and his mail-order bride. It was awkward. I hope it was just a cultural thing on her part.
My brother lived at home until he was 32, met this woman through some sort of service (this was mid-1980s), and first met her when he flew out to the Philippines to satisfy requirements for her fiancee visa.
I was just a kid, and not very interested in the whole situation. My brother was 16 years older than my twin and me, and super creepy. My dad was bothered enough by the gifts to not insist we spend time with my brother much after that. This was 27 years ago, and they're still married.
Strych911
23. Proposal Mishap
My fiance loves underwear. So I shelled out more money for a pair of underwear.
I was going to propose, so I also got her a ring, which I tied to the front of the panties. On the morning of Christmas, I was fumbling to get it wrapped. I put them in a DVD/video game case.
I had left the special wrapping paper I had bought out in the car. I just grabbed the same wrapping paper that we had been using for other gifts.
My sister yells that she needs help, and while I'm doing so my girlfriend gets the presents out of the room brings them out, and sets them under our tree. We talk with people a bit and then the kids start chomping at the bits to open presents.
I forgot to put her name on it. I grab my sister and tell her what's up but it's too late, my niece and nephew are already passing out stuff to people.
"Who's this one for? There's no name." my eight-year-old niece asks. "Oh, that one is yours, sweetie, I forgot to put your name on it." My girlfriend replies There is more than one gift in there with no name.”
I lose sight of the unnamed package. I'm sitting by my girlfriend and she opens up a small DVD-shaped package. I held my breath. It seemed like it took her forever to unwrap that thing. She opens it to reveal a kid's movie.
I look at my niece as she is tearing into the wrapping paper of the unnamed package. She opens and pulls out a black DVD case.
I jump off the couch and trip over my dog, face plant on the floor, and bust my lip, but my niece doesn't care that there's a man down on the living room floor. She opens the case and in her lap falls a pair of black and purple uber-seductive panties.
She holds them up and the room goes silent. Her mom snatches them out of her hand and glares at me, then she sees the ring dangling from the front and immediately gets teary-eyed. "Uhhh, I think these were meant for you."
My girlfriend takes the underwear sees the ring, and immediately starts crying and says "Yes, yes, yes" like a thousand times. We're getting hitched in March.
[deleted]
24. Holiday Humor
My girlfriend's mom gave me a Christmas ornament. The ornament was two brass-colored objects, glued together, with a string attached to both of them.
When you pull the string taut, it looks like a very detailed male organ. She told me this was because I had brass courage to ask her if I could take her daughter with me for a weekend trip alone.
The best part is, that the family is Jewish. I love them, most of the time!
Kmanvb
25. Unwanted Gift Basket
A week before I married my husband, his older sister got me a gift bag of a liquid gel used for physical intimacy.
So, I had to return it cause I checked the ingredients and was allergic to all of them. There was no moment in my life quite as embarrassing as having to return a full gift basket of a dozen different types of physical intimacy liquid gel to the little old lady at a retail store.
ReservoirKat
26. Mystery Of Dog Mugs
My grandmother gave my boyfriend a coffee mug with a German Shepherd dog on it. He has never owned nor expressed any interest in German Shepherds.
He uses it at work. It's a great conversation starter. "Oh, do you have a German Shepherd?" Then they used to say, "No."
I should also mention that my sister's boyfriend received an identical German Shepherd mug, and he also does not have a German Shepherd.
StrangeFarulf
27. Bedroom Disco
My brother, who always gives hilarious gifts, got my wife and me a clapper one year, which is pretty funny on it is own. It was so humorous of him to think about that.
We put it in the bedroom, thinking it would be super convenient to turn the light off after watching TV for a bit without getting out of bed. It turns out, the clapper works with all kinds of noise. So, physical intimacy would turn our bedroom into a disco.
Burtoneadg
28. Regifted Paintball
My grandparents are notorious regifters. I think everyone in the family just got used to their gifting habit.
There was this old, broken pinball game thing that every time they would gift to one of us, we would leave it at their house. Then they would find it and gift it again in a couple of years like we had forgotten. One time they gave my mom three wine glasses, and one was chipped.
jacksonvstheworld
29. Gifting Shenanigans
My family has an actual gifting problem that cannot be changed even as time passes by. Last Christmas I bought my uncle a few nice shirts that I thought he would like and appreciate, and that June for my boyfriend's birthday he mailed them all to him. The tags are still in that’s why I knew.
My dad, meanwhile, has had three different fiancées in the past 20 years and one ring.
FancyPigeonIsFancy
30. Not-So-Thrilling Surprise
One day, I accidentally left some video games in my mom's room. That’s when she found them. She didn’t even ask us and she was quick to assume my dad had bought them as Christmas gifts for me. So I never had them for a while because she kept them.
Well, I got a surprise but not in a good way that I was expecting to. When Christmas came, I actually got my games, the games I had left in their room.
[deleted]
31. Christmas Disparities
One Christmas, my 4-year-old brother got a TV with a DVD and VHS player in it, my sister got a computer and I got a bookshelf. I was pissed. My sister didn't even like computers, so what was the deal?
I guess to add insult to injury, a few years later she was given a printer. For she had a big heavy gift, she got all pumped in the days preceding Christmas, and when she opened it, it was a printer. She cried. For like an hour. It was terrible.
On the upside, we needed a new printer.
superfiedman
32. A Christmas Memoir
My wife's grandmother is a complete narcissist, and one year she gave everybody in her family, including kids under the age of 10, handmade tree ornaments with a picture of herself in the middle.
This was so "no one would forget their grandmother at Christmas." It's been 20 years, but I still make my wife hang it since I find it hilarious. Never in my life have I seen a single object capture the whole of someone's personality so completely. It's like we own her grandmother's soul.
compuhyperglobalmega
33. Horror-Jolly Christmas
Not embarrassing but awkward. My dad bought my mom an actual human skull for Christmas a few years back. He wrapped it in a box some toys came in. My parents are weird; this wouldn't have raised an eyebrow at my house.
Unfortunately, we did our gift exchange with my maternal grandmother who is much less creative with gifts. My dad and brother waited for this to be the last gift given. It was a big presentation.
Upon opening it my mom squealed and shoved it back in the box. She was excited but knew it would t go over well. Of course, now everyone wants to know what is in the box.
My grandma insists my mom take out the mysterious gift and show it to the room. My aunt started screaming and made her kids leave the room. My grandma almost fainted and told us to get out of the house immediately. It was hilarious.
twiggy_twangdoodles
34. A Tad Peculiar
I had really bad allergies when I was younger. There was an old lady who lived on the other side of the block, she lived alone, not even any pets. She was nice enough but anyone could tell she wasn't all there, probably from being lonely for so many years. I would often run into her at the bus stop in the mornings waiting for the school bus.
In early February, I saw her walk up to the street corner near the bus stop. When she saw I was there, she did a 180 and scurried back home. I thought it was strange.
5 minutes later she comes back up to the bus stop and extremely excitedly says hello and starts asking how I am, I entertain her since I am probably the first person to talk to her in days, and because she is genuinely a nice old lady. "I have a late Christmas present for you! I was shopping and when I saw them, I thought of you!"
She hands me a perfectly wrapped present. It even had the curled ribbon tied around it. I opened it and it was a 4 pack of handkerchiefs. She exploded with happiness when I finally saw what was in there. She explained that "they reminded me of you" at least 3 more times before my bus arrived.
l1ghtning
35. A Grandmother’s Melody
My grandmother bought me a little piano book when I was about 10. It was meant for a 6-year-old. It had some little electric buttons on it to look like a numbered piano, and nursery rhymes with numbers over the words so you could play the songs.
Things like Three Blind Mice and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. It was a real baby present, and as soon as she gave it to me she was immediately embarrassed and offered to exchange it for something for an older kid. I guess she was also embarrassed because we lived 1000 km away and didn't see each other very much and probably remembered me as a younger kid.
I learned every one of those songs. She passed away 18 years ago now. I still miss her so much.
Evilbrent
36. Adventure Of Wooden Spock
One year my uncle, who has an artistic bone in his body, decided to carve my Christmas present out of wood. He lives 500 miles from me so it's not as if he asked me or anything; he just did this.
So there I am on Christmas opening my present from him and it's Spock. He carved a Mr. Spock out of wood. Badly. He then painted it to vaguely look like Leonard Nimoy.
Mind you, this was when I was 28 years old. Not a kid who loved Star Trek or anything. Just out of the blue, there's this foot-high thing in a blue tunic with black hair and pants next to our Christmas tree.
I never did find out why he thought this was a good idea, but the best we could do was roll with it. We went on a cruise the next month and I took him with us. We did the whole "stolen garden gnome" thing, taking pictures with Spock at our dinner table, and over the toilet getting seasick, and tanning on the beach.
I have no idea where Spock is now.
Ktappe
37. Gift Of Socks
This wasn't my gift, but it was the most awkward situation ever. It was painfully embarrassing to just recall about it. We had an unfortunate incident that happened to our family.
So a few years ago my grandma, due to a certain complication she had faced, had her legs amputated. Don't feel bad, since then, her health has improved a ton. Anyway, last Christmas my Aunt bought her socks. It was so awful.
Datcat2
38. Crappy Mix-Up
Every year my family does a Secret Santa on Christmas. It became a yearly tradition with the family. When I was about 10 years old, my aunt had to buy me a gift.
So Christmas morning I open my gift, and I find a Christmas sweater along with a pair of my aunt's crap-stained underwear. Apparently, she was doing laundry and wrapping gifts at the same time and got the two mixed up.
Swirlingmystic
39. Budgie In The Box
For me, my family was doing a Chinese gift exchange last year where you buy a random gift, and when everyone gets together you put your gifts in a circle and pull numbers out of a hat. This number determines what order you pick gifts in.
Anyhow, it was my turn to go. I picked up the one box that looked the most promising. I proceeded to shake the box very violently, only to hear a thud every time. The person who bought the gift started freaking out and told me to stop and open it. She bought a budgie bird and put it in there.
So here I was, stuck with this brain-damaged bird that I had to take home with me and was scarred for life from being in that box.
Vmoppy
40. A Christmas Gift That Is Giving
It wasn't one I got but that I gave: a magnificent silver bottoms plug for my best friend. she and her boyfriend kept getting drunk at parties and independently mentioning they both wished they would "maybe try some weird stuff.” But they were way too repressed to even talk to each other or admit to it when sober.
Well, I am not one to allow an opportunity to tease my friends and potentially help them enjoy a happy intimate life, so into the stocking it went. They made it out like it was a total joke and that I was their oh-so-wacky friend, wearing it around like a unicorn horn at New Year's and such
Then it quietly disappeared. A few months later she confessed they used it. Later he thanked me. But they never admitted to it in public. So I am still known as that crazy friend who bought an inappropriate Christmas gift for her.
No regrets. I am the Cyrano de Bergerac of wingmen.
Why_yes_I_Am_high
41. Stocking Stuffers
My parents were known for giving unconventional gifts. Most of these are way too funny.
Three years ago in my stocking, I received an emergency whistle from my mother and a box of mints with the words "make out mints" emblazoned on the tin from my dad as a joke because I had just started dating someone. I laughed so hard when I pulled those out of my stocking right after the whistle.
thewhitetree
42. Fringe And Messages Collide
When I was in grade 8, I was a dorky, bookworm-type girl and I wore skirts and plain colored shirts all the time, very conservative.
I had a cousin who decided to get me a brown, fringed cowgirl-type jacket that said juicy across the front and KISS ME across the back. Now, at the time, I wouldn't even have worn a shirt that had a store logo's name on it, let alone this.
Oh gosh, the fringe. I wish I still had it. Anyway, I wouldn't call it messed up, but she was older and smirked as I tried it on, knowing that I'd hate it but wouldn't say anything. Her parents said, "Oh it fits so well, you should wear it out tonight!" Kind of ended me.
L-a
43. Christmas Hat Dissonance
When I was 10 my aunt on Christmas gave me, my sister, and my brother 1 expensive gift. My sister got a brand new music keyboard and my brother got his first bike. I was given "a genuine Stetson cowboy hat.”
I'm a city boy who would listen to rap and hip-hop and pretty much hated outdoor activities. To make matters worse my parents made me wear it until she left and pretend to like it all the while watching my sister and brother play with their great gifts.
Docterror
44. Hair-Raising Twist
I was in the 2nd grade and we all had to bring one Christmas present. We sat in a circle and our teacher told us to pass around our Christmas presents while she played music when she stopped the music the present we were holding would be the one we get to keep, kind of like musical chairs.
Well, I ended up getting a small package that ended up being a package of 4 ponytail holders. Just black plain ponytail bands and we all had to hold up our gift and tell the class what we got.
Cheshcat420
45. Bittersweet Christmas Gesture
My mother passed away when I was in high school. One of the years after she passed, my dad kind of forgot to buy me a big Christmas present. So I came downstairs, went to get my stocking (we still do stockings), and pulled out a fistful of $20s. He'd run to the ATM early that morning so I'd have something.
The cash was great and all, but at the time, it felt awful because I just missed my mom, and wished we could have a "proper" Christmas.
Typewryter