Single physical item: Refrigerator that the in-laws bought my wife and I after we got married. Roughly $850.
Largest single “thing”: Undergraduate education. My parents paid for it outright, and I was in charge of my own spending money.
Second largest “thing”: $5000 in tech stocks (3com) that my Grandmother gave me in 1998. They cashed me out for less than 10% of the original amount.
Wow, it amazes me how many people received house downpayments as gifts. Geez, doesn’t anyone save up for their own house anymore?
Mine is definitely my education, hands down… including the extra year I spent at an engineering program instead of high school and am still paying off a few loans on. God bless 'em (my parents, not the loans).
An all-expense paid Mediterranean Cruise to 5 different countries (Spain, France, Italy, Greece, and Croatia), staying in 5-star hotels and eating in the finest restaurants in the world. Room service, air-fare, and even souvenir spending money accounted for. We did not a spend a dime for the entire 17 days we were in Europe, and actually came back with more money than when we left.
A gift from my husband’s grandparents to their 28 children and grandchildren + me and two travel guides, to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. Yes, it was amazing. I felt like I’d won a game show.
That is so awesome! And couldn not have gone to a better person! How are you doing Olives? 
Another vote for “my education.” I received almost $40,000 in scholarship money for my first two years of university from one wealthy donor. 
Since I WAAAY missed the edit window, what I meant was that it was bought used, but was new to me. Sorry!
My friends and I usually give each other a small gift on our birthdays… maybe a book or a CD if we’re feeling generous, but more often just a mix-CD that we’ve made, or some chocolates, or sometimes a joke present or a kids toy that we’ve bought from a junk shop. Two years ago my two best friends (I’ll call them Leon and Nathan, for those are their names) took me for lunch on my birthday and gave me a big bag full of presents… there was a car air-freshener (I don’t have a car), a Kit-Kat with a wrapper that a had a competition to win an iPod (since I really wanted an iPod at the time but couldn’t afford one), a set of Superman stickers, a Superman watch, a pair of Calvin Klein boxer shorts, a gorgeous children’s picture book by Neil Gaiman, a book of Sudoku puzzles, and right at the bottom… a 60GB video iPod, worth about $600 in Australia. Neither of them were very flush with money at the time… they’d both been saving for a couple of months to buy it. No special reason, except to say that they loved me and because they knew I’d really love it.
Yes, I cried. (Although not as hard as the day last year when someone stole my jacket with that iPod in the pocket.)
Same here.
My neighbor gave me a beaten-but-running BMW last month.
Aye, yet another vote for education.
My parents and grandparents both saw that I would never pay for my tuition.
Especially impressive since none of my grandparents attended college.
Christ almighty. Never trust a grandparent to buy you tech stocks!
It would probably be the Michael B e-ring/wedding band set from the hubby. He also gave me a voucher to go shopping with him for 8 hours with minimal grumbling on his part in any country I want for my birthday. I haven’t redeemed it yet but so far Dubai, China/HK and Japan are in the running but don’t have time to plan a trip that is fun for the both of us. I don’t like shopping with him really so it will mostly be a trip for fun in a place neither of us have been to.
My university education, #1.
Help with condo down payment, #2. Under strenuous protest as I’m very tied to the idea of being self-supporting.
A lot better, thanks! Yes the vacation (summer of last year) was incredible. I saw Michelangelo’s David in Florence, The Colosseum in Rome, the Acropolis in Athens, and I climbed a volcano in Santorini. It was pretty incredible and I will probably not have another experience like it as long as I live.
My parents gave me a new car my first year out of college. They also gave me a couple of used ones over the years.
My parents gave me a 1969 Buick Wildcat back in 1970. They bought it new and drove it for less than a year.
A bunch of my co-workers gave me a wine fridge for my birthday in 2006 (which was worth probably $200 or so).
My dad gave me money to buy my book for 2 classes back in 2005.
About $200, total. I was very happy he agreed to help me out.
Actually, since I had to ask, I’m not sure that counts.
But to date, that’s the most expensive “thing” I’ve gotten from anyone that wasn’t a partner.
(I am not just a little bit envious of my boardmates here who have parents that actually HELP their children out financially. sigh )
Not counting the stuff my husband has let me buy for myself over the years (laptops, mp3 players, cameras…) I’d say probably the antique chifforobe that belong to my great-grandmother. It’s a honkin’ HUGE piece of furniture and is probably almost 100 years old. It may not be worth thousands, but I’ve seen similar pieces going for nearly a grand in antique stores.
For my 18th, my best friend got me a rather expensive necklace and earrings set. It doesn’t really compare to most of the other things mentioned in previous posts, but considering I wasn’t expecting anything at all from him it kinda blew me away.
After I got into kimono, my mom and I went down to Torrance and she spent about $100 on me. The most expensive thing was, I think, the shoes.
When I graduated high school my parents got me an opal ring. I have no idea how much it cost.
The most expensive I’ve ever given, on the other hand… Hm… I’ve spent a lot of money on my mom over the years. I’ve bought her a VCR when her old one was dying. I chipped in a hundred dollars or so to to buy a mouse Dam Troll. I dunno. It’s just money.