# The utterly dumbest idea for a present? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 6, 2024, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-utterly-dumbest-idea-for-a-present/1003816 "2024-07-06T19:06:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-utterly-dumbest-idea-for-a-present/1003816/41 "2024-07-07T03:41:48Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > She absolutely did not like it, thought it was…_thoughtless_. Well, at least she couldn’t say it was _pointless_. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-utterly-dumbest-idea-for-a-present/1003816/42 "2024-07-07T03:56:28Z")
A friend recently gave me a $20 gift card to a movie theater that’s closest location is an hour away from me, seems obvious it’s a regift because he had no use for it either since we live in the same area, but why would he think I’d find it useful instead? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-utterly-dumbest-idea-for-a-present/1003816/43 "2024-07-07T05:22:03Z")
Maybe he was broke. Or maybe he didn’t wanna waste it. Just carry on the tradition. Regift it back to him for Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-utterly-dumbest-idea-for-a-present/1003816/44 "2024-07-07T09:38:14Z")
Or, on a different note, “I Yust Go Nuts at Christmas”: > I look at nightgowns for my wife > Those black ones trimmed in red > But I won’t know her size and so > She’ll get a carpet sweeper instead ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-utterly-dumbest-idea-for-a-present/1003816/45 "2024-07-07T11:14:20Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Just carry on the tradition. Regift it back to him for Christmas. My parents did this with another couple with a Christmas card. The same card went back and forth between the two households every Christmas from the mid 1950s into the 1970s, with a note written each year (such as “_one of these days someone needs to buy a new card! Merry Christmas!_”). mmm ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-utterly-dumbest-idea-for-a-present/1003816/46 "2024-07-07T11:27:45Z")
> [@MagicEyes](#): > > My ex gave me a toaster for Christmas one year. He had good intentions, but I was not impressed. Hey, watch it 😀 . My wife has a toasted beagle every morning. Our toaster worked, but was kinda crappy. For Christmas (?) I bought her the best toaster I could find. It’s still going strong. My wife was on the equestrian team in college. She still sometimes rides. Or did at the time. I bought her riding boots (not cowboy boots). Not crazy knee high ones. Would be good basic all around ‘round the town’ boots. Have never seen her wear them. But, they would be safer than hiking shoes in the stirrups. Bought her expensive earrings with her birth stone in them. In hindsight I guess they weren’t that attractive. Never seen her wear them. And like the boots, they seem to be gone with the wind. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-utterly-dumbest-idea-for-a-present/1003816/47 "2024-07-07T11:51:27Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > I actually gave my wife a treadmill for Christmas a couple of years ago. She had been wanting one and was delighted to get it. I gave my Wife a computerized trainer for her bike. She was in training for an IronMan. She loved it. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-utterly-dumbest-idea-for-a-present/1003816/48 "2024-07-07T11:58:14Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > My wife has a toasted beagle every morning. Winner! Typo of the day 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-utterly-dumbest-idea-for-a-present/1003816/49 "2024-07-07T12:10:34Z")
It’s really hard to find a toaster big enough, so it was a nice gift. 😉 Not so much a gift, but a Birthday card my wife got from one of her best friends - “If we ever get old and forgetful, we will met again and become best friends again” She sent the same card the next year. Either very clever, or prescient. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-utterly-dumbest-idea-for-a-present/1003816/50 "2024-07-07T12:22:39Z")
One year, my dad gave my mom a hundred-pound bag of flour. And not even all-purpose flour: Cake flour, so she had to do research on how to adapt regular recipes to use it. This was after the divorce, so not the reason for it, but it’s not like that was his first instance of utter cluelessness. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-utterly-dumbest-idea-for-a-present/1003816/51 "2024-07-07T12:58:28Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > “You want to travel, fine, we’ll stay in hotels. I don’t want to take my housework with me on vacation.” That’s the reason my wife and I did not buy an RV. We did seriously consider it though. If we have to make beds and clean bathrooms, no deal. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-utterly-dumbest-idea-for-a-present/1003816/52 "2024-07-07T14:00:16Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > “You want to travel, fine, we’ll stay in hotels. I don’t want to take my housework with me on vacation.” Great way to put it. My wife and I have clocked many, many thousands of miles. I think the longest single trip was 17 states. Each hotel is a different experience. That’s part of the whole trip. I know plenty of people love the RV experience. It’s not for us though. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-utterly-dumbest-idea-for-a-present/1003816/53 "2024-07-07T14:26:55Z")
Before considering an RV, couples should watch “The Long, Long Trailer” with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-utterly-dumbest-idea-for-a-present/1003816/54 "2024-07-07T14:28:04Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > _thoughtless_ But not pointless. ---
**Author:** ![TXRebel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6de8d8/32.png) [@TXRebel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TXRebel)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-utterly-dumbest-idea-for-a-present/1003816/55 "2024-07-07T15:18:09Z")
🤣 😂I feel his pain. Mine is jewelry and Swarovski. My Little Round Man has lived through it but not without sacrifice. ---
**Author:** ![TXRebel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6de8d8/32.png) [@TXRebel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TXRebel)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-utterly-dumbest-idea-for-a-present/1003816/56 "2024-07-07T15:19:58Z")
I’m pretty cool with gifts. Now we just buy what we want when we want it. I have had years when I got new pots and pans, new sheet sets, a floor scrubber for the garage floor (game changer) and I loved everyone of them. ---
**Author:** ![TXRebel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6de8d8/32.png) [@TXRebel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TXRebel)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-utterly-dumbest-idea-for-a-present/1003816/57 "2024-07-07T15:22:01Z")
It definitely is an acquired taste. We love it because we travel with our doggos (aka The Felons) and I like being able to be “home” wherever we go. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-utterly-dumbest-idea-for-a-present/1003816/58 "2024-07-07T15:26:21Z")
That’s a good reason. I like ‘The Felons’. We set our criminals up at a VERY nice kennel. Got to if you travel overseas. Which are gonna be our up coming trips. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-utterly-dumbest-idea-for-a-present/1003816/59 "2024-07-07T16:28:20Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > I look at nightgowns for my wife > Those black ones trimmed in red > But I won’t know her size and so > She’ll get a carpet sweeper instead Seriously, guys, how hard is it to look at the labels inside her clothes to find out what size she wears? Putting aside the whole issue of how crazy and inconsistent sizing is for women’s clothing. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-utterly-dumbest-idea-for-a-present/1003816/60 "2024-07-07T16:31:09Z")
500 lizards? Girls like swarms of things, right? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-utterly-dumbest-idea-for-a-present/1003816.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-utterly-dumbest-idea-for-a-present/1003816.md?page=4)