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.

Your post is in poor taste. The name of the post is 'strange presents'. If you are so thankful for every gift, you should have moved along when you saw that title. No one here said they DIDN'T say thank you when they received their 'gifts'. It really is ok to vent anonymously online.

Anonymous wrote:My MIL has started 'downsizing'/'decluttering' in recent years and apparently found all of her children's old toys, plus an untouched stash of unopened cheap toys that she had amassed years ago for birthday parties or what have you. Last Xmas, DD (3) got a knock-off My Little Pony from 1983 (per the box) whose mane immediately fell out when she removed it from the blister pack.

AAAAAAAHHHHHHH this would scar me for life.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One year for Christmas my mother gave her 3 son-in-laws the movie -- Raging Bull. We never quite understood why.

It's a great movie! Nominated for a bunch of Academy Awards and DeNiro took home the Oscar for best actor.

My mom does this too. She finds a "good" gift and buys multiples. Males in the family, done.

Anonymous wrote:One year for Christmas my mother gave her 3 son-in-laws the movie -- Raging Bull. We never quite understood why.

It's a great movie! Nominated for a bunch of Academy Awards and DeNiro took home the Oscar for best actor.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sorry OP. Your MIL seems a little off and probably showing some favoritism.

Is she by any chance very frugal? My grandma grew up very poor in the Great Depression and would give us gifts of things she had around the house. Some of them half used, never anything any of us kids actually wanted. She would save bows from gifts and reuse them. She was also just an off person with some mental issues. The open bag of marshmallows thing sounds like something she would have done.

Hell yeah, I do this too. Why throw away a perfectly good bow? I'm 42, have two little kids, and as far as I'm aware, still possess all of my faculties. I also save and reuse gift bags, unless they've been trashed or ripped or something.

+1. Except really I’ve just stopped using bows altogether. No need for that crap in landfills.

+2. I reuse bows and gift bags. I don't buy bows, but reuse the ones we get.

One year for Christmas my mother gave her 3 son-in-laws the movie -- Raging Bull. We never quite understood why.

Anonymous wrote:Ah yes, my mother is a terrible gift giver. She gives my children my old childhood toys or things she picked up from a neighborhood curb alert. Her gifts are always wrapped in used wrapping paper. And not used just once but multiple times. They’ll be 3 or 4 pieces of wrapping paper taped to a toy.
I just go with it but my oldest child is starting to pick up on the weirdness of it.
She also has hoarding tendencies and keeps buckets of water collected in the shower to water her plants.

Wait, we have the same mom? Gotta love her.

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.

The gifts are hilarious. If you can’t find humor in life’s quirks, then what’s the point?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sorry OP. Your MIL seems a little off and probably showing some favoritism.

Is she by any chance very frugal? My grandma grew up very poor in the Great Depression and would give us gifts of things she had around the house. Some of them half used, never anything any of us kids actually wanted. She would save bows from gifts and reuse them. She was also just an off person with some mental issues. The open bag of marshmallows thing sounds like something she would have done.

Hell yeah, I do this too. Why throw away a perfectly good bow? I'm 42, have two little kids, and as far as I'm aware, still possess all of my faculties. I also save and reuse gift bags, unless they've been trashed or ripped or something.

+1. Except really I’ve just stopped using bows altogether. No need for that crap in landfills.

My MIL has given us some strange things too. She likes to shop at art fairs, and she picks up the craziest things. One year, we got one of those figurines made out of forks and spoons, cradling a salt shaker and a shot glass. DH was at the time a struggling alcoholic (now recovering). She also once gave him this artsy, expensive "doll" that was about 15" tall, dressed as a member of his profession (scientist)- she has a number of these (dressed as various things) in her house, and they all have these strange, slightly-scary, pinched faces. DH *hated* it and put it on the top shelf of a closet for years, until one time we had a garage sale and he put it out on the table.

On the positive side, every single time she'd visit, she'd say something about our old glass-top stove that I hated but we couldn't afford to replace. Then maybe 3 years ago, she offered to replace it with a (fabulous!) gas stove. She now insists that that was our Christmas gift for the next 20 years, and I'm like, yes, thank you!

Anonymous wrote:I'm sorry OP. Your MIL seems a little off and probably showing some favoritism.

Is she by any chance very frugal? My grandma grew up very poor in the Great Depression and would give us gifts of things she had around the house. Some of them half used, never anything any of us kids actually wanted. She would save bows from gifts and reuse them. She was also just an off person with some mental issues. The open bag of marshmallows thing sounds like something she would have done.

Hell yeah, I do this too. Why throw away a perfectly good bow? I'm 42, have two little kids, and as far as I'm aware, still possess all of my faculties. I also save and reuse gift bags, unless they've been trashed or ripped or something.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My ex-MIL believes strongly in sorting people into categories when it comes to gifts. So my XH always gets things with guitars on them even though he hasn't touched a guitar in decades. His sister once expressed a desire to have a turtle when she was like 9 and now she is in her 30s and everything she has received from her mother for the last 20 years has had a turtle on it. You get the idea.

So I enter the picture and one of the first things she learns about me is that I'm Jewish (she's Catholic). And so that became my thing. I had no idea they slapped Jewish stars and menorahs on so many pieces of crap until I met this woman. Seriously, I cannot figure out where she found this stuff. Her crowning achievement was a cat scratching post shaped like a menorah (I have never owned a cat in my life).

If this was a contest, then you win.

That's hilarious. A colleague once gave me a Hannukah cup (for Christmas) that had a menorah that lit up when you put hot liquid in. In addition to appreciating the thought, I actually found it pretty cool. Alas it shattered one day just as the candles were lighting up ....

My MIL used to always bring a variety of half eaten, often expired food to every family gathering, with the intention of handing it out. Everyone just took something and said thank you. She also did grab bags at Christmas - as in a random bag full of weird things that she would pull out and someone would claim. It blew my mind the first time (since my mom puts too much thought onto gifts), but I learned to appreciate it.

She is far too feeble now to do theses things and I kind of miss them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My ex-MIL believes strongly in sorting people into categories when it comes to gifts. So my XH always gets things with guitars on them even though he hasn't touched a guitar in decades. His sister once expressed a desire to have a turtle when she was like 9 and now she is in her 30s and everything she has received from her mother for the last 20 years has had a turtle on it. You get the idea.

So I enter the picture and one of the first things she learns about me is that I'm Jewish (she's Catholic). And so that became my thing. I had no idea they slapped Jewish stars and menorahs on so many pieces of crap until I met this woman. Seriously, I cannot figure out where she found this stuff. Her crowning achievement was a cat scratching post shaped like a menorah (I have never owned a cat in my life).

If this was a contest, then you win.

Another vote for this one! Although a bunch of these are hysterical. And the receivers seem like they have a sense of humor about it all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My ex-MIL believes strongly in sorting people into categories when it comes to gifts. So my XH always gets things with guitars on them even though he hasn't touched a guitar in decades. His sister once expressed a desire to have a turtle when she was like 9 and now she is in her 30s and everything she has received from her mother for the last 20 years has had a turtle on it. You get the idea.

So I enter the picture and one of the first things she learns about me is that I'm Jewish (she's Catholic). And so that became my thing. I had no idea they slapped Jewish stars and menorahs on so many pieces of crap until I met this woman. Seriously, I cannot figure out where she found this stuff. Her crowning achievement was a cat scratching post shaped like a menorah (I have never owned a cat in my life).

If this was a contest, then you win.

Oh my gosh, this has me rolling!