With Christmas barreling uncontrollably towards us like a 16-foot-tall, brightly-colored, drunken Santa ready to steal our wallets at knife-point, the shops are full of people looking for that perfect gift for their loved ones. Well, a fair few shops are full. Most of us do our shopping online these days, but that doesn’t have the same ring.
However, not everyone gets the gifts that they wanted, or needed, or like at all! One person took to Reddit to find out what some of the weirdest gifts that people had received were, by asking, “What’s the biggest ‘WTF’ gift you’ve ever received?”
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So, please find below a series of the strangest and most inappropriate gifts that people have ever received! Enjoy!
The Gift That’ll Last A Lifetime
“Maybe not WTF in the general sense, but certainly poor timing: my husband’s parents gifted him his cemetery plot on his 50th birthday. One for me, too!” — Wienerwrld
They wrote that they are planning on selling the plots, as they do not want to be buried at all, and certainly not in the plot that they had been gifted! Must be a horrible plot!
The Long Play
“Was nearing my 16th birthday and my family kept dropping hints about a car. wasn’t expecting anything newer than ten years old as we were barely middle class. A car would have been great as waiting for my mom to drop me off/pick me up from work sucked. For 3 damn months, they kept asking me about what I thought of certain cars. Talking about how I’d have to learn how to do basic maintenance. How to keep it clean looking so people wouldn’t think bad of me when I got a car.
“The day comes and there’s a box just big enough to hold a small item such as a car key. They gather round and proudly hand it me. As I open it I realize it’s a hot wheels car. They didnt even spring for a new one. They gave me a broken hot wheels car from a toy box I didnt realize I still had.” — Bless_all_the_knees
Wow, now that is an aggressively mean present. The person went on to write that it took them and their family a long time to get passed this “prank.” However, their family ultimately helped them out a little to purchase an old pickup truck when they turned 19.
Old Food
“One year I came home for Christmas and my mom had been asking me what I wanted for Christmas and I told her I didn’t want anything, I had everything I need and not to get me anything. Well, come Christmas morning there were a number of gifts with my name on them.. we always hand out all the gifts first and we each had a pretty decent pile.
“My turn comes up, I probably have maybe 8 or 9 small packages to open. I open the first one and it’s a box of hamburger helper. I laughed and was like, uh thanks Mom..and then I continue.. after 3 boxes of hamburger/tuna helper there’s a couple cans of chef Boyardee and spaghetti and I’m like… do you think I’m not eating or something, or are you trying to kill me? What’s with all the random food? Her response? ‘No, I just felt bad that you didn’t have anything to open on Christmas! You can go put those back in the cabinet when you’re done.'” — iamhyphenated
The Plastic Bowl Conundrum
“A co-worker of mine won a radio show contest where people were invited to describe the crappiest office gift they ever got. My friend was the secretary of an IT company and her boss gave her a plastic bowl for Christmas. And it wasn’t even a nice plastic bowl. The first time she put it in the microwave, it melted. She won the contest and got a $100 gift card to Outback Steak House. Her boss insisted she take him since it was his crappy gift that caused her to win the contest.” — EGoldenRule
So, this person’s boss got a free dinner out for the price of a crap plastic bowl? This person is a genius or just a fortunate cheapskate.
Short Crust Bikini
“For my bridal shower by mother in law gave me an old bikini. How do I know it was old? The elastic was crusty.” — Lalina13
I don’t think anyone ever wants a present that can be described as “crusty” unless it is a pie. But, who really gives someone a pie as a present?
Always Read The Fine Print
“When I was like 12 my mom’s boyfriend gave me a holiday card with sexual themes in the text. My mom pulled me aside later and told me that he was almost illiterate and hadn’t read it before giving it to me and to never talk about it again.” — hypo-osmotic
That is amazingly unfortunate! I know that a lot of birthday cards can have “sexual themes in the text,” but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a holiday card with such themes. What are the odds that this fella would pick one out?
Religious Gifts
“My youth pastor showed up to my house on my birthday and made a big deal about the gift he brought me. I opened it and it was a dead squirrel he shot that day.” — uncamad
I think it’s quite creepy that the pastor got them a gift at all. The fact that it was a deceased animal just makes it worse.
The Egyptian Dong Pen
“An Egyptian pharaoh pen when I was in middle school. It was all gold-colored, and the pen barrel stuck out between his legs. Needless to say, I was mocked mercilessly by my classmates for having this massive Egyptian dong pen.” — artnerdhippie
I like the idea that someone looked at an “Egyptian dong pen,” and thought, “I know exactly who would love this!”
The Family Cheapskate
“My uncle is notoriously cheap. One year he gave me a magazine that had Ichiro Suzuki on the cover. It was a free magazine (as stated on the bottom of the cover). Another year he also gave me a free T-shirt he had gotten for running a race. Possibly the best was the birthday gift he gave my dad one year- a McDonalds Happy Meal toy.” — BooksandPandas
They went on to say that the couldn’t remember what the Happy Meal toy was, but that it wasn’t one of the good ones. I didn’t know there were “good ones”?
What The Duck?
“When I was in college my sister gave me a Donald Duck cement lawn ornament for Christmas. It weighed at least 40 pounds. I didn’t have a lawn, and I didn’t like Donald Duck. She has an excessive amount of lawn ornaments in her yard. I suspect that she realized that she hadn’t gotten me anything as she was getting into her car and just grabbed the closest thing.” — SpendLessLiveMore
If someone did this to me, I’d just wrap it up and give it them back for the next occasion. Or, just slip it back into their garden without them noticing.
Let There Be Light
“I was given a large industrial lightbulb (think of a cylinder the circumference of a soccer ball and about 15” tall) by my uncle. He told me it was worth a lot of money and would be hard to find another one if I ever needed one.” — iconoclastic_idiot
They explained that they assume that the bulb had come out of a warehouse. Because that’s where everyone goes for their Christmas shopping, abandoned warehouses.
A Teachable Moment
“Christmas, 1993. I was eleven. My grandma gave me one half of a pool cue. She gifted the other half to my then-8-year-old brother.
“Grandma: ‘See? You can only use it if you two cooperate and share!’ We did not own a pool table.” — CaptainWisconsin
This person went on to write that their grandmother’s message of cooperation went slightly unheeded, as the pool cue halves quickly became lightsabers for the pair to fight with.
Let’s Talk About Sex
“Book on tantric sex for me and my boyfriend, from my brother. I opened it in front of my mom and all my in-laws, great grandparents, and teen cousins included. I think it was a sincere gift.” — imsaneinthemembrane
I cannot fathom how uncomfortable this must have been for the whole family. They went on to say, “I think it was a thoughtful ‘I know you two are having issues as new parents, here’s something that might help you reconnect and be happier together and as individuals’. He’s a very odd hippy duck but very sweet in his weird ways.”
Insensitivity Training 101
“Last Christmas my mum got me a pair of XXL flannel pajamas… I’d been shopping with her the day she got them (she said they were for an aunt) and bought myself some pajamas in a Medium, as we were talking about how I’d lost weight over the last couple of months since coming off my antidepressants. She also asked that day if I liked flannel and I told her I couldn’t wear it because it causes my psoriasis to flare all over my body.” — KittehKatXVIII
Now, I think there are three possibilities here — your mother is either unbelievably dense, a terrible person, or she just really hates you.
A “Love Painting”
“Wasn’t me but my cousin, and we all still laugh about this. Her step-grandmother was always giving her the strangest gifts (including a she-wee, that helps you pee standing up as a girl) but our favorite was when she got my cousin and her husband a sex painting canvas.
“It’s a large tarp where you cover yourself and your SO in paint and roll around on it while having sex to create a ‘love painting.’ My cousin was really shocked to get that from someone who was supposed to be a grandmother figure, as well as from someone she didn’t have the closest relationship with. Still makes me laugh to think about!” — ladylizardlvr
Apparently their cousin was very confused by the gift; however, they did consider doing the painting and then gifting the result back to their grandmother. What a strange relationship!
It’s The Thought That Counts!
“When I was a kid (6 or 7) I had surgery on nearly all of the fingers on my dominant hand (the other hand came later!), scary surgery for a kid though pretty simple, mostly boring and a few weeks of pain, my aunt (who I love) sent me a coloring book in the hospital as a ‘cheer-up’ / ‘pass the time’ gift.” — Korenaut
There is also a chance that your aunt was pulling the harshest prank on you!
Loose Toilet Rolls
“It was my great-grandfather’s 90th birthday, and his daughter in law got him a bag filled with toilet paper rolls. It wasn’t even in a bag. Just loose toilet paper rolls everywhere in the bag.” — xOkaRutox
In fairness, I can imagine that my grandparents would love this gift. They’re always stockpiling toilet rolls for some reason, as though the world is perpetually on the brink of running out.
Mac & Cheese
“One year for my birthday, I was opening gifts. This year my dad’s friends came over with their gift. When it came time and I got to it. I unwrapped a bunch of Mac and cheese. Just one of those packs of like 10 or more mac and cheese boxes. It was definitely not unappreciated but definitely the WEIRDEST.” -Spider_s0up
Slightly Used
“Had this one happen at work. Had a customer who was always a pain in the a**. She never appreciated customer service or quality of product. Just a difficult miserable person. One time, she knew she was completely over the top with her annoying personality, so she gifted the people at our store a bottle of Bailey Irish Cream. Yeah, the bottle had been opened and was not full.” -imgg77
Airplane Gifts
“One year for Christmas my grandma gave me the free socks and disposable toothbrush she got on a flight. From her trip to Europe with one of my sisters.” -BabyBelarus
Sick dude!
“Bag of cough drops.” -GooeyPulsation
Well, at least you can use that gift at some point , right?
Like Father Like Son
“It was 20 years ago. It was my first year of marriage and my dad bought me a year’s subscription to Playboy magazine. He always had Hustler magazines laying around but he knew I liked to read. Weird gift dad.” -LurkeyCat
Re-Gifting
“My grandpa has always been very well off and has lived on the other side of the country. We were pretty broke growing up and my parents always got him a gift. One year he sent my mom the card she gave him the year prior as the entire gift.” -concept2099
Pogo
“When I was little I asked for a pogo stick for Christmas. Christmas morning I unwrapped an orchard prop instead! An orchard prop is a long wooden stick that holds branches of fruit-bearing trees up when the fruit is too heavy on the limb.” -Oginalii1
These Things Don’t Go Together
“A lemon and a stapler. I was 6.” -Howismydriving95
His And Hers
“Weirdest gift was ‘his and hers’ lubricants, given to me by a girl the same age as my daughter…” -Altema22
Quarterback
“I once got 30 bucks from my grandma. It was all in quarters.” -Raging_Hoes
The Dead Good Gift
“When I was about 10 my little brother (only 3 or so) was very sweet and told my parents he had a present for me but didn’t want anyone to see and wanted to wrap it himself. Christmas morning comes and I’m very moved by the shoebox-sized gift my little brother taped up as best he could and made my Mom wrap for him. […] As I started to remove the tape from the box I noticed a little odd smell but figured it was just because the old box was in the basement.
“When I finally got the lid open and my brother excitedly exclaimed ‘Merry Christmas’ I got to see what he was so excited about for the past two weeks. The box contained a dead hummingbird that had run into the window, an earthworm, and a few scattered saltines in case the worm and bird got hungry. Best present ever, but definitely WTF.” — Jelz
Gonna Be A Dry Christmas
“A cheese and champagne gift set that had the champagne and most of the other goodies taken out of it. So cheese in a mostly empty box.” — haggisforthesoul
I hope that it was at least a nice cheese! I’m actually not sure if this is WTF or just stingy?
The Mystery Bucket
“A guinea pig. Just the guinea pig, no cage or anything. ETA they gave it to me in a bucket, we kept it for a few months then gave it to my cousins.” — Kckc321
Giving someone a pet can be a ridiculously insensitive gift. I mean, that person has to go out and buy all of the stuff for that pet; you’re essentially buying them a long-term commitment.
