Worst Christmas presents you've ever gotten? 2020 Edition

[JuanMena]

When I was in 5th grade, we were forced to exchange presents the last day of school before the winter holidays.
Teachers would actually say something like:

1. IT'S YOUR OBLIGATION TO COME THIS DAY because if you didn't, the gift trading stuff would be incomplete as teachers choose who you had to give the gift.
2. WE'LL HAVE FOOD and most of the times that meant a soggy Hawaiian Pizza with a glass of Coke, or food made by someone's mom. I always had the bad luck of being chosen to have the honour of bringing mom's food not before being beaten by her for "applying to do so or not saying NO to the teacher".
3. SPEND MONEY ON A PRESENT TO A RANDOM SCHOOLMATE which also meant me having the bad luck of being paired with the kid I hated the most, or the girl I never talked to.
4. CHEAP PRESENTS NO MORE THAN A DOLLAR which meant second hand stuff or a card with "Merry Christmas" written on it often with Pencil and grease stains.

So I remember that day very vividly... December 5th 2003...
I got chosen not only to bring a tupper with my mom's exquisite taste of homemade cuisine (believe it or not the food I would bring would be the first AND ONLY tupper to be attacked by hungry children and teachers too)

I got paired with the most awkward girl in 5th grade
She was kind of a tomboy, but femenine, for she had long black hair, asian looking eyes, a fine nose, small lips and a bony and fine chin.
She and I would never talk to each other and I feel we had an unspoken agreement of enemisy...
Everytime our sight crossed, she would put a disgusting looking grin and roll her eyes back.
We never, ever said hello not even once.

So... my mum being a woman... and my mom... she forced me to give her some earings that exceeded the price accorded by teachers.
Then mom forced me too to give her a nice card... but mom being mom, told me to write MORE THAN Merry Christmas on it...
I don't remember exactly what I wrote, but it was something along the lines of me "wishing her a good and healthy life for her and her family on the holidays xoxo".
And after that, mom bought her some fancy hair pins...
So, of course my present exceed way over the 1 dollar price. Mom even bought a small gift bag and a ribbon to put everything inside it.

Anyways... so the day arrives... and of course, being the last day of school before the holidays... we didn't had a teacher that day.
Instead, all the teachers would go to eat special adult food in one classrom... while the principal would play the songs that we used to hear back in the day.
Me and my friends would sneak up a football to play while we were unattended.
When we got bored of it, we would go to the higher and more mature joy of gambling, and I would usually take their money playing Rayuela (pitch and toss) sometimes followed by a small exchange of insults towards my mother for me being born with a good aim. Like seriously you should see me play the Archery game on Gerudo Dessert in ZeldaOoT... you'd shit your pants.
Anyways ...

After the teachers did whatever they did on that mysterious classroom away from all the children...
Trading Gifts-time would arrive...

Those days were decisive on one child's reputation and often the entire family's reputation.
If you skipped classes that exact day, you'd let everyone else know how poor you ass was... so it was up to you if you wanted to live with the shame of that decision.

So the exciting time arrives... and we're sit in such fashion that all male kids were one one side of the classroom and all the girls on the other side. All looking at each other while trading.

Most of the times, for boys, depending on your popularity with girls, and if the girl chosen for you liked you or not, meant that the most popular kid would get a fancy RC Car or a Tiger Handheld Game, while the ugly kid would receive potato chips and a can of Soda... not kidding...

You could smell the shame...
Taste the anxiety...
Even hear someone's crying inside, for realizing how (un)popular you was...
Childhood sure was difficult...

Teachers being smart ass adults... not being satisfied with a kid's deception look, often forced the kids exchanging gifts, to add more to it... with a hug from the boy to the girl and a kiss from the girl to the boy.
Man... the discomfort on a girl's face was priceless... often enough for a good laugh followed by a scolding from the teacher.

Familiarized with the ongoing ritual, my turn arrives.
I was anxious to get my present, and believe it or not, not so much for a girl's kiss.
So the time comes... this girl who I never spoken but exchanged hate and discomfort glances with and I are forced to stand in the Middle of the classroom...

Me being taller than most of them, got forced to hug her, and hand over her present. That means that I had to incline towards her in order to reach her back... it looked like as if I was paying my respects to her.

She opens the bag, stamped with Snow and Christmas Ornaments, and she looks at me directly into my soul, while putting her hand inside the bag.
She takes the first thing her fingers grasped onto, and turns out to be a the card.
Everyone else screams: Aaaaaah! Uuuuh! A love letter!
She laughs, and gets a red face. Reads it silently amongst the rythmic chanting of the words: "Son Novios! Son Novios! Son Novios!", and she gives me a cheeky look and says: Thank You.
Then, she notices more stuff on the bag, she puts her hand inside, and takes out the earrings.
Everyone screams: Aaaaah! Se gustan! Se gustan!
Then she takes out the hair pins and everyone else is convinced that we were on a relationship and had no fear in screaming their thoughts at us with yet another rythmic chanting.
She hugs me back.
Her turn arrives and she goes to her backpack... puts her entire arm inside and takes out something.
She hides it on her back adding more tension to the situation, and says with a serious face: "Here"

I look down and see the ugliest Tornasol looking SpongeBob Wallet...

I SWEAR TO GOD THAT THIS IS THE EXACT SAME WALLET I GOT FROM HER.

She gives me a kiss on the cheek with a sense of shame... we sit on our seats... we trade one more glance and she lowers her head.

This has got to be the worst present I've ever had considering all the effort I put into it.

So... this is my full story...

 

[JuanMena]

School wasn't the same after that. She destroyed my faith in humanity (and Christmas for that matter) to be honest.

I became a man after that day.

 

[r5xscn]

Perhaps, same as you, she also felt awkward after that event. One of the problems we humans have is that some of us cannot show our feelings towards others without being afraid of being judged. But don't be afraid, everyone feels the same, and kids being kids, they will always shout in the back, which you can always ignore. I hope you will have a better Christmas this year!

 

[JuanMena]

Perhaps, same as you, she also felt awkward after that event. One of the problems we humans have is that some of us cannot show our feelings towards others without being afraid of being judged. But don't be afraid, everyone feels the same, and kids being kids, they will always shout in the back, which you can always ignore. I hope you will have a better Christmas this year!

Re-reading this tish, I made myself sound like an ungrateful bastard.
I guess, considering we never got along and being forced to do this ended up me hating this present.
Not hating it truly, but being disappointed and thinking that she never cared as much as I did given the situation.

I've never ever been a material kind of person. So I'm always hoping not to get something, not because I'm ungrateful, but because I think I don't truly need something.
Most of the times people gives me chocolates, or stuff that are too small for me.
Turns out, I'm allergic to chocolate, so that's just as useless as a wallet with funky colours.

I've always believed that what matters is the Intention.
If you're in this kind of situation (being forced to do it) at least put some effort. I mean, we were kids back then, but it could've been better lol.

Thankfully, as long as I have my family with me, all is good.
The feast is just part of the celebration and presents are not required, to make me happy.

 

[Jayro]

I got socks and underwear from my mom one year, when I didn't have any need for them, didn't ask for them, and never got anything like that from her before. I was thankful, but confused by it. Last year she game me $500 because her stocks shot up by $45 in a single day, so she shared some of it with me. That's probably the BEST thing I've ever recieved! Totally insane amount of money for christmas.

 

[spotanjo3]

Honest, it is not very nice to say that behind someone's back for the worst gift I got from. It is very wrong to say behind someone's back. This thread is not nice talking about someone's back. Sorry, I thank everyone for the worst gift and cool gift either way. They are great. It doesn't matter. Thank you. That's it.

 

[JuanMena]

Honest, it is not very nice to say that behind someone's back for the worst gift I got from. It is very wrong to say behind someone's back. This thread is not nice talking about someone's back. Sorry, I thank everyone for the worst gift and cool gift either way. They are great. It doesn't matter. Thank you. That's it.

Re-reading this tish, I made myself sound like an ungrateful bastard

 

[DinohScene]

Tbf I would love anything for Christmas from me mum n dad.
I don't need a pair of socks but some new shirts will do.
Couple of household chemicals will also do.

There's really no "worst Christmas present" in this situation.

 

[Deleted member 513667]

i literally get air for christmas

i'm not even kidding lol

 

[Chary]

When I was about 8, my mom bought me like $300 of dolls from the 1970s. Back then, we were super super low class poor. So this was a huge deal. I’d woken up to the biggest boxes and Christmas presents I’d ever seen in my life and was so excited. So I open the first box and find a doll, and another doll, and the same doll but in a collector’s edition box. And then a value book for the dolls. And accessories for the dolls. Dolls. Dolls. All dolls.

And here I am, all of 8 years old and vehemently against “dumb stupid dumb girly lame dolls”. But my mom is having so much fun watching me open them. So I force a smile and get excited over random old dolls.

Turns out, my mom just really wanted me to experience the exact same Christmas she’d had as a kid, down to the exact dolls. And she’d ended up losing those dolls decades and decades ago during a family tragedy back when SHE was a little girl.

It was more of a healing thing for her more than it was a Christmas for me. She cared a darn lot for those toys and she was happier than I ever coulda been to get them. Even at that young age I’d been a little upset, but I knew to just accept it and be happy for my mom.

My dad had gotten video of the whole thing, too. And years and years later we got one of those VHS converters and watched it. And my mom ended up apologizing over the whole thing. I didn’t really mind, especially after so much time had passed, but I know 8 year old me had just hoped beyond all measure that at least one box under the tree wasn’t yet another doll...

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

So is socks like the fruit cake nobody wants? That's the new hipster joke?

 

[Waiting2Die]

A fucking origami kit!

 

[evil goober]

In highschool I got a bell with a cat on it the one that brought it said the newspaper it was wrapped in was really the gift.

 

[JuanMena]

In highschool I got a bell with a cat on it the one that brought it said the newspaper it was wrapped in was really the gift.

He/She liked you.

 

[leon315]

My family was poor as F when i was kid, and couldn't afford me a school bag like any other kids, when my father one day got home with smile brought me a FUCKING SAILOR MOON BAG, the only problem was I AM A BOY and the bag was PINK and purple with giant blonde SAILOR MOON printed (i found it her name on wiki she's Usagi Tsukino - Bunny), everyone at school laughed their ass off whenever they saw me, ABSOLUTELY MY WORST xmas nightmare ever.

My father couldn't afford an ordinary school bag and I was 100% sure he found it from some trash bin, cauz it even had a big dirt stain on it. I still thinking nowdays, that if I went to school with an simple plastic shopping bag from supermarket I would get less mocked by my school mates.

Now i drive around in a brand new Mercedes Benz 4x4 matic, wearing Versace coat and top branded Italian leather shoes, compared to my miserable childhood when i hardly and rarely got any Xmas gifts.

 

[JuanMena]

my family was poor as F when i was kid, and couldn't afford me a school bag like any other kids, when my father one day got home with smile brought me a FUCKING SAILOR MOON BAG, the only problem was I AM A BOY and the bag was PINK and purple with giant blonde SAILOR MOON printed (looked on wiki i found it her name is Usagi Tsukino - Bunny), everyone at school laughed their ass off whenever they saw me, ABSOLUTELY MY WORST xmas NIGHTMARE EVER.

My father couldn't afford a ordinary school bag and I was 100% sure he found it from some trash bin, cauz it even had a big dirt stain on it. I still thinking nowdays, that if I went to school with an simple plastic shopping bag from supermarket I would get less mocked by my school mates.

But wait... Sailor Moon is from the late 80s... so you're like 34/35 years old?

My parents were so poor that they made me a skateboard with a wooden board and 4 nuts.

That's an interesting subject/thread idea:
How poor were you?
- I was so poor that I barely ate.
- I was so poor that I had to wait some days after launch day to buy a PS1

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

We have a family friend who's godfather to my little brother that tends to buy me and my other siblings who aren't his godkids really cheap gas station gifts every year, and they're usually pretty bad. I've told him for years now that he really doesn't have to buy us anything, and I think he finally listened because last year he didn't buy us anything which was nice lol.

One year, when I was like 10 he bought me cheapo cologne, which is a weird gift IMO for a 10 year old. Another he bought me this super cheapo pen set that tried to look fancy but was very obviously made out of super cheap plastic and everything. Pen didn't even work when I opened the box which was a nice touch

 

[JuanMena]

One year, when I was like 10 he bought me cheapo cologne, which is a weird gift IMO for a 10 year old

Tommy tommy tommy... sounds like you never met GOD

 

[leon315]

But wait... Sailor Moon is from the late 80s... so you're like 34/35 years old?

My parents were so poor that they made me a skateboard with a wooden board and 4 nuts.

That's an interesting subject/thread idea:
How poor were you?

Not going to compare how hard the life of 3rd world but by Italian/EU standards
-You barely suffer from starvation if at least one of parents works, and my family wasn't also poor but also broke with 100 million old LIRE debt from failed investment which is the old italian currency and worth 51k EURO without actual inflation.
-they still aired Sailor moon in the later 2010 till 2016 here in Italy, i got the bag in 2000.

- I was so poor that I barely ate.
- I was so poor that I had to wait some days after launch day to buy a PS1

dude, you had no money for food but had money to buy PS1, What The feck?!

 

[Issac]

I am grateful for any gift. But there is one that stands out, and it was at a mandatory school gift exchange thing... I got a rock. That's the worst one. And the only bad one I can ever think of.