"Borderline"? "Mental illness territory?" Classic DCUM take from this PP: Any behavior that's not what you deem "normal" can be pathologized and interpreted as a diagnosable illness....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

These are thoughtful gifts, yet the execution is just so inappropriate!

You should ask her where she gets her ideas and you should point out how each of them went wrong.

Oh, this will go over well.

When have you ever sat someone down and gone over where each of their gifts have gone wrong.

Because this goes beyond strange gift-giving and into mental illness territory. The ideas were fine, the execution points to problems with cognition. Having a conversation about them will inform OP on what the next step should be: either, MIL is borderline but essentially harmless and OP should just gently say that they would prefer more traditional presents (or not say anything at all and continue receiving similar gifts), or OP will have to get MIL to a doctor.

For example, if MIL has Asperger's, she will likely not be offended if OP says something. My relatives with Asperger's aren't sensitive to perceived judgement as much as you or I, PP.

Anonymous wrote:

These are thoughtful gifts, yet the execution is just so inappropriate!

You should ask her where she gets her ideas and you should point out how each of them went wrong.

Oh, this will go over well.

When have you ever sat someone down and gone over where each of their gifts have gone wrong.

Anonymous wrote:This thread is in poor taste.

When I receive a present, I say "thank you.". Then if you don't want to keep it, donate it or throw it out.

Anonymous wrote:These are kind of funny! My parents babysit a couple times a month and will theme it for my kids. Last week's was "frozen night" with Frozen costumes, ice cream, frozen movie, frozen game and nail polish with frozen stickers. My toddler girls loved it. The week before was Toy story and they rented toy story 4, ate dinner with sporks and sang the songs. They try for a theme every time.

I think your MIL just wants to be invited over more? She does sound a bit crazy though. Her gifts are similar to ones we've received from hoarders or people who shop at thrift stores/Ollie's.

Anonymous wrote:The no gifts thread prompted me to think about the really odd gifts that MIL comes up with every year. The worst was a find religion package that included a bible, a donation made in our name to a nearby church that she had researched on our behalf, a homemade invitation from Jesus inviting us to the church, and a bunch of oriental trading religious plastic toys and crafts. We are agnostic. This was not appreciated. When DD was born, the gift package was to me and included a scale. a used copy of the Scarsdale diet that she probably got a garage sale and a tape measure to help me get my figure back. This was not appreciated.

One year she tried canning but didn't hit the mark. The cans of jelly and preserves that we received had black stuff floating at the top. DH thinks it was a mistake, I'm still on the fence as to whether she was planning to take us out of the picture with poison jam. Other years the gifts have been less inappropriate but still weird. I always wondered who on earth bought things from the in flight magazine section from Toscana something with strange dragon and medieval decor. Well, we received a large stone gargoyle statue for our living room, some black candles and Harry Potter books because MIL heard this was what kids like now. The invitation to our house was for MIL to read Harry Potter to DD by candlelight next to the gargoyle for spooky nights. DD was 2 at the time and this would have given her nightmares for weeks.

The latest gift package included a dryer vent cleaner kit, fire extinguisher and s'more making things like marshmallows, chocolate bars and graham crackers. The graham cracker box was expired and the marshmallow bag had already been opened and closed with a rubber band. It also included an invitation to our house for more making and fire safety night. I guess we will be hosting them to clean the dryer vent together and then enjoy stale s'mores.

I don't really have a question because really what do you say when you get one of these lovely packages, let alone get them twice a year.

DH,DD and I all have birthdays in October so we get a creative package to the whole family every October and Christmas.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When my daughter was a teen, my aunt gave her a purity pendant.
(we are all Jewish)

Purity= no sex before marriage. Doesn't that work for Jews?

Are you guys southern? It’s just part of the culture there. I don’t think purity pledges are religion-specific.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When my daughter was a teen, my aunt gave her a purity pendant.
(we are all Jewish)

Purity= no sex before marriage. Doesn't that work for Jews?