One couple gave my sister a Fruit Ripener, which was just a plastic bowl with a top dome. It was one of those ‘As Seen On TV’ items at the time.
It was a gift from a friend of my parents. The man was an airline exec, so I think he could have afforded a little bit nicer gift, or just given the $20. He could have just given her free drink coupons for the airline.
Pretty sure someone gave you that as a prank. Especially with no card! Too funny that you passed it to a newlywed couple. Maybe it will stay in circulation!
Worst gift for our wedding- a mosaic picture frame in iridescent purple and green. It matches nothing. I use it though, with my wedding photo in it, because it was the only gift we got. Everyone else gave us cash (living together already and had a destination wedding.)
To be fair, I think the person who gave it to me was retaliating because I never gave her a wedding gift at all. I was a poor student at the time and she married years before I did. Still, I should have given her something.
That was my hope. If anyone out there ever receives it, please let me know.
It is entirely in the realm of possibility that someone on the guest list would prank us with it. But no one in 25 years has ever copped to it.
My H loves his toast rack! Of course he was born in Bermuda and went to school in Scotland so he likes his toast cool before putting on butter and jam. The exact opposite of me.
I’m remembering that I gave a wedding gift that wasn’t well-received. It was to my sister and her then-husband for her second wedding. I spent a lot of time finding very pretty old Victorian photos and put a collection of them in a nice frame. I thought she would enjoy this lovely collection of photos on her wall. She did not. She said “it doesn’t mean anything to us.” Fair enough. She put it up for a while, probably to be nice, then it disappeared.
She was able to be honest with me I guess because she’s my sister. I think the lesson to be learned is to stick with the registry.
Having had to pack up my parents 10 room house (plus basement) that they lived in for 50 years, I have decluttered a bit in the past 3 years, I vow to do more. And they were OCD clean, just had a lot of stuff (lots of shelves in that basement).
We’ve done a bit from my mom’s death too. I’m closing her estate formally next week, but all of the “work” was done pre-Covid. My sister is in charge of my dad’s place and has made no progress at all.
It won’t be too hard to do ours at all comparatively. The most difficult thing if we were to get hit by the bus now would be H’s business and the critters. Then there are those boxes in the attic. 
For my first marriage, I got Orrefors crystal, which I really like. BUT, I got 12 champagne flutes, which have been a complete waste. I also got a bunch of those tiny tea cups to go with my china, which again have just been a total waste. (Most came with a place setting, but someone may have given us an a china tea (or coffee) holding pot and cups).
For my second marriage, I got a champagne bucket and maybe some glasses, and it’s still in our basement, 20 years later.
I also got a picnic in a backpack kind of thing (blanket, plastic utensils, wine glasses and plates, etc.) which I thought was a nice enough gift, but we donated it years ago, having never used it.
None of our gifts were terrible; some were fairly useless but attractive. I donated the most useless when we moved six years ago - including the heavy cut glass cocktail glasses. We had plenty of light lovely flutes - we once lived close to the original Crate and Barrel outlet in Old Town Chicago. Whenever we bought someone a wedding gift, we’d also find something nice on sale for ourselves. And I decided we didn’t need 14 crystal/glass bowls so culled down to the eight nicest 
.
Among our first gifts were a pair of small etched glass decor pieces, which we thought were odd at the time. Now they’re part of our collection (the ones that stand on the corners):
We have that picnic in a backpack thing…and use it every single weekend all summer long. Way better than the Orrefors Crystal which hasn’t been used.
Tie between a Christofle caviar serving set (we are not fancy, and I don’t even like caviar) and the titantium kinetic dreidel sculpture.
I thought of one thing we received that wasn’t “worst” but I thought it was sort of a personal thing to buy someone. A friend gave us a good sized nativity set. (I mean, we DID have a Catholic wedding… 
) To me that is a very personal choice. I displayed it early on for a couple/few years and then packed it away. It took me until recently to let go of it just because I felt bad - like a bad religious person! I donated it and hopefully someone else is enjoying it. 
When my mother died, I kept the nativity set she had purchased in the last 20 years, no sentimental value, but my grandkids love to play with it and I don’t care, so it’s great for that.
Sadly, the one my folks got for a wedding gift, to which we girls had sentimental attachment, and with all the pieces chipped from kids playing, well, she sent that to my brother (why? Boy?) and his wife thought it was junk and trashed it. I don’t blame his wife, it was chipped and messy, but very sentimental.
My dad’s cousin was a painter. She painted a portrait of my husband and me in profile, looking at each other on our wedding day. Let’s just say that my nose is my worst feature - it is quite sharp. I really hate looking at any profile photo or picture of myself. I disliked that painting greatly. We kept it in a spare room for awhile and then finally disposed of it.
That kinetic dreidel intrigues me! My aunt gave us a Lenox mezuzah, which is at our front door. That’s actually not a bad gift for even a lightly observant Jewish couple - not something people might think of and older relatives could be happy to see.
We are a simple people. One uncle gave me a set of three, nesting speckled bowls – the melanine kind; they have a name, but I can’t think of it. It seemed kind of sweet but definitely not off our registry or anything. Who knew that 30-plus years later, I use those things almost every day, and mid-century modern decor makes them practically in style! I see them selling for quite a bit on online selling sites.
My mom had those, and I wish that I had kept them – so useful!
I love those- found one somewhere, maybe got it from my mom, and it’s perfect for popcorn.
Our best man gave us a fancy glass cake stand with cover. We’re never going to use it. Guessing it was a regift. DH’s great-aunt who was known for “shopping at home” gave us a vintage biscuit cutter and a box of vintage toothpicks. At our shower she gave us a set of 3 plates and 7 bowls, presumably from her cupboard. I did like them but I think they’ve all broken.
I love the nativity scene we were gifted. It shows you that everyone is so different 
