What is the 'meanest' present you ever received

Growing up I got used to my brother always receiving a bigger and better present than I did for Christmas. When I was about 13 my brother received a brand new bike (he already had one but he wanted a better one), I opened my box to find a home perm kit!

When I was married, every year my MIL gave me something for the house, usually the kitchen so I ended up with eg 3 breadboards because I lived on my own for a while before I got married and I inherited all of my parent's goods etc when they died.

My ex MIL gave me a cardigan for Christmas which was obviously second hand. It was two sizes too small and grubby.

My friend had a mean one too. She received a Grazebox coupon her friend had received free.

It was my birthday and lets just say someone I know rummaged into their make up bag and gave me two bottles of used nail varnish--oh well it is the thought that counts and I was actually grateful that she had made the effort but it did make me laugh

I've just remembered an ex boyfriend who said that, as my 21st birthday was coming up on January 5th, he had only bought me a small Christmas present. It was a very small box of Cadbury's Dairy Milk. For my birthday he bought me a big box of CDM! He didn't last!

My MIL was famous for her presents.One Christmas she gave me a three bar packet of soap, with one of the bars removed and the torn wrapper still in place. Just before my second baby was born she announced she had got me a lovely nightdress to wear in the hospital. It was bright orange frilly nylon with a rip up the side, she had got it from a jumble sale. Her excuse was it was a jumble sale from an affluent area so must have come from someone who was ''posh''.I did not use it.
To be fair on her though, she had been brought up in extreme poverty and resented spending money on things she did not think were essential.Presents of any kind belonged to that category.

Some of these are really funny. A pork pie with the pastry eaten off

I remember another time: we had been invited by my son's then new girlfriend's family to eat out at a restaurant that they suggested, both families with our children. A lovely evening was had by all as we got better acquainted. Came the time to pay the bill, our host suggested we split it. Fine. As we put our half of the amount due on the table, so he pulled out of his pocket a discount voucher - to be deducted from his half of the bill!

Luckily the relationship didn't last.

My sister who lives up here has a lot more money than me. She wanted to move away this year, and knew her lovely house would sell quickly.

At Christmas she has never spent more than £10 on me, and bought something small and daft as an after-supper 'tee' gift. I usually spend twice as much on her, simply because that's what I spend on everyone else, and around £5 on her tree gift.

But last Christmas she arrived with a large carrier bag full of beautifully wrapped gifts for me. I was really touched. I hastily shoved a box of chocolates inside her carrier bag as well.

When I opened my gifts, they were all the tree gifts I had bought her for the past seven years! It's a good job I bought her things I liked, but I did feel rather hurt at the time.

Oh don't get me started on tips. My DD works in a small pub as a waitress. Ther are only 4 staff plus the landlady and landlord who own the pub. All tips are put in box until Christmas when they are divided by six

A dear friend used to invite her old aunt for Christmas every year and almost looked forward to her strange presents. One year it was a pork pie, from which auntie had eaten the pastry

Of course they shared it with the kitchen staff, including their brother, who was the washer-up!

Further to the 10p tip, Galen. Both my daughters had Saturday jobs as waitresses, and once served a jolly family group of around 20 people, who didn't stint on the food and drink. They and the other servers worked really hard to give them a good party, fussed over the children, kept smiling throughout. When the party left, with many thanks and goodbyes, there was a single 2p piece on the table.

A used gadget for spinning new potatoes to get the skin off them! From my lively sil who is also one of my dearest friends - she just lives on another planet on occasions!

That aka is a very odd present.

The worst oddest gift I ever received was from my DD for our wedding anniversary....a plastic bag full of very ripe greengages she'd picked from a friend's tree. Apparently she thought I'd like to jam them, so I spent most of my anniversary, on an extremely hot day in August, making jar after ruddy jar of greengage jam. Grrrrrrr....

A fly swat.

I was given a fly swat wrapped in old paper with a bit of ribbon by a very dear friend who is , well, dare I say it not as smart as most.

I loved it because he was so proud and I knew it truly wasn't about the gift but the love behind the giving.

My birthday is just after Christmas, so never really got anything special from my DM or DF. However, for my 31st birthday DM presented me with a beautifully wrapped box with 'something special' inside. I was quite excited, the box just the right size for a necklace or pendent.
When I opened it there was a small single layer of cheap chocolates!
Better than nothing! X

Was your mother my MiL Galen?
I turned up to see her (2 hour journey) and she suggested we go out for lunch. The postman arrived and she had had TWO decent wins from ERNIE. It was not her that paid for lunch and yes when she died there was a similar amount in the bank !

I got nothing when I retired from the civil service after 16 years with them

£10 from my mother for my 60th birthday. When she died she left over £600,000!
She would never pay for anything and would leave a 10p tip after a £40 meal

We were married overseas and when we came back to UK, the in-laws gave us £10 as a wedding present, to buy a picnic set! This same pair visited my 2-year-old in hospital on his birthday without bringing a present.

Hmm, I may have to rethink my mean thoughts towards my mother after reading this thread!

One Christmas, she came to my home and was telling me how she'd bought sheepskin coats for my brother and sister-in-law, gold ingots for both of them and a whole raft of things for their two children.

I couldn't open my present quickly enough - expecting I had got the same. What I had were four cushion covers from BHS. I shoved my hand inside each one, expecting to find a gold ingot. My mum said 'what are you doing' I told her I was looking for the gold ingot. 'Hmph', she said, 'you'll be lucky'.

However, the cushion covers were new so now I may have to stop 'moaning' about it!

My sisters MiL once gave me some M&S talcum powder except it was a very out of date tin with a tatty bit of sellotape across the top and rust around the bottom.
The school I worked in decided to give all the staff a bonus. For 23 years service with hardly a day off I got a cheque for £20. Those with 25 years plus got £25. We were not sure whether to feel pleased or insulted !!

Forget to mention in my opening post that my husband's present of bird fatballs was wrapped in reused Christmas paper - his birthday is in May!

A few Christmases ago I received an intriguing rectangular package. I had dropped lots of hints about what I would like to my DH. When I opened the present, it was an electric toothbrush. Not what I had wanted at all. My MiL once bought me an alarm clock.