# What is the weirdest gift you've gotten? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 11, 2010, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-gift-youve-gotten/549931 "2010-08-11T13:26:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-gift-youve-gotten/549931/61 "2010-08-16T01:27:03Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > > [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > > > I haven’t gotten too many weird ones, but I did get a hollowed out bible with a condom in it once. > > Obviously to be prepared for the second coming. Okay, my gift may be considered the best one of the thread, but I think your response wins something, too. ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-gift-youve-gotten/549931/62 "2010-08-17T19:21:02Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > As a wedding gift, we got (from an ex-boss of mine) a how-to book entitled (something like) “How To Find Your Romantic Partner,” which neither of us expected to have much use for. CLEARLY this should be the winner. > [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I haven’t gotten too many weird ones, but I did get a hollowed out bible with a condom in it once. Wait, or maybe it’s this… ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-gift-youve-gotten/549931/63 "2010-08-17T19:50:55Z")
> [@BrassyPhrase](#): > > > [@multimediac17](#): > > > > \ > > From another uncle, a musical instrument of some kind that I still haven’t identified. It consists of a metal flat part and an attached ball on a stick which juts out at an angle. When shaken, the ball hits the metal and the whole thing goes “twaaaaaang”. > > > > \ > > The previous strangest gift I got was from the aunt who gave me nothing, around my 13th birthday she gave me some maracas and a pan flute. “I heard you were musical”, they said. > > It sounds like that first one is called a vibraslap. > > [Vibraslap - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vibraslap) > > I love weird families. One day you mention you like a song, next you’re “That Music Person!” A vibraslap! Amazing! Mystery solved, finally. The thing is that I _am_ that music person, I have thousands of CDs, I’m trying to make it as a songwriter, but even for “the music person” they seemed like such silly gifts. Maracas? Panflute? For a 13 year-old boy who obsesses over Madonna and Michael Jackson? At least they provided lots of laughs and jokes among my immediate family over the years, including the recurring joke that if I don’t make it as a performer in my own right I can buy a fruit hat and take the maracas on a tour of cruise ships. ---
**Author:** ![gurujulp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ba9def/32.png) [@gurujulp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gurujulp)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-gift-youve-gotten/549931/64 "2010-08-17T20:43:43Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > I once gave a good friend a meat cleaver as a wedding present. I figured it would come in handy however the marriage turned out … . “He’s hackin and whackin and packin, whack, pack, chompin that meat!” ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-gift-youve-gotten/549931/65 "2010-08-17T23:29:29Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > A former roommate got a tube of Colgate toothpaste from his grandma. I received for Christmas the year after moving in with my boyfriend a bottle of body wash from my future mother-in-law. I can’t be sure it wasn’t passive-aggressive. ---
**Author:** ![Waffle\_Decider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/77aa72/32.png) [@Waffle\_Decider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waffle_Decider)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-gift-youve-gotten/549931/66 "2010-08-18T02:10:20Z")
One time, everyone at work got a boxer shorts, complete with company logo, as a gift. Wtf. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-gift-youve-gotten/549931/67 "2010-08-18T05:23:35Z")
> [@Waffle\_Decider](#): > > One time, everyone at work got a boxer shorts, complete with company logo, as a gift. Wtf. Even the women? 😕:dubious::smack: ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-gift-youve-gotten/549931/68 "2010-08-18T06:00:25Z")
That was my first thought, too, **Brown Eyed Girl**. ---
**Author:** ![moejoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@moejoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moejoe)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-gift-youve-gotten/549931/69 "2010-08-18T16:47:12Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > A giant can of jalapeno peppers accompanied by a red necktie. I still don’t know why. Someone thinks you’re hot? ---
**Author:** ![Waffle\_Decider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/77aa72/32.png) [@Waffle\_Decider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waffle_Decider)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-gift-youve-gotten/549931/70 "2010-08-19T01:12:08Z")
> [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#): > > > [@Waffle\_Decider](#): > > > > One time, everyone at work got a boxer shorts, complete with company logo, as a gift. Wtf. > > Even the women? 😕:dubious::smack: That was in a very small software development company. There was no women. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-gift-youve-gotten/549931/71 "2010-08-19T03:07:16Z")
Well, I guess your casual Fridays got a whole lot more interesting then, eh? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-gift-youve-gotten/549931/72 "2010-08-19T19:07:51Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > and not weird, but cheapo-depot. For my high school graduation one of the items was a $5.00 gift certificate from the grocery store down the street. I mean, it would have been less weird I think just to put $5.00 in an envelope with a card! Then again they didn’t spend money on a card either. We had a wedding shower for someone here at work a few weeks ago. I was talking with the other 2 people in my immediate department about whether we should do a gift, etc—the bride-to-be is someone from a different, related department and we kind of felt we should do something small. My manager felt that a $10 gift card would be appropriate. 10. From 3 of us. I would have been completely mortified to hand over something that made it clear that we had each contributed $3.33 (except the one big spender who chipped in the extra penny). IMO, it’s better not to give anything than to look like a cheap ass. Luckily I found something on the couple’s registry for $15 and we got her that. it’s not much difference financially, but somehow it seemed far less glaring. OTOH, my manager is wealthy and I am not. This is how rich people stay rich, I guess. BTW, **pbbth** , big congrats! Why, I remember when you just started dating this fellow… ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-gift-youve-gotten/549931/73 "2010-08-19T19:22:21Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Sadly, The Deer Clock was sold at a garage sale when we moved, to a nice couple who really, really liked it. I had a price tag on it that had a variety of prices crossed out: $1,000, $500, $100, $20 with a final price of “make me an offer” I must know what the final offer was. ---
**Author:** ![JFLuvly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac91a4/32.png) [@JFLuvly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JFLuvly)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-gift-youve-gotten/549931/74 "2010-08-20T23:02:26Z")
A musician friend of ours gave us an unusual anniversary present… A 2 foot x 3 foot framed picture, now wait, are you ready, of himself. It was from a photoshoot, for an album cover. An old boss of mine gave us a check for a thousand dollars for a wedding present. Not stange but somewhat unexpected. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-gift-youve-gotten/549931/75 "2010-08-20T23:43:17Z")
On a wedding website I used to frequent there was a HUGE ongoing thread for bad gifts. It started with stuff that was generically useless, but soon veered off into straight-up weird territory. The all-time winner, in a landslide, was a > [@](#): > > A plastic, gold painted, oyster-shaped, “romantic” (according to the box) room humidifier. Gee, just what I always wanted! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-weirdest-gift-youve-gotten/549931.md?page=3)