“Yikes! What's This?”: Stories of the Most Unwanted Surprises

For some people, it is very exciting to think about special occasions where they spend it with their families, partners, and friends. And one of the fun parts is the time to open your gifts or be surprised on your birthday.

However, since it’s a surprise, you might have an idea what it would be or what’s waiting for you. Imagine telling everyone what you like the most and getting tricked and mocked by receiving the packaging with a lame item inside.

1. Odd One Out

My Japanese grandma bought my mom a scale after she gave birth to me. She also gave my older brother a big-screen TV for his 10th birthday.

On my 10th birthday, I got a box of underwear that was about five sizes too big and a lollipop that expired a decade before that.

She also started a college fund for all my male cousins. I'm one of the only female grandchildren, so instead of a college fund, I got a plastic surgery fund to fix the scar on my face that she thinks ruins my chance of marrying a nice Asian boy.

I said I didn't want the plastic surgery, so she divided my fund up into everyone else's college fund while I took out loans.

Kanorado1

When I was 8, I loved Pokemon. One Christmas, my family was opening presents, and we started getting towards the end when the 'big present' would be opened.

My mom got excited and handed me a present. I opened it, and it's the official strategy guide for Pokemon Yellow. I thought, Wow!

I get ridiculously excited. I don't own a Gameboy, but I love Pokemon, and I'm getting a Gameboy, and the game where freaking PIKACHU FOLLOWS YOU AROUND.

This wasn't the only devastating present from her. One year, she bought dog treats and put them in our stockings, thinking they were regular cookie biscuit things.

  Then I see my dad's face. He's very concerned. He knows what's going on. I'm not getting a Gameboy. I was never getting a Gameboy. I just got a book with a Pokemon on the front of it because my mom doesn't understand video games.  

  I was 12, and my brother was nine, and we thought we were getting a puppy. My mom shouldn't be allowed to buy presents. It was too much.

BobbyRobertson

Being Forgotten. I was in Japan, and my co-workers were going to take me out to my favorite Sushi place for my Birthday. I was younger and didn't drive at the time; not a problem! A co-worker was going to pick me up!

4:00 p.m. arrives, but no one shows up. 4:45 p.m. I call the friend: 'Is anyone going to pick me up?' Then she replied, "Oh, sorry, I'll be there in a few!"

Thought she was just running late. We have been busy at work lately (my day off), so we didn't pay any mind to it. 6:30 p.m. arrived, call her back, "Oh, hey! We were wondering where you were!"

YOU WERE MY RIDE, how could you forget? They were all there, enjoying my favorite restaurant. One of them even brought a cake.

aldaris86

My grandfather got my sister an electric hand mixer for her thirteenth birthday (2007). He was beaming with pride as he recounted the story of his sister.

Apparently, she begged their parents to buy her an electric mixer when she went to school (in the early) 1930s as all of the girls had their own mixers.

She got stuck using one of the school-issued ones, which made her very upset. He told my sister she was to carve her name onto it so that none of the other girls in her classes stole it.

My feminist sister looked confused and insulted when she opened it, but looking back, it was the sweetest (and only) gift he had ever given a grandchild without Grandma's help.

xhaltdestroy

It wasn't the present itself but the context of the present. My birthday is on the 24th of December, and my brother’s is on the 28th. We're both very used to getting a combined birthday/Christmas present, that's fine.

One particular year, my sister bought me a DVD for Christmas, heck yeah - I love that movie. The conversation went something like this.

"Thanks, sister, this is awesome." "No worries Deako87, now that's a shared birthday and Christmas present for you and your brother."

That's right, she spent $20~ on a 4 1 present for me and my brother. I didn't really care all that much. I'm sure money was tight. I just thought it was a funny piece of ingenuity.

Deako87

One Hannukah, my sister got a Blu-Ray player, and I got an HDMI cable. I didn't have anything that required an HDMI cable, and she didn't have a cable.

I would figure my parents thought we could work together and both enjoy the Blu-Ray player together, except she went to college 200 miles away.

Well, the cable was only 6 feet long. I also got a copy of Beetlejuice on Blu-Ray. Apparently, it came free with the player.

zach2992

Well, my grandmother died when I was five, and my grandfather remarried to this trailer trash witch of a woman. He was a millionaire.

So, one Christmas after, I got to hear about how his new kids went on a cruise for their graduation and what they got for their birthdays (ATVs, trucks, trailers, etc.).

I was like, "Hmm, maybe I'll get something cool, like a PS2". Mind you, I was young, and we were about to open presents, and I was so excited.

The present that was opened was my cousin's; he got a PS2. I was like sweeeeet! HERE IT COMES. AND BAM, I open up mine. It was a handheld poker game from the Dollar Tree that broke in minutes. I know I probably shouldn't have cared, but I did.

Cbitezvagoo

For my 6th birthday, my mom decided to throw me a party. Now, since we were in Costa Rica ( our home country), she invited every single child from the town to come take part.

It was actually pretty interesting to see all kids of all different economic backgrounds just having fun together while the parents segregated themselves.

Now, I remember one family in particular, which was known across the area as "that" family, and by "that," I mean the poorest in town.

Not only that, but their 11-year-old son had a serious mental retard which made him the butt of many jokes. I opened my presents upon receiving them, so I was very excited when I saw the intricate box that this family had placed my gift inside.

What did I find? A pair of used socks. At first, I was a bit shocked at such a bad present. I looked at the mother as she glanced down in shame at such a bad gift.

Something clicked with my young mind that day, and I just gave her a big hug and thanked her immensely for my gift. And from then on, I reminded myself to stay humble and to realize that someone almost always has it worse than you.

charliethestalker

For my wedding gift, I got a heartfelt email from my dad. The email was about how happy he was that I invited him to my wedding.

That meant he got to take time off work for a vacation and have a wonderful time. It was filled with pictures of all the places he went.

The details of all the awesome things he did, etc. His vacation occurred during the week before the wedding, and he went on this trip by himself. And he got us a wedding card.

imaperson25

The Limited Edition Final Fantasy Advent Children DVD was a gift from my ex-wife. Now I love Final Fantasy, and I love this movie.

So why would this be the WORST present I have ever gotten? Well, because I already owned it, and we had watched it several times together.

I was given this gift two weeks before she took her boyfriend and moved my kids more than 200 miles away. What a gift, man.

Opening this movie on my birthday was disappointing, but finding out why she put so little thought into the present a couple of weeks later made it sting all the more.

zadokmahir

It was the morning of my seventeenth birthday. I made sure all of my friends were primed with the knowledge that it was my birthday by reminding them basically every day for the past week how excited I was for my birthday on Friday.

Well, I walked into our main hangout at the college and just sat down. Not even a glance. I made normal, average conversation.

And no one seemed to acknowledge that it was my birthday. I took this as a sign that they probably had some big surprise party planned after I went to Chinese.

So I went to my class and came back after the hour to see everyone sitting. And talking. Like they do almost every day, my girlfriend at the time walked in and saw me.

She told me that she wanted to talk in private for a bit, so I was like, "Oh ho ho! Girlfriends are the best. I bet this is gonna be great!" well, she broke up with me. She broke up with me! She didn't even realize that it was my birthday either. I guess I'm at that age.

[deleted]

Picture it: it's 1997, and one of my favorite aunts is moving away. She was elderly and wanted to go live with her sons, who live up north here in Ontario.

If I recall correctly, it was a good 12-hour drive to and from. She came out to see my Mom and me one last time before leaving.

Before she left, she gave me a video game for the computer, which I had just gotten the year prior. I hadn't heard of the series before and was thinking at the time, "Yeah, this game will suck arse.

This is the worst gift ever, Jesus." I acted grateful and was all "Thank you so much!". I didn't bother touching it.

Three years or so later, I found the game shoved in a drawer and decided to play it, still thinking it would suck. It was freaking AWESOME. That game is seriously awesome.

Endulos

Christmas at my dad’s house back when I was a sophomore in high school. My dad had just gotten together with my stepmom within the few years beforehand, and she hated (and still hates) me because she wanted her daughter to be the only one who grasps his attention.

They asked me what I wanted. I grew up really poor, so I was used to asking for just one gift (so that my mom, dad, and stepdad could split the cost; sometimes, I wouldn't even get the one gift).

I asked for a second-generation iPod touch, I believe. It probably would've cost $250, so I didn't get my hopes up, but I also didn't request anything else.  

Now, come Christmas time, I didn't get the iPod but instead a $100 gift card. I wasn't upset that I didn't get what I wanted.

I was upset that my eight-year-old step-sister got one instead, along with a Wii, a bunch of Wii games, a pair of Uggs, and at least 500 dollars worth more gifts.

When I brought it up to their attention (not while she was opening her gifts, but later when she was playing in her room), I was told that I was just jealous and "It's not my fault that her family loves her enough to make sure that she has a happy Christmas!"

Not only did I watch my step-sister open the gifts I wanted and plenty freaking more, but my stepmother basically made the inclination that I wasn't loved.

buddhabiddie

A week before my 6th or 7th birthday, my aunt's crappy boyfriend bragged to me about how he was building me this "huge Star War Lego set that had like 5000 pieces."

I received a card with a single pack of DIGIMON CARDS along with some clothes. And here's the kicker...a few weeks after I asked him where my Star Wars Legos were, he pointed at the door to his office and the most common excuse I know.

He said, "It’s in there. I couldn't give it to you because it is so huge I didn't finish it on time. Just give me a few more days to work on it...." It must be pretty freaking huge if it takes 15 years to build.

SkidmarkLaFlair

I have gotten several really bad presents, but a couple of them revolve around my husband's Aunt Dee. When my husband and I got married, Aunt Dee (who was in her 60s, single, and making about $250k/year) chose not to buy us anything on our wedding registry but instead got us a freakin' TACO HOLDER.

I tease my husband that her thought process must've been something along these lines: "Hmmm... waterfowl is half Mexican...what do Mexicans like?.... Tacos!"

Sadly, Aunt Dee passed away a few months ago. For my birthday a few weeks ago, my in-laws gave me a gift bag with several random items. It has a sparkly crocheted necklace thingy (totally not my style).  

It also contains leather DayPlanner (I'm into tech. I DON'T use paper calendars) and some checkbook covers (I work at a bank and almost exclusively use mobile banking; I've written like three checks in 5 years).

It came with a plastic nail polish organizer drawer-thing. As I'm opening my presents, my mother-in-law says, "We found these things in Aunt Dee's house!" Gee, thanks.

wateryfowls

This didn’t happen on Christmas, but it happened on my 18th birthday, December, baby. Basically, I get to choose which one I want to be my present. I was super poor growing up.

Invited some ppl to my bday. It wasn't too bad. One friend made my cake. It was so badly decorated it was actually pretty cool. A couple of people left early.

We had pizza and snacks. One of my friends got me some scratch tickets. I won $10k. I was freaking out. That was literally half what my mom made in a year.

It was life-changing. He's laughing. I'm crying. Tells me to look for how to cash it in. It turns out it's a fake ticket. Literally asked him to go home right then and there. Didn't talk to him anymore. My birthdays are usually bad, but that was just cruel.

XaliceXwhiterabbitX

My entire life, my parents have teased me for enjoying soggy cereal (I don't like things that are too crunchy, and I prefer a texture closer to oatmeal).

I don't mind the teasing; I think it's funny, too, and I have made a lot of jokes about it myself. I just like my cereal soggy, end of story.

Christmas morning, my brother opens up the novelty bowl, which keeps the cereal and milk separate. I thought it was a neat invention.

But I remarked jokingly that I would never use something like that because, as everybody knows, I want my cereal to be soggy.

My parents gave me a withering look as if I'd deeply offended them, and my dad told me something along the lines of "Don't be rude."

Little did I know they'd bought one for me as well, and I was VERY confused when I opened it. It was not a gag gift, and my parents were genuinely annoyed that I didn't like it, but I couldn't pretend otherwise because I'd already blown my cover by commenting on my brother's bowl.

The gift itself wasn't insulting or stupid, but the way my family suddenly collectively forgot something that they'd teased me about for 20 years was weirdly hurtful. I still don't get how that happened.

RiskyMama

I was told going into Christmas that we were broke and I shouldn’t expect much, if anything. To be honest, I was fine with that.

We chose to celebrate with the grandparents, so, no gift openings at home apart from some chocolate in my stocking from Dad.

At the grandparents', I opened my gift first. A new set of pajamas. I was 13, so they were nice, but not something I was really excited about.

Everyone else opens their modest gifts. Parents, grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles all had a few gifts each. Usually, my grandparents hand out checks to everyone, $100-200 for each grandkid.

But this year, they said there were no checks. Instead, there was a big surprise. My mom hands my sister a card, the final gift.

Inside was a photo of my sister's new $6,000 Horse, which was big, so we had to get a new $8,000 horse trailer, and because the horse and trailer were so big, a new $24,000 truck was needed.

CaptainPartyMix

My husband is an incredible human and talented at many things - but he gave me a truly hilarious gift once! For our very first Christmas together, 2004, we were young and broke (22, in grad school).

He was so excited to give me my gift, and he presented it proudly in front of my family. He got me a mini sampler of perfumes, a book, and a box of high-end chocolates.

These are all great gifts on their own, but ironically, 1.) I’m allergic to most perfumes/colognes. 2.) he had already given me the exact same book a few months earlier for my birthday, and 3.) I’m lactose intolerant.

The thought honestly touched me, but the irony was too much - my sister burst out laughing. It’s still a joke in our family.

But we were all so charmed by the fact that he’d gone to multiple stores and was so proud. Poor, sweet guy. We’re happily married now…but he definitely knows to avoid chocolate and perfume!

GroundbreakingAge254

I had asked my boyfriend of four years for a nice digital camera (this was Christmas ‘07). I researched the kind I wanted, priced it out, and told him all about it.

On Christmas day, he handed me my gift, and I excitedly opened it to find a camcorder. He says, “So we can record concerts and stuff!”

He spent more money on a camcorder that would never make it into a concert without getting taken by security than the camera I had been talking to him about for a few months.

We ended up breaking up eight days later… not due to the camera/camcorder, but I realized he didn’t listen to me or consider my opinion.

It happened for the four years we had been together. I guess, ultimately, it was a great gift because it opened my eyes to a lot of crappy things he was doing.

RamonaTheCat

I was in debate my freshman year, and it was a blended grade class. The teacher arranged an optional Secret Santa for the class. One of the seniors got my name.

Exchange day comes around, and I get a $20 gift card to Starbucks. Cool, he didn't know me that well, so a gift card was fine.

At the time, I'd never had Starbucks, so I was happy to try it. Went to get something and found out there was $2.73 left on the card... he literally just gave me his used gift card.

Peacemaker307x

During 2007, my first Christmas as an adult, I have a boyfriend. I got him some decent presents. I hand them to him, thinking he's gotten his for me hidden somewhere.

He turns to me and says, "Remember how I upgraded your laptop with better RAM?" "MERRY CHRISTMAS" was not something I cared about or needed in the slightest.

2006: new boyfriend. I tell him about my crappy Christmas present the year before and that I just want something to open. I should have been more specific.

He asked to borrow my wrapping paper and some boxes the night before Christmas. I was kind of miffed that I had to supply my own boxes and wrapping paper, but at least he got me something.

Or so I thought. Christmas morning comes around, and he has a huge arse box for me, which I proceed to open. A smaller box. Uhhh?

Inside of the smaller box. And so on, until I got to a freaking pill bottle. On the pill bottle was a gift card I don’t know I’ll use.

ICanBuyMyOwnFlowwrs

I dated a guy in college for almost six months who was really into Civil War history. I bought an old Confederate dollar bill on eBay.

I went to Michael’s for some cheap fabric backing and a frame and framed it myself. Wrapped it and tied a ribbon around it to make a bow.

He gave me a seashell from his family beach trip over the summer. From before we had met, so it wasn’t like, “Oh, I found this seashell and thought of you.”

It was just something he already had knocking about in the back of his closet. The dude was from a wealthy family, and he threw money around like it was nothing.

But he couldn’t even be bothered to put the seashell in a gift bag. I broke up with him the next day. It was a good riddance, I must say.

Callme-risley

This is actually a fantastic gift, but I think with context, you'll understand why it sucked. The gift was a skateboard.

When I was about 12 years old, my dad (whom I saw a few times a year) bought me a skateboard after I had expressed mild interest.

I think I had admired a certain skateboarder and said it looked fun. I don't remember ever saying I wanted to pursue it myself or asking for one. I am notorious in my family for having poor balance and coordination, and I have virtually no depth perception.

He knew how to skateboard, but he lived almost 9 hours away, and I saw him a few times a year because he worked and had five kids with his new wife where they lived.

So he couldn't really give me lessons. No one else in my family could skate; we didn't live anywhere near a skatepark, and there was no one older than me in our neighborhood who could mentor me.

I lived with my grandparents, one of whom worked full-time out of town, and the other thought skateboarding was a horrible idea.

So I just had this board that I couldn't really do anything with. I tried to teach myself, but with poor balance, coordination, and depth perception already, I never even managed to stay on the board without holding onto something.

It was such an embarrassing gift because it was a reminder of how my dad wasn't in my life, knew little to nothing about my interests, and how crappy my brain and body worked together (I was undiagnosed autistic).

Unlikely_Couple1590

One Christmas, my mum gave me a little pair of tongs to squeeze tea bags. I must have been like 16 or so at the time. Just for reference, we weren't a poor family.

The reason for no effort on gifts was because my brother kinda stopped caring about that sorta thing as we got older and didn't ask for anything.

But still, we were like, "Why would you even wrap this? What a cruel joke." To top it off, they sucked. The tongs bent when you tried to squeeze a tea bag.

gazm2k5

One Christmas, I only got clothes as gifts. I like getting clothes, and the designs on them I remembered being amazing. I thought it was fine.

The problem was every article of clothing was too small for me, and none of them came with a receipt, so we couldn't return/exchange them.

All those clothes ended up going to my little brother, and he got double the amount of gifts while I had literally nothing.

This put me in a sour mood, and my dad got mad at me for being whiny about my gifts. He said I wasn't grateful, and I got sent to my room for the rest of the day, and they brought me a small plate of food for dinner.

A_GuyThatDoesStuff

A kitten. I was about to make a cross-country move with my then-girlfriend, and her mother gave us a kitten without any discussion beforehand.

It died the next day -- a parasite or something. We rushed it to a vet, but it was too late. So we got to pay for a vet visit and a cremation. Thanks, Mom.

We also got a parking ticket because we ran into the vet without paying the meter. Also, it might not have been the next day that the kitten died.

But it was within a couple of days (this was a good decade ago, so memory has faded a bit). To be clear, the big sin was the gift in the first place.

There was nothing obviously wrong with the kitten when she gave him to us, and I don't think she neglected any medical care that he was supposed to have.

otm_shank

My wealthy dad purchased a timeshare. Along with it, you could earn extra time if you got people to go on a "free trip to a cartoon-inspired theme park!" - it was actually one night in a hotel in Kissimmee, with no tickets to that park.

And you had to listen to a 4-hour timeshare spiel. And then there were three nights in a hotel about an hour or two away and another half-day of timeshare spiel.

So that's a "week" - four nights (which they said would mean five days), one entire day or longer listening to timeshare salesmen. There was also a "free" dinner cruise. The tickets were to get on the boat for free, and the meal cost about $75.

My dad and his terrible (now ex) wife were SO EXCITED to give us these "weeklong trips to a cartoon-inspired theme park!"

Took pics, posted the "tickets" on social media, and expected us to be SUPER-thrilled. Kept acting like it was the most generous thing anyone had ever done - a free vacation! Went into detail about how we'd always wanted to go to that park but couldn't afford it.

We had these stupid freaking folders full of "certificates for a free vacation" that were absolutely worthless. None of us could have even afforded the airfare to Florida at that point. Of course, to make it "fair," all of his wife's kids got real trips to that park that they paid for.

SplendidTit

I was turning 13 or 14, maybe 15, and I really wanted a portable radio/cassette deck (yep, I'm that old. We didn't have CDs yet).

It was my birthday, and when I unwrapped the box my grandparents had gotten me, I was so excited when I saw that picture of a boombox on the front of it.

I eagerly tore the box open, so excited to see and try out my new radio, only to be greeted with a couple of sweaters or something like that.

I was so disappointed. Of course, they thought it was hilarious. I never really forgave them for that and never asked them for anything I actually wanted after that, either.

It has probably influenced my disdain for present pranks like this, and I know how it feels to be super excited about something, only to have it taken away so others can laugh at you.

whattocallmyself

Christmas present from my previous fiance. I have bad allergies to animals and animal hair. And we had had this long conversation about Christmas presents we had received in the past that we hated.

He told me he always got raw wool sweaters from his grandmother - made by hand by craftsmen and imported from Italy. He hated wool sweaters because they were so picky, and he always got rashes from them.  

I agreed and told him that I, too, hated wool sweaters. So what did he get me for Christmas?? A raw wool sweater from the same company his grandmother ordered from in Italy. Moron.

twogunrosie

Socks. I understand socks are a perfectly acceptable "adult" gift, and I was actually genuinely grateful for the first bag of socks.

But my mom buys and immediately wraps gifts, and her memory isn't great, so she forgot she bought me socks already, so she bought a second bag.

She then proceeded to forget she bought me socks again, buying me a third bag of socks. Then she noticed I had three more gifts than my sister, so she bought her a couple of nice gifts.

So, on Christmas morning, my sister opens an iPad, and I open a bag of socks. My sister opened a new camera, and I opened a bag of socks.

My sister opens some sewing crap, and I open socks. Realizing she screwed up, my mom remembered she had one more gift for me, already wrapped.

That she was going to save for my birthday since I already had so many that Christmas, she runs upstairs to grab it, and I open what ends up being a 4th bag of socks.

nealt68

The Grinch came for Christmas. I got a toilet ring thing that my dad had taken out when replacing a really old toilet. Straight from dirty jobs, that thing was absolutely nasty.

Another year, my 2-year-old brother got my dirty underwear, and my 10-year-old brother got his diaper. Other presents he gave were a smashed cup of ramen and moldy bread.

It was a funny tradition my family had. The 'Grinch' would take some of the nastiest things in the house and wrap them up really badly. We did get normal presents too, like... umm... socks.

SeventhAlkali

When I was six years old, I got nappies, baby bibs, and baby clothes for Christmas. It turns out the sender was my mom's high school friend whom she had just gotten back in contact with after a decade.

When my mom told her friend before Christmas that she had a 6-year-old and a newborn son, she accidentally swapped my little brother's name with my name in the message.

So, the baby stuff was addressed to me instead. However, the gift addressed to my brother was a pink ballerina tutu, fairy wings, and a Barbie doll.

My brother has a rather unisex name, so my mum's friend thought he was a girl. I, being your typical 6-year-old boy, refused to take my brother's "girly" present, so I gave him the baby stuff and ended up without a present from my mum's friend.

KingKatastrophe

This was the worst gift I thought I received, and it has haunted me since When I was around seven or so. I really wanted an Intellivision.

That was the only thing I asked for Christmas from my dad, literally nothing else. He kept telling me he couldn’t afford it, so I had to pick something else, but I couldn’t/wouldn’t come up with anything else. Christmas morning rolls around, and there’s a huge box under the tree for me.

I opened it up, and lo and behold, it’s a diaper box. I swear I locked myself in my bedroom crying for an hour before he coaxed me out and forced me to open the box, and sure enough, there was the Intellivision.

I still get a ration of crap from him over that most years. Oh, my son keeps bugging me for a switch. I may hand down this torture. What ya think?

jmdavis333

One year, when I was twelve, I bought my aunt a pair of Scissors from a pound shop. She had bought me this set of DVDs. That was a nice gift.

She legitimately looked disappointed and asked me what this was. She said it was the worst present she had ever gotten on Christmas day.

I was like, 'I'm twelve, and no, not to say this to someone who gave you a gift. It's the thought that counts.' She replied, “Seriously, you put thought into this?”

She is actually a really good present giver in fairness to her. She spends hundreds on every nephew and niece she has. I got 350 Euros in cash last year, and so did all my brothers. That's a grand she just dropped on one set of nephews.

Doogie34

I don't know if it's "bad," but it's the one I feel worst about. Socks and clothes and stuff growing up were boring but were never really "bad."

Similar to books, I was gifted growing up. I was never much of a reader, but it was a nice thought, and the ones I got around to were often better than expected.

But one year, I don't remember when my parents or grandparents gave me a Mario Kart board game. The entire box is in Japanese, and it looks like just a little track you set up, and balls go around it.

It looks more like a toy than a game and one that I'd have enjoyed when I was in elementary school, but I was in college when I was gifted it.

I feel ashamed to have never opened it because I feel like there is no way that I have any fun with it. I don't want to give it to someone.

I don't know who would enjoy it, and throwing it away would feel even worse. So it just sits in a closet, still sealed and in a foreign language, making me feel bad every time I see it.

Verxl

First serious boyfriend. College. Third anniversary. Got him a nice watch engraved with his initials and our date (pretty significant considering I was a broke college student). I suspected nothing when he said he would give me my present later.

We went to the mall before dinner. He wants to go to a well-known store. Typically, it's not his bag, but whatever. Asks me to try something on and ushers me into a dressing room.

I spent about 10 minutes there with no sign of him, and we left with nothing, which was fine because I didn't want anything from there. Later, he slides my gift into my lap at dinner: that store’s gift card.

Now, some might think it's not a horrible gift, but we had lots of problems with a disparity in thoughtfulness/effort in the relationship. I mention how ironic it is that we were just in that store this afternoon.

The next day, I called the number on the back of the card and found out it was purchased while I was in the dressing room. I felt like a total chump.

Even if he HAD put some forethought into it, it felt like a gift straight out of the 1950s to me. I'm all for Lingere, but this was so out of character for him.. it was literally because we happened upon the store, and he must've thought, "Chicks like this."

I had put so much effort into the relationship that he had stopped reciprocating. But he still acted like his world was crumbling if I brought up ending things. Well, I ended things.

ComplexPriestess

For my brother's tenth birthday, he got a dirt bike.. For my tenth birthday, I was taken to another kids' party and told not to say it was my birthday because it was someone else's day.

Well, my dad had married this woman who had the personality of a potato. Her nephew's birthday was the same day as mine. So they dragged my brother and I to this party for him.

He got two cakes, and I cried outside on the porch. When I went home, I told my mom, and she told my grandparents because she was so upset with me.

They threw me a party with balloons and streamers. I miss my grandparents so much. I don't miss my dad. If there's a hell, he's in it. Misogynistic jerk.

bakerbabe126

One Christmas, my aunt gave me a s'mores kit... for some reason. Not the ones with the little candle/heater and grille. No, this was just the actual s'mores components. Graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows. Neat.

About a month afterward, I had a bit of a sweet tooth and thought, "Oh crap, I'm gonna muck those freaking graham crackers!" I opened the box, and... whatever company made this kit had never seen a goddamned s'more in their LIFE.

Instead of graham crackers, cream crackers. The big square with no salt or taste at all. Crap, well, I guess I'll eat the chocolate then.

NOPE: dark chocolate. Out of curiosity, I pulled the last part out: mini marshmallows rather than full-size. Not as egregious, but still, what the heck?

FartKilometre

Self-help books. My mom gave me a book on life hacks and another on motivation for my birthday this year. She told my sister (not me) that she didn’t know what to get me.

So I didn’t get anything until two weeks after my birthday, and that’s what she chose. My twin sister got books about gardening, one of her favorite hobbies.

I felt like the books I got were her saying that I was lazy and a failure in life. My mom knows my hobbies and interests! I would rather have gotten nothing, to be honest.

She doesn’t always get me presents, saying she’ll get me something later, but she never forgets to get my sister something.

ScienceUnicorn

When I was in college, my boyfriend and I didn't have a ton of money. We agreed that we'd celebrate our anniversary by going to dinner and a movie and that we wouldn't do presents. Our anniversary rolled around, and we carried on with our plans.

When we got back to his apartment, he told me that he knew we had agreed not to do presents (I was immediately mortified because I hadn't gotten him anything!!!) but that he'd gotten me just a "little something."

He brought out a really pretty gift bag, and I was both touched and mad because we had agreed on no presents, and here he was, giving me something super thoughtful...until I opened it.  

It was the saddest excuse for lingerie. It was basically just strings to tie around my my body in a provocative and teasing fashion.

I can't even explain how offended I was. He didn't mean to offend me or upset me, but there was something about receiving that gift that angered me beyond reason. I left in tears and never wore that string.

trolldoll26

One Christmas, many years ago, before the cameras on the phone were even close to being legitimate, all I wanted was a digital camera.

Nothing crazy or fancy. Just a simple digital camera, and I even showed my mom an ad for one. $75 Sony on sale. Literally, it was the only thing I wanted for Christmas.

What did I get? A VERY old digital camera that my stepfather used for work as a building inspector. It was a very old digital camera, at least 5-6 years old (probably about the time when digital cameras started to be a thing).

It still had photos on it that he took for work. Literally cost them $0. My sister, however, received a brand-new horse saddle.

AuzRoxUrSox

My mom gave me a dictionary for Christmas one year. I was already having a hard time because I felt like I was being ignored in favor of my brother.

I had written out a list of things I wanted, and knowing our financial situation, I made sure it had a wide range of prices.

Really, all I wanted that year was the new Harry Potter book, and I made this known, especially since I never got anything from these lists my mom made me write out.

So, Christmas morning happened, and there were a few presents around the tree, including a book-shaped one the size of the Harry Potter book I wanted. I'm excited about this present, and it ends up being the last one I opened.

I started crying when I saw it was a $10 dictionary especially since none of the other gifts I had received were things I had asked for or were remotely interested in.

To say I made sure no one had a good day is an understatement. Was it selfish of me? Yeah, sure, but I was upset and tired of doing all the right things and being ignored because it was easier to make my brother happy because I was the good one who didn't act out.

After that year, I refused to make a list of what I wanted for birthdays or Christmas. If you want to give me something, give me money. It's still like that to this day.

afiendindenial

When I was in my early teens, my best friend and I talked endlessly about getting these well-known shoes. They were the absolute coolest thing to us.

Unfortunately, both our parents always said they were too expensive, so we started saving our money to get them ourselves.

Christmas came around, and her parents ended up getting her a pair. A few days after Christmas, when we got together, she gave me a box to have our own gift exchange.

When I unwrapped it, it was that shoe box with the logo of the brand. I looked at her excitedly, thinking maybe she and/or her parents (who adored me) had gotten together to get me a pair as well.

She smiled and nodded slightly as if I was right, and then I opened it to find a cheap, ugly pair of $5 flats. It wouldn't have hurt so much if she hadn't chuckled under her breath while saying, "Aren't they so cute??"

somewhat_rad

My husband's stepmom gave me a 3/4 full can of dry shampoo for Christmas one year. She is very affluent and likes to use presents as a temperature gauge of her ever-changing mood about you.

The year before, I got a new crockpot, a bunch of cookbooks, candles, clothes, etc. I guess she didn't like me that year. Gosh.

Two years ago, we had just finished opening up presents at my MIL's house, and she noticed that my brother-in-law's new girlfriend's gift pile from her was much bigger than mine, not that I cared.

She says she forgot one of my gifts in the back. I can tell she's rummaging through a closet, and she eventually comes back with a crumpled gift bag with a pair of socks and a toothbrush in it. I didn't feel bad about the situation until that.

Skr000

Pexels, Sergey Makashin