What is the 'meanest' present you ever received

Never had a really mean one myself, but my sister received an intriguing looking present last Christmas from a friend. It was an oblong shaped box, very light and she couldn't imagine what it was. It was a box of tissues

This is slightly different, because it is about "mean donations". My daughter still chuckles about the time she came with me to the local church fete, where her prize on the Tombola stand was ... a half full handbag sized packet of wet wipes. You have to wonder - who would donate those, and who would think fine to put out as a prize

Grannyknot

When I retired from the place I'd worked for 11yrs I was presented with.........

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Just a bouquet which was from approximately 40 staff.

We used to take bets on who would get the meanest present from my notoriously tight fisted mother. She would often announce to myself. my SiL and my daughter that she had "BOUGHT US ALL THE SAME SO THERE WOULD BE NO FAVOURITSM". That would be 3 for 2 then my daughter would whisper. One birthday she bought me some rubber gloves and an air freshener (as you are always cleaning). Best laugh about this present was that the air freshener was torn from a clearly labelled pack of three.

From x FIL and stepmother we once recieved a joint present of a pair of used unlaundered pillowcases, we had slept on them the previous month when on a visit, and they still had our loose hair on them.!!!!!!! Nicely wrapped. We announced that we were only giving presents to the children of the family the following year, an announcement which was not appreciated as FIL always got a bottle of very good Malt Whisky from us.

Not mean, exactly, but very disappointing. When I was still with exdh, my mother would still do a sort of "stocking" for each of us. I decided to save the most interesting present until last. It was rectangular, reasonably heavy, didn't rattle.

Imagine my disappointment on removing the wrapping paper to find a very sturdy cardboard box containing 4 dusters!

This thread reminded me of a very funny story from one of my neighbours, several years ago. She was looking out of her window just before Christmas when she saw her husband go into the garage with a Harrods bag. The next day she could not resist looking and discovered he had bought her a frying pan. Over coffee she was furiously complaining about him and plotting revenge. The day before xmas eve their garage was broken into and he told her that among the things that was stolen was her Christmas gift. She innocently asked him what it was and he said, "It was that designer handbag you wanted from Harrods".

I had very eccentric in-laws and my first visit there (before we were married) was at Christmas. We were both students and I put a bit of our small resources aside to buy a present for both of them.

When we presented them, they looked a bit nonplussed and shortly afterwards my MIL grabbed her (used) bright red nylon fur mittens off the piano and said "Here, you can have these." And FIL went upstairs to his bedroom drawer and brought down a pair of his pyjamas and gave them to my OH!!

The Xmas fare was a tiny chicken with no additional trimmings, and, having made a big pronouncement that she had made an Xmas pudding, my MIL produced a Spotted Dick!

They were not poor, but just too mean to celebrate; or too lost in their own strange world.

This is the same MIL who never used to send cards or presents to our children for any occasion; but once, when we happened to be down at their place on the day of my DD's birthday (she was 7) she produced a card in its WH Smith bag and in its cellophane wrapping and said "I have got you a card - I have not written in it, as you can - you will know what you want to say!" See what I mean about eccentric!!

They were however extremely erudite and conversations round the lunch table were in several languages and full of literary quotes. I did languages at A level so could just about keep up. They were not your stereotypical academics, but quite downmarket really!

They took a bit of getting used to!

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.

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!

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 !!

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!

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.

£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

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

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 !

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

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.

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....

That aka is a very odd present.

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!

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.

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

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