We received two gifts that tied for “worst” place. One was a hot dog cooker. As I recall, it sort of grilled two hot dogs on one side and toasted two buns on the other side. We lived in a tiny apartment and had no space for uni-taskers. It was quickly donated. The other, a gift from one of H’s siblings, was a Chia pet. When the sib announced an upcoming (uninvited) visited, we pulled the Chia pet from the closet, wet it down and spread on the seed mixture. It sprouted just in time. As soon as the visit ended, the Chia pet went in the trash.
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We married in the 70s, when it was popular to “antique” your furniture or accessories. One of my mother’s friends gave us a glass vase filled with plastic roses that had been spray painted off-white and then antiqued with gold and brown paint. It was very large and we lived in a 500 sq ft apartment. It stayed in my parent’s attic - just until we had more room, we said. Never saw it again….
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A HUGE(4 ft tall) painting of a really really ugly lion done by the gift giver. Wow. The narcissism in that one just reeked. We brought it to Goodwill the week after the honeymoon and as we were taking it out in ( it had been leaning against the car as we gathered other stuff) this woman approached and asked if we’d sell it to her. She was the set director for a local play and wanted it for a set of a “ really ugly house”. We told her she could have it and to consider it a donation to the theater!
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@HImom. That’s sad not to use them. We are Another gold rim in the dishwasher person. We had someone helping out in our kitchen Thanksgiving 2019 and she was HORRIFIED that we told her to put the dishes in the dishwasher “ALL the gold will come off”. When we told her those dishes were put through the dishwasher monthly for 25 years she was flabbergasted; all gold was fully intact and shining brightly.Oh and same for our flatware with gold detailing.
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Ok. We will search for the China and flatware and use them when the kids are visiting and try to use them more often.
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Many family members on H’s side thought the registry was too “impersonal” to choose from, so got us super tacky Christmas stuff (must have been popular since so many are posting similar things). It’s been long donated.
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I know students who loved breakfast in bed trays for remote learning!
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That definitely wasn’t a thing back then.
My D had a small portable thing with padding on one side that she used for working on her bed…not such a huge, bulky tray like what we got
Oddest thing: a broad-brimmed straw hat with silk flowers around the hatband. This was a gift from an aunt-in-law who was very much into country-style decorating, and who shortly afterwards did open a small decoration shop. It hung on a wall of our grad school apartment, and was passed on to a pal there when DH graduated and we moved away. I suppose I could have worn it as a sun hat, but the straw was on the stiff side and it didn’t really fit my head properly.
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My best friend from college got married a few months before me; we had both been working for a while. I was her maid of honor, and she was my only bridesmaid. Her gift to me was a small ceramic casserole that wasn’t at all to my taste or my cooking preferences. I strongly suspect she regifted the odd dish to me from her wedding. We remain in touch even though we live a distance from each other, buty every once in a while I still question that gift!
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The worst gift that we received as a wedding present was a stainless steel bowl that looked like a dog food bowl that had handles on it. It was just strange. I kept it for a couple of years, then donated it.
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To be fair, the nest and eggs did remind me of when I lived in the grad dorm and there was a nest with light blue eggs in it, but I still thought it a rather odd wedding gift.
I have stainless steel mixing bowls that have a side ring and that nest that I use all the time for mixing or storing or serving . I can’t remember who gave them to us but they’ve been very useful over the decades.
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One of my friends got custom wedding koozies as a gift and it seems to be the first time I saw anyone gifting koozies.
This whole thread is making me question my gifting choices! For example, when my sibling remarried, I wanted them to have something pretty and traditional and bought them a pretty vase at a famous art festival held near our town. When they unwrapped it, they just were clearly puzzled (yes, I explained what it was) and set it aside; it was sold shortly after!
Our least useful gift was an anniversary clock, which broke after 7 moves, 6 years. Most useful was a big wicker basket we use to keep newspapers! You just never know!
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It’s not mine, but my parents got this set of glasses to drink from at their wedding. It had 4 of each for 3 different sized glasses. They were hideous and the glass was like all blown into some leafy print. Each glass was completely textured except for the bottom. They stayed upstairs, in my parents attic, until I was about 20 and getting my first apartment, when my mom told me “oh! you don’t need to buy cups! i have a set you can take with you!” and proceeds to come down and hand me this dusty old box. And, well, beggars can’t be choosers, so I took them. When I returned them a few years later, with a few glasses missing due to being broken, nobody was horribly upset. That was probably my moms goal! The smallest of the 3 sizes was like… 3 inches tall, and 1.5 inches wide!!! they were always getting knocked over.
also - not a wedding gift, but I once received an ant farm for christmas… in my mid 20’s. I attempted to give it to my parents 7 year old neighbor kid, and even he wasn’t allowed to have it.
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I just reread this thread and it did make me chuckle. We got a Dansk cutting board with a glass dome lid. I’m sure others of you received this too. It was a fine enough gift…but we received five of them.
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My in-laws gave us a second reception on the opposite coast where we got married. We were off to Germany the next week. We got five travel alarm clocks.
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A friend of my mother’s who came from a wealthy family but was extremely cheap gave us a couple of sterling silver spoons that had been her late parents. She didn’t bother to clean or polish them, so they were filthy and tarnished. So insulting. We used them to serve our cat food and eventually threw them away.
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A small jar of homemade jam and a rusted metal platter. My wife’s aunt who had 4 of her family attend the wedding.