Although birthdays are supposed to be celebrations, we occasionally find ourselves baffled by the presents we get. Here are 30 of the worst birthday gifts individuals have ever received, ranging from clumsily considerate to completely strange.
1. My Own Scarf
“My own scarf. My mom walked into my room, took my scarf, wrapped it, and handed it to me as if it were a new one”
2. Bras And A Book About My Changing Body
“My uncle and his new girlfriend, whom I had just met, bought me bras and a book on my changing body when I was twelve years old. So embarrassing”
3. An Invite To A Restaurant (But What About Japan?)
“One time, my dad invited me to a restaurant. The same year, he offered to pay for my brother’s vacation to Japan”
4. Fertilizer
“When I was eight years old, my mother and I were planting sunflowers one summer. My aunt decided to get me some flower fertilizer for my birthday. I unwrapped my present and there was literally horse poo”
5. A HR Complaint
“Two subordinates arguing over how to plan a surprise birthday celebration for me led to an HR complaint”
6. No Extra Homework
“I didn’t receive any additional homework from my Asian mother on my birthday since she gave me the gift of “no extra Kumon assignment after school homework.”
7. A Lint Remover
“It was my 12th birthday. They gave me a lint remover”
8. A Used Hairbrush
“I received a hairbrush with a plastic horse-head handle from my grandmother. There was hair in the brush and the horse’s head was completely chipped”
9. Some Fabric To Make Pajamas
“A set of handmade, personalized pajamas. The only issue was that they hadn’t been produced yet. Only the fabric and the assurance that they will be made for me”
10. Vice Grips
“For nearly a decade, my brother and I have been receiving the same set of three vice grips as gifts from our grandparents. We have 60 vice grips in total. I have no idea where they are coming from”
11. A Used DVD Of “The Notebook”
A used copy of the Notebook, after I made it clear that I didn’t intend to see it. It was my stepmom who gave it to me, from her and my dad’s DVD collection”
12. A Bee Sting
“Three times in my life, I have been stung by a bee and each time it happened on my birthday. My ages were 3, 14, and 25”
13. Grounded
“Grounded because I was too ungrateful to say that I didn’t need to celebrate my birthday”
14. A Used Candle
“A candle that was clearly used. I was devastated”
15. A Blender
“I became quite interested in learning to play the guitar in high school. At the time, all I owned was a battered acoustic guitar. On my birthday, a wrapped gift, a quite large box, showed up in my parents’ living room. It was a blender”
16. A Framed Old Jersey
“My narcissistic father wanted to live vicariously through me, so I played American football in high school. As a birthday gift, he gave me his old jersey, framed”
17. 100 Bucks You Will Not Get To Use
“My godfather paid $100 to a bank account that I was expected to get when I was sixteen years old, according to the birthday card he sent me every year. He got into alcohol, spent all the money, and passed away”
18. A Second-Hand Colouring Book
“Every birthday, my grandparents were really low-effort and low-budget. They gave me a used coloring book from a swap meet one year”
19. A Selfish Tattoo
“When I was around twelve, my dad got me a tattoo of his birth sign on his chest as a present. As if he had given me a wonderful present, he pumped it up all week”
20. Your SO Passport
“My boyfriend brought me a little flat package for my birthday. There was a passport inside. That’s all. Only his passport”
21. A Used Pen
“On my sixteenth birthday, I thought I was getting something special. My grandmother gave me a used pen she found in her purse”
22. A Bomb Threat
“On the campus of my institution, there was a bomb threat. To get to a safe location, all of us students had to walk for perhaps half a mile in the pouring rain. I was cold, damp, and alone on my 19th birthday”
23. Socks
“My cousins got brand-new ATVs, and I got a bunch of socks. Knowing that my brothers and I were ranked lower than my cousins made me feel kind of bad”
24. A Banana
“For months, my mother hinted that she would bring me a phone for my twelfth birthday, but instead I received a banana. I was pretty upset”
25. Coasters
“When I was about 19, living with my parents, I received coasters from a relative. Unbelievable”
26. Divorce
“My dad unintentionally disclosed that he and my mother were divorcing. He wasn’t aware he was messaging me instead of my mother since he was intoxicated”
27. Dead Birds
“A soldier stationed at a Navy installation where I worked discovered that I manufactured items from animal bones and handed me a bag of foul-smelling, damp, dead birds that he “found” all over the facility”
28. A Group Home
“I thought I was getting a bike for my 15th birthday, but my foster parents announced that they were moving me to a group home after 11 years of living with them”
29. Slim Fast
“My friend’s sister, not me, got a six-pack of Slim Fast! She didn’t even need to lose weight”
30. A Shared Shirt
“My aunt gave me an ugly shirt and insisted that I give it to my sister, whose birthday was 10 days after mine”
