- Blog
- Bios
- Boards
- Classifieds
- DIY
- Gallery
- Vendor Reviews
- Shop Weddingbee
Weddingbee boards
As I look back over my thank you note list, I'm really surprised and happy with all of the wonderful gifts our friends and family have given us. But as many of you know, there is always one or two that make you go "huh?!"
For us, it was a George Foreman grill in an opened box (side ripped off of it) and a Gift Certificate to Swarovski (not my style at all and cannot afford anything on the site with the amount given).
While it's the thought that counts, what gifts left you scratching your head?
I love this question!
Background: My husband and I love to make pizza, and so we registered for quite a few pizza-making and serving items.
As we were opening presents, we unwrapped a huge box...the outside of the box said that it was a personal pizza oven. We didn't register for it, but it looked really cool and my husband was totally excited about it! We didn't open the box at the time, as we were unwrapping other presents, but a few days later, he really wanted to try it out. We opened it up and inside was not a pizza oven, but two of the ugliest platters EVER! They had just used the box to wrap the gift. Needless to say he was heartbroken. He still gets mad if you bring it up.
IMG_0425.JPG (2305.5 KB, 68 downloads) 1 year old 
It wasn't given to me but my fi's cousin received dress shirts (which I guess is normal for Indian weddings because people give sari's to the bride) the thing was that these shirts were size XL and XXL. The groom is no bigger than a size M or L. These were totally regifts because some didn't have tags. Oh and it wasn't just one person who did this but a few.
Omg Bree, lol. That is so funny! Poor guy. I hope you got him a personal pizza oven!
We got the crockpot we registered for, which was great. But, then someone else got one we DID NOT register for...we literally took it to 10 different places to return it and the only place that would take it was Target...we got a wopping 10 BUCKS for it! For sure stands out as the worst.
Oh this is a great topic. Until recently, I was working at a small furniture store where I actually got a lot of my wedding planning done. well, one of my coworkers was an older Chinese lady who liked to hear about my wedding and insisted on getting me a present even though I told her she didn't have to (I didn't invite any of my coworkers to the wedding due to budget constraints). Well, after we got back from our honeymoon, my coworker gave me a fairly heavy gift all wrapped up. I took it home and DH and I opened it. Lo and behold...she gave us a set of 4 crystal goblets. You could tell they were old, and possibly used, because one of the glasses was in the box upside down, and the box itself was yellowing because of how old it was! We think she had them lying around her house and then gave them to us because she didn't want them anymore. It was a sweet thought, but it was definitely one of those "are you serious?" kind of gifts.
We got a bread plate that we didn't register for- it was a religious theme about breaking bread. While we did have a church ceremony, my husband is agnostic. It came with a gift receipt, so we took it back to Macy's. We got $4.99 for it.
cecilia.jpg (45.5 KB, 27 downloads) 1 year old cecelia1.jpg (115.2 KB, 28 downloads) 1 year old 
I can't decide which was the most head scratching, so here are the top three:
1. A stuffed gorilla
2. A wooden laughing Buddah (neither of us is religious)
3. Glass measuring cups and spoons in the shape of fat birds
I have not had the opportunity to experience this yet since my shower will probably take place the end of summer. Anyway, I am the MOH for my great friend who is getting married this month. At her shower she received not 1 but 3 of the same Cusinart 3 cup food processors. Great gift... but 3? She also received a dupe of a gift I bought her.
I think the worst gift she got though was these large green rusted looking wedding bell wind chimes. It was probably about 2 feet tall. I wish I had a picture. It's priceless! 
Well, it's a toss up between....
The bride and groom porcelain cartoon penguin salt and pepper shares where the bride's nipples are clearly drawn and showing.
or
a metal nuts and bolts bride and groom sculpture that kind of looks like those vesicar commercial pipe people, only worse.
The funniest part about it is that both gift were from the same person!
Our was from a mutual friend of myself and my husband - we have both known him for ever. We opened his card and it said the usual congrats etc and then at the bottom, it said "Enjoy your gift!" ummm turns out - there WAS no gift from him. So then we started thinking, maybe we left it? what is going on? So we sent him a message basically saying that whoever packed up our gifts acidentally threw all the cards in the card box without thinking and now we are trying to figure out what gift is from which people, so if he could let us nknow that would great so we can thank everyone properly.
WE NEVER HEARD BACK FROM HIM!!!!
Why write Enjoy your gift if you aren't giving one???? We didnt' NEED a gift from him! He could have just given a card with his best wishes!!!!
Well I'll get back to you on this one, since my shower is tomorrow morning, but for Christmas, FI's grandmother gave us (the tag said it was for me and him) a musical carousel horse - like, just one horse that you wind up the bottom and it plays music - in a Guess shoe box, with no tags or anything. When I opened it I was waiting for the explanation, but there was none! Just a used musical horse in a shoe box. LOL
DSC03695.JPG (142.9 KB, 38 downloads) 1 year old DSC03633.JPG (140.5 KB, 35 downloads) 1 year old 
This is unrelated because it was a Christmas gift, but still funny! My FI's dad game me these salad tongs for Christmas. He had a similar pair and we would always comment how nice they were, so he gave me some of my own. Then, there was another package for my FI and me, and it was ANOTHER pair of salad tongs from him- the exact same ones! Iguess he totally forgot he had bought me the first pair. We ended up trading them with FI's sister for a bottle of Bailey's... seems like a good trade!
Ok I just got off the phone, and I HAVE GOT TO post this.
My FSIL (we are NOT close, don't get along too well) called me because she had been talking with my FMIL, who had been talking to FI (stay with me!) about our wedding planning and FI mentioned to FMIL that we had been thinking about doing a wedding website and a honeymoon registery, and FMIL mentioned this to FSIL.
Anyhow, she calls and says that as her wedding gift to us, she would be willing to give us the name of someone who would be able to set up our wedding website and honeymoon registry for us:D My how...er, thoughtful! I suppose that FSIL may have forgotten that I have 6+ years of web programming experience and was unaware that there are premade services for honeymoon registry...not to mention she wouldn't actually have to do anything for the gift other than give us someone's name.
hehe- these are all super silly. We didn't get any real head scratchers. I was more surprised at the people who said "i have your gift" but never give it- cause there isn't one. We did get a weird black bowl thing with a hole in it from the MOMA store from one of hubby's aunts. not sure what to do with it.....anyone know what a bowl with a hole in it is for?
Probably the worst one so far is the whole set of dishes that we got... that were not the dishes we registered for. Um, hello?
headband.jpg (8.2 KB, 36 downloads) 1 year old 
@MissBurgandy: Umm...really? That is SAD. She may as well have offered to hand you a phone book. "Here. It's full of professional type people who do stuff." Awesome gift. I wouldn't expect much from that lightbulb, she seems a bit dim.
IMG_0811.jpg (1486 KB, 27 downloads) 1 year old IMG_0812.jpg (1479.8 KB, 24 downloads) 1 year old 
Silver-plated lighthouse shaped peppermill with salt in the top where the light would be. From a distant family member...
We live in AL and I've never seen a lighthouse in my life. :) It now gets passed around to friends for their wedding. :)
This was my university graduation but I think it qualifies...I got a set of Tinkerbell play makeup from an aunt. Ummm...thanks? I was 23 and I think just a bit old for plastic pretend makeup.
We got a big oval-shaped mirror with colorful wooden parrots decorating the sides. My husband's boss gave it to us. She is a huge Jimmy Buffett fan and I guess she thought our newlywed life needed a little trip to Margaritaville. It was seriously the ugliest thing ever, totally not our style.
So when my company's holiday white elephant gift party rolled around, I wrapped that mirror right up. After someone else had opened it, the head of my whole department took it from her (on her turn), declared it "adorable" and told everyone that she thought it would make a great gift for her son and future daughter in law. It turns out her FDIL's birthday was coming up, and the boss reasoned that since this girl has giant tattoos of wings on her back, clearly she would love this mirror covered in Jimmy Buffett parrots. Which also have wings. Get it?
It was so. hard. not to die laughing right there. What about a parrot-encrusted mirror screams "wedding"?!
When we first got engaged it was right before christmas, so his mom and I started talking about things for our place, etc. She got us a 16 place setting set from Pfaltzgraff of the "sea vista" collection!!!
I love them! They're so pretty and can be mized and matched with all different blues,and whites and beige colors!
A random funnel from Bed Bath & Beyond. It was accompanied by utility cloths, measuring cups and spoons. Not sure how a funnel plays into that? It went straight into the "return" pile.
I haven't had a shower or anything yet, but I do have a gift story.
Back Story: My uncle got married to a horrible woman when I was 14. Until that point my uncle was really close to my immediate family because we really had no other family on my Dad's side. However this all changed when he met this chick and she sucked his soul dry...anyway I digress.
My new aunt really had no interest in trying to get to know my family, so we weren't really looking forward to spending Christmas with her. I was still a little excited because my uncle always gave me amazing gifts, so I expected something awesome from him. Well, he apparently let her do all the shopping, because as she is handing me my gift, she says "You like zebras right?" So I hide my shock because I have no clue what the heck she is talking about because I've honestly never given zebras all that much consideration before. So I respond with "yeah, I guess they are alright" and I open the gift. It was a super tacky and cheap zebra print address book. My mom nearly doubled over in laughter because of the look on my face. I was 14 for heaven's sake...not some 40+ business woman needing to keep tabs on her work contacts! Now anytime we get ready to go over to their house my sister and mom ask me if I like zebras.
I was very lucky. At my shower, all my gifts were from my registry. I was a little hesitant about my FI aunt though. When his cousin got married last year, she got them this brush that scraps off scum in the shower lol. Thankfully for ours, she gave us a gift card to Bed Bath and Beyond. Whew we dodged a bullet!
For christmas, my FMIL gave me the Southern Living Cookbook. It's actually a pretty good cookbook, but there was a lot of subtext b/c he's from the south and I'm not... it was pretty clear that she was worried about how and what I was going to feed her son.
We received WAY too many glass things. Mind you he has a house on 7 acres in the country, and neither of us see ourselves hosting any dinner parties.
We received a HUGE glassware set, but can't find where it is from....
Received MORE glasses, lucky us they left it in the bag of where they purchased it from, we got less than $10 back to a store we never go to.
A set of glass or crystal ssalt and pepper shakers, that we can't find where they came from and an alarm clock too.....
Also a bunch of very nice ederly ladies crocheted (sp?) balnkets, hand towels and other kitchen things that are now keeping my cedar chest company.....
The worst we got was a candle shaped like a wedding cake. It was the wedding present - and my husband was just like - what are we going to do with this - we're married now?
But really most of the gifts were awesome..
Omg, some of these are quite funny!
My girl friend whom I was a bridesmaid for received a dusty old tea set from her employer! She thinks he bought it from a garage sale!
I can't believe some people would actually give crummy gifts to the bride and groom. That is SO rude!
Just wondering, are the people who gave these crummy gifts close relatives? Or were they just distant friends? I'm just trying to figure out what kind of people would give such gifts, lol.
Some of these are just hysterical!
beesknees-- did you check out the MOMA store to see what its explanation is? LOL, maybe its just "decorative"? I'm so intrigued...
chelseamorning -- I was laughing so hard reading this! I had a boss like this before.
I'm sure I'll have a story to add eventually!
my FMIL is a very thoughtful woman.. but sometimes i wonder.. what were you thinking. She has a room where she keeps a bunch of never opened stuff where she can go get a last minute gift. We yesterday for easter we got a wedding picture frame (not our style). Ok, thoughtful of her anyway. But she has given me some stuff that I just wonder. One christmas she had gone out ad found a sweater that she loved with embroidered flowers .. she loved it so much she bought me one too!! lol she wanted us to look like twins. I love her to death but some of her gifts I wonder.. what were you thinking. lol
We received a wooden elephant-shaped wine rack, with the price tag of $24.99 from Cost Plus still on it. My new hubby is Asian so we were thinking maybe because the elephant is kinda African-looking, maybe they figured anything non-European or American is all the same "exotic" and that he might like it?? Not only that, and I hate to be judgemental, but this was a family of FOUR that had come to our wedding, they own a house (unlike us), the wife does not work so their daughter can be a ski athlete, and a $25 wine rack is all they could come up with? We aren't even registered at Cost Plus! My fiance is furious about it, my mom is embarassed because they are more her friends. At least it has the tag attached because its going right back to Cost Plus for a merchandise credit.
2010-06-22_11.34.34.jpg (848.5 KB, 35 downloads) 1 year old 2010-06-22_11.34.52.jpg (1302.4 KB, 31 downloads) 1 year old
Okay, one of the FIs "colorful" uncle's also known as coola** uncle _________. Gave us a BIG red "vase" with a funny water spout on the side (if you catch my drift....) Umm...neigher of us have a use for this type of 'vase' since we don't display that type of plant ever. Hello......
I just had my shower this past weekend. Strangest thing I got was a box of pink hangers!
ladybug31087 -- I'm not sure I "catch your drift"...what was the "vase"?
Haha, I love threads like this (for the record, if anyone is interested, there's a fantastic thread over at Indiebride called "Crystal Bowl of Doom" that is about this same topic - no idea if it's still alive, but it's pages and pages of great laughs).
We got a couple of real "winners" including obviously regifted votive candleholders (amazingly I was able to take them back to Macys and get $25 for them!), a butt ugly piece of "lingerie" from Kmart from my weird aunt for my shower and yes, we were also blessed with our very own Crystal Bowl of Doom (which is still sitting unopened in the pretty blue Tiffany's box in our living room - unfortunately I didn't get it back to Tiffany's ontime to return it for something we might have used).
So, um, anyone want to buy a lovely crystal bowl from Tiffany's? :D
OMG Ladybug I am laughing so hard at that! Please tell me you weren't around other people when you opened that!
You must log in to post.
| Visit our sister sites | eHarmony Online Dating |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
| User | Posts Today |
|---|---|
| MissBoPeep | 48 |
| rachgirl82 | 39 |
| pengoala | 38 |
| Sunfire | 23 |
| Beckster329 | 22 |
| Future Army Wife | 20 |
| Mrs. Meowerson | 19 |
| KatNYC2011 | 18 |
| couawilou | 18 |
| beargoose | 18 |
| User | Posts Today |
|---|---|
| DeeVine1217 | 5 |
| PookyShoes | 2 |
| Gemstone | 1 |
| KristenGotMarried | 1 |
| misskarianne | 1 |
| sarahbabs | 1 |
| jpalm13 | 1 |
| sweetpea87 | 1 |
| abbie017 | 1 |
| moose91 | 1 |
