What gift have you gotten that went right in to the donation pile?

Gotta love your Grampy's generosity!  

I have never received a used item before and I can't believe the people that have.

Ha! My grandpa did that with washcloths. Except he knew what he was doing! Figured it was his right since he lived there!

DH's aunt is notorious for gifting old things that have been laying around her house for years. Those stuck in my memory are the red and yellow birdhouse, the snowman candles that were dirty and had been lit and all the toys that my boys have opened through the years that her son has outgrown. She doesn't even clean them to make them look decent.

At his extended family's Christmas exchange, it seems there are very few of us who actually spend the $20 for an exchange gift. Last year, there were 2 big stockings filled with cheap candy, both were separate but I don't think they were $10 total. I realize that sometimes people can't afford it, but you can opt out, or ask for the amount to be changed to something more manageable. I'd rather get one nice $5 gift than some of the stuff that gets put in. If it's used, it should be clean. Pretty please.

I suspect it may have come from the flea market  but your post makes sense as the flea market likely has a similar source for their goods!

My MIL has sold Tupperware for years, so she gives good stuff;however, she has given some doozies over the years. She loves to garage sale, but she tries.

The best gift, however, was from her little old lady neighbor. At my bridal shower, I received a green plastic doily with a cigarette burn in it. Awesomeness.

My grandma also gave some interesting gifts. One of the best was the first time my DH (boyfriend at the time) cam to the family Christmas. She gave all the boys (DH included) gold lamé boxer shorts. More awesomeness.

My grandmother gave me a rabbit figurine one year...which was lovely, except that my hobby as a child was collecting mouse figurines. When my Dad pointed out that it was a rabbit, my grandmother said it looked enough like a mouse not to matter so she got it because it was the one on sale. And it was on sale - from the two dollar shop.

I wish I'd kept it now because I laugh each time I think about it, but alas, it went out to the bin years ago.

My ex SIL was so excited one Christmas. She sat down on the floor and pulled out this black trash bag, she gaves us all a number and told us to pick which USED VHS we wanted out of the bag. They were plain black tapes, no boxes no nothing and the majority of them where rated R and there was a roomful of kids. She was so proud of herself!

Not surprising that is the same year she brought Cherry pie for Christmas dinner and didn't put sugar in it to save money.

Same women that every year would put her two girls on the angel tree at church. Yes they didn't have a lot of money but her girls got everything they ever wanted or needed from their grandparents and their aunt and uncle. Always made me so angry.

My mother often gave us some not so great things we couldn't use or didn't need, as she got older. She gave me a lot of plastic flower arrangements that I would put in the donation pile. Most things were for my daughter, who is now 19. She would give her lots of dusty knick-knacks she found on the free table at her assisted living building. Sometimes it was hotel shampoos and lotions, plastic rings, scarves, once a post card she cut up like a puzzle.

She passed away over four years ago and I can't tell you how many times we have come across those items my daughter has stashed around her room. She will never use them but she kept them and they remind us of her every time we see them and give us a little chuckle.

Great thread...some of these are hysterical and the mention of the Lillian Vernon catalogs brought back memories. I also remember the Fingerhut catalogs for random junk.

My best bad gift story is not about me but some family members. My mother in law was visiting us in Georgia and one Saturday we went with she and my sister in law to a big flea market. DH and I split up from them for awhile and were on our own browsing the booths. We came to one that sold large decorative clocks that lit up and had various holographic religious images as the clock face. They were hideous and we both said to each other, "Who would buy this???". When we later met up with mother and sister in law, mother in law was so excited and said, "Look at this great Christmas gift I got for D & J (another brother and sister in law) and proudly pulled out one of the hideous Jesus clocks. Mother in law is not religious at all but told us it was perfect because, "They like Jesus." We had a terrible time remaining poker faced for that exchange.

Fast forward about 6 months and we are visitng DH's family up North and sent to D & J's to pick something up or check on their place as they were out of town. We did a bit of snooping around the house, not opening cabinets or anything really creepy, but just wanted to see if that Jesus clock was on display somewhere in their home. It was not.

Fast forward another 12 years and my parents are showing me a gift the neighbors bought them and it is, yes, you guessed it, a hideous light up holographic Jesus clock. My dad sent it off to a good friend of his that he has had a Christmas gift joke going with for the last 15 years or so.