Since we’ve had a couple of threads on wedding gifts lately, I thought this might be fun. “Worst,” can be defined however you want it to be: not your style, never used, caused you to exclaim, “what in the world??”, etc.
Mine is going to seem terribly mean and make me sound like a horrible, snooty person, but it would be unfair of me to ask if I weren’t wiling to share and be honest about my thoughts.
One of dh’s elderly relatives made us a set of four, “mug rugs.” They were coasters and a holder made on that hard plastic mesh that you basically needlepoint on. They actually had a mug, and the words, “mug rug,” stitched on each of them. They even had, “fringe” on two ends of them as an area rug would have. They were made with acrylic yarn and did not lay flat on a surface as they weren’t finished on the back.
I felt horribly guilty about my thoughts because they clearly took time and effort to craft, but they were so unattractive and tacky-looking.
My husband has a group of relatives who tend to band together to pitch in together to buy presents as a group. For our wedding, they gave us four exceedingly garish, “artistic” glasses from a startup craft/art gallery belonging to a friend/associate of one of these relatives. We made a tour to visit relatives after we’d returned from out honeymoon, since we lived far away. We figured, no problem, we’ll just return them while in the area. Turned out that of course the gallery wouldn’t take them back, and there was NOTHING in there that we liked. And of course, everything in there was absurdly overpriced. It was so difficult to find anything of use, or attractive, in that gallery! Clearly, the relative charged with buying the group gift used the opportunity to support her friend’s startup gallery.
I think I mentioned this once before in a thread about downsizing or old china. DH & I are not drinkers, not a religious thing or anything, we just never do. My ILs are very well marinated and bought us a pair of Tiffany trumpet champagne flutes. We used them at the wedding for sparkling cider and packed them up in their fancy boxes. For the following Christmas, we got 2 more and then 2 more for our first anniversary. DH finally mentioned we were all set and they were so disappointed because their intention was to get us a set of 12 (seriously? 12? ) All 6 are in their original (huge, foam lined) boxes taking up 2 shelves in the basement.
An elderly lady I knew who was a compulsive shopper gave us a Bradford Collection carved alabaster plate depicting a scene from Carmen.
We used to joke with our daughter that we’d gift it to her when she gets married.
I have nothing to contribute because honestly I don’t have a lot of memory of wedding gifts beyond the typical kitchen items, dishes (no china by choice), towels/sheets and a few Christmas ornaments (we were married late November so I guess it was thought we should have ornaments?)
BUT I will enjoy this thread and will say that so far, I would also NOT like all the things mentioned above!
It’s funny, it’s something I use every day! I registered for a good knife set for my shower, no one bought it, no big deal. My husband’s mom’s cousin bought us a cheap block knife set for a wedding gift (which was in itself strange, he lived in Manhattan). There was no receipt, so I’ve been using it for over 26 years. I think it’s because I’m Irish, so practical and a little frugal, I still can’t justify buying myself another one (and I cook every day).
A sterling silver tray. We were just out of college living in apartments for several years and did not entertain in a way to use it (or the china we got). We never used it and it tarnished. I think I finally got rid of it a few years ago. I don’t even remember most of what we got. Our weekend honeymoon was the best gift I remember.
Not only the worst wedding present, but weirdest present of any kind, ever.
A handmade pottery box that said “I t isn’t the cough that carries you off. It is the coffin they carry you off in”. It had a weird picture of a dracula in a coffin on it.
I don’t know what it means! We thought maybe it was a stoner thing, except we don’t smoke so why give it to us? Creepiest part is I have no idea who gave it to us. It was “extra”, all the guests (of which there were 80) were matched to a gift.
I actually thought it was hilarious, and decided to give it to a friend of mine when she got married, who was at my wedding and knew about it. Decided it would be a good luck thing. I hope.
Not sure how to describe this - it had been purchased at a garage sale, and smelled musty and had cobwebs/dust in the corners. It was a wooden plaque(?) to hang up in your kitchen, with a list of grocery items painted on, with a small hole next to each item, and then a shelf with little plastic pegs to insert next to an item. A large way, cumbersome way to create a shopping list.
The items listed were ridiculous. Some of them were very specific, like “vanilla extract” and others were incredibly broad, like “vegetables.”
The couple who gave it to us were members of the church I grew up in, and were a little eccentric.
I dutifully wrote a thank you note for their thoughtful gift.
Ours didn’t look like this, but I found an example:
We received a 12 inch Glass clown figurine and the face still gives me nightmares to this day. It stayed in it’s original box until I finally donated it to the Goodwill. Given to us by a friend whom fancied herself as a Home Designer/Decorator.
Not me but a good friend of mine and her husband received a sculpture of a nude couple in an"intimate" position. Friend and her H are very religious and conservative and it is something they would never buy! Worst part is that it was purchased by a close family member who would be at their house often and expect to see it displayed! Thankfully the couple has a great sense of humor!
Guests we were not terribly close with (parents of my H’s closest friend from high school) gave us an extraordinarily generous check. The amount seemed so above and beyond what one might give, given the relationship. A day or so after I had sent them a thank you note, the check was returned for insufficient funds. IIRC, it may have been written on a closed account.
My parents wanted me to reach out to the sender and tell them, but I could not bring myself to do so. I figured once they realized what had happened, they would surely reach out, but they never did. H and I still laugh about it all these years later…every time we are writing out a check for a wedding gift, LOL (we always joke we’ll add a couple of extra zeroes to the amount just to make their eyes pop when they open it, LOL).
We have 12 Orrefors wine glasses and 12 Orrefors water goblets. We didn’t register for Crystal because we didn’t want it. This is a very contemporary style and I’ve never liked it or used it. It’s all boxed up. It also was the gift that keeps on giving. We got some as wedding presents and then others for Christmas and anniversaries for a couple of years.
It was a nice gift for some other wedding couple!
We really didn’t get any bad gifts, but we got things we never used. One was a good clamshell framed. Not sure exactly why we got it, and we have no recollection of who gave it to us.
Not a bad gift but my most confusing was a pretty crystal ice bucket, except it’s just a bit larger than one might use for a cup holding pens. I am not really sure, still 40 years later, what I am supposed to do with it. Perhaps people in a certain social circle know what they are for and I am simply gauche?
I also had an even more miniature crystal ice bucket with a silver rim and handle, which was smaller than a coffee cup, I finally gave that and a crystal stemmed candy dish to a happy person for $5 on FB marketplace. It felt weird to do that, but I just don’t need excess stuff. I dumped the heavy, lovely, crystal ashtray many years ago, no one in my family ever smoked. I guess it’s one of those things a prior generation thought you were supposed to have.
I have no idea what ours was. If I were motivated I could probably go up in our attic and look around and find it though. We moved so much in the beginning that many things we didn’t use just stayed packed, though a few boxes have been eliminated after they ended up getting water damaged from a leak. I’ve told my kids they can have fun going through what’s left when we’re gone.
) All 6 are in their original (huge, foam lined) boxes taking up 2 shelves in the basement.
