There’s a Latin proverb that loosely translates to “never inspect the teeth of a gifted horse” (“Noli equi dentes inspicere donati”). It suggests that one shouldn’t be ungrateful when receiving any gift. And we agree that receiving a gift of any kind is already a blessing. However, there really are occasions when no gift is better than the one received.
Bad gifts do exist; there’s no denying it. We can pretend to be grateful yet be utterly dissatisfied with the gift. And we are not talking about spoiled brats complaining about not getting a G Wagon for their birthday and calling a Range Rover ‘the worst birthday gift ever.’ Someone might also think that funny gag gifts are a waste of money and rank them among the worst birthday gifts. Hence the subject of bad birthday gifts is really subjective. Again, one must also consider the circumstances since, as another proverb goes, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Perhaps that’s all the person could afford — there are many conditions to it. Therefore, interested to find out what others deem the worst birthday gifts ever, we looked at the thread on Askreddit which inquired, “What’s the worst birthday gift you ever got?” And judging from the comments, plenty of people received rather awful gifts for their birthdays, be they intentional or not.
Below, we’ve compiled some of the most upvoted responses of people revealing their worst birthday gifts. If by any chance you are looking for the worst birthday gift ideas to learn what to NEVER give to someone, here you’ll find some valuable answers. Do you agree with any of these people’s definitions of the worst gifts? If so, give those an upvote. Also, have you ever received an awful birthday gift? What was it? Let us know in the comments!
#1
irisdenise06 said:
“Thought I was getting a bike for my 15th birthday but my foster parents announced that they were sending me to a group home after living with them for 11 years. Devastation!”
FormerLadyKing replied:
“This one breaks my heart. I am so sorry love. 11 years unimaginable.”
Image source: irisdenise06
#2
Revenge_of_the_Khaki said:
“A pair of homemade custom pajamas. The only problem was that they weren’t made yet. It was just the fabric and a promise to make them for me. I had to give the fabric back and I never got the pajamas.”
Whyevenbotherbeing replied:
“Holy cow my parents do stuff like this. It’s so weird. Their ultimate wack-a-doo move was to give my wife and me a few acres of their property. Nothing legal just at our wedding they gave us a card that basically said ‘have some land ‘. When the dust settled I asked what they thought we would do with it, they said to build a home. I said ok, gonna need legal ownership for building a house. They said sure we will get right on that. Then they decide to sell out and retire and never mentioned our wedding ‘gift’ again.”
Image source: Revenge_of_the_Khaki
#3
“My worst was also my best. One of my high school girlfriends found out when my birthday was, which I don’t like to celebrate. She was adamant that I must want SOMETHING out of all the things in the world. I finally gave in and said, “A box of dirt”. I’ll be damned if my birthday rolled around and she didn’t have a nice pretty ribbon tied up on top of a tiny, little, cardboard jewelry box. You’ll never guess what was inside! Beef jerky! No, I’m not serious! DIRT! It was full of dirt! Obviously, she had other things stashed away but I’ll be damned if that wasn’t the cheesiest, most adorable present I’d ever received. She was the only one to ever listen to me when I said what I wanted for my birthday, which is usually nothing. We aren’t together anymore because of me, but she is still a distant yet trusted friend and I am thankful for our time together. I’m glad she is happy.”
Image source: HeirTwoBrer
#4
masteroffeels said:
“I got a credit card for my 18th birthday and was told not to use it because it wasn’t “active yet”. When I landed my first real corporate Job at 22yo the company ran a credit report on me and found out I had a $350K line opened.
Turns out my father had tricked me into signing a co mortgage, and no credit card paperwork on my 18th bday.
I received Debt on my 18th bday.”
wicketfence880replied:
“Almost the same. When I was 20 my dad told me about how I could check my credit annually for free so I did and discovered a ton of credit cards that had been opened in my name when I was 11-14 years old. Initially, I was naive and thought my identity was stolen by a stranger.
A few years later, when I tried to cash out a trust account, I discovered that my mom had already done it. Identity theft clicked into place that day.”
Image source: masteroffeels
#5
“My mom would get me a carrot cake every year for my birthday.
I hate carrot cake. Always have. But it was my dad’s favorite so.”
Image source: stayrootedsucculents
#6
sneakysnakeeeee said:
“My own scarf. Yes, that’s right, my mother went into my room took my only scarf, wrapped it and gave it to me like it was a new scarf.”
achillygirl replied:
“Did you pretend to be surprised? Sorry that happened to you!”
Rybread52 replied:
“You shouldn’t have!”
Image source: sneakysnakeeeee
#7
“A lint remover. I was 12.”
Image source: WonderWeeble
#8
“I played high school football (American) because my narcissistic (and abusive) father wanted to live vicariously through me.
He framed his old jersey and gave it to me as a birthday present.
Like I was supposed to worship him or something.”
Image source: mindfeces
#9
“A white cashmere turtleneck.
I was gifted it by my aunt after she struck up a conversation about my style (that she claimed she liked) a few months prior, and I mentioned to her that:
I don’t wear white clothing because no matter what it always magically gets stained
I hate the feeling of turtlenecks because they make me feel like I’m getting choked and are always too warm for me because if it’s cold enough to wear a turtleneck, every building will have the heat cranked to 100° F
cashmere is too warm of a material for me to wear as a base layer because when I overheat I typically get nosebleeds. Now looping back to point number one.”
Image source: blickyjayy
#10
“My dad bought me a shoe shine kit so I could shine his shoes.”
Image source: Alantsu, www.etsy.com
#11
“My grandparents bought my younger brother an iPad mini on my birthday. Then had it engraved ‘You are our superhero’. They later gave me my gift which was a wheel barrow with a half used bag of fertilizer in it.”
Image source: chalulalady
#12
“Not me but my friend’s sister… he bought her a 6-pack of Slim Fast!”
Image source: Casuallybrowsingcdn
#13
“Husband forgot my birthday, took the day off when he remembered (I was working from home), went to buy something, and took maybe ten minutes tops in the store. Bought roses from the grocery store while he was there buying himself cigarettes. He came home with a DVD box set he’d been dying to watch, and the new CD from a band I’d not only lost interest in but had been saying I’d lost interest in for ages. Not that he let me listen to CDs anyway, since he hated my taste in music. Then he spent the rest of the day celebrating the birthday of his online friend while I was working from home. They’re married now.”
Image source: wheresmyhyphen
#14
“My ex-girlfriend had some boudoir photos taken of herself… like sexy lingerie photos, which she put up in her room. 3 different pictures were put up. Had a whole book made of them also.
She let me see them. That was my present. Pictures of herself. That she kept. And put up in her room.”
Image source: psychadelicbreakfast
#15
“Forgotten.
It was either a blessing or a curse, considering my mom forgot until 9 pm, left me a voicemail telling me Happy Birthday, and forgot to hang up. Hearing her tell my sister ‘There, I did it.’ Was… interesting.”
Image source: GoKickRox
#16
“A parrot. Never give pets as a gift.”
Image source: maykachru
#17
“An ugly shirt from my Aunt who said I needed to share it with my sister who has a birthday ten days after mine.”
Image source: YooperGirlMovedSouth
#18
“A book that was already mine. My sister went through my stuff, found a book she figured I had forgotten about, and “gave” it to me for my birthday.”
Image source: derpunzer
#19
“The pair of headphones I ordered online. My Mom just happened to be home when the postman dropped it off.”
Image source: habbistealer
#20
“My grandparents have been gifting me (and my brother) the same set of three vice grips for almost 10 years. Collectively we have 60 vice grips. I don’t know if they bought a pallet of them, or where they are coming from.
GET A GRIP GRANDMA!”
Image source: mikeardigan
#21
“My dad accidentally revealed that he and my mom were separating. He was on a bender and didn’t realize he was texting me and not my mom. Happy 18th to me.”
Image source: MikkelButhge
#22
“When I was 8 years old I was growing sunflowers with my mom one summer. My aunt decided to get me some fertilizer for the flowers for my birthday. On my birthday, I unwrapped my present and saw what looked like a tub of vanilla ice cream, but when I opened it, there was literal horse s**t.”
Image source: JPO_5x5
#23
“My grandparents were super low-effort low-budget at every birthday. One year they got me a 2nd hand coloring book from a swap meet. It was almost completely colored in by what appeared to be a 3-year-old with a single green felt pen.
Also, I was 18 and they thought it was a good gift because it was Disney related and I was going to college for animation and design…”
Image source: Vyper28
#24
“A card from my dad saying he was disappointed I didn’t attend my grandmother’s funeral (his entire side of the family is crap) I did enough by seeing her on her deathbed and he signed it “From Russell” instead of the usual “Love Dad” and its the last I heard from the man in must be eight years now.”
Image source: DarthJimbob91
#25
“I just wanted a plain vanilla cake I didn’t ask for anything else, I didn’t ask for gifts I didn’t ask to go anywhere just a plain vanilla cake. My mother got me a chocolate and mint ice cream cake. I don’t even like mint ice cream and I definitely never liked or asked for ice cream cake in my life for her to get that idea. It sat in the freezer forever. She acted like it was a big inconvenience for her.”
Image source: ShinyQuest1
#26
“HR complaint from two subordinates fighting over how to throw me a surprise birthday party.”
Image source: BBoySlim
#27
“My Asian mom’s gift was ‘no extra Kumon homework after school homework’ so my birthday gift was that I didn’t get extra homework from her.”
Image source: reddit.com
#28
“My grandma got me a hairbrush with a plastic horse head handle. The horse head was all chipped up and there was hair in the brush.”
Image source: PM_ME_UR_CLEAVE
#29
“This year my mother-in-law went through the effort of intricately wrapping a box of Ziploc bags for my birthday… For Christmas, it was a box of trash bags.
I’m so confused about how I ended up as the guy who gets small boxes of bags as gifts. It almost feels offensive”
Image source: Warnex9
#30
“A glitch in the matrix.
I remember one time my aunt came over and at one point in front of me and my mom she told me she had a gift in her bag that she would give me later…
I was super excited about it and later she was getting ready to leave and I said “What about my gift?” and she said, “What gift?” My mom even said “The one you have in your bag for her birthday.” and she said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
I remember it soooo clearly because of how strange that entire day was, but I’ve asked my mom and she said she doesn’t remember that happening…. So my worst birthday gift was an actual glitch in the matrix which was confusing and I didn’t get a gift.”
Image source: reddit.com
#31
“A break up via text.”
Image source: Traiz3r
#32
“I’m a guy and on my 18th birthday, had some friends over for a party, and a group of three girls got me a plastic toy cooking set. My mom got really mad at them because she said the three girls were implying that I was gay. I really am though, but not out to my mom (or to the three girls), and that made me sad for a while.”
Image source: DareSalaam
#33
“1001 ways to cook chicken… I’m vegan.”
Image source: ShoEveRevNot
#34
“My Godfather sent me a Birthday card each year which said, he paid 100 bucks to a bank account which I was supposed to get when 16yo.
He then got into alcohol, used all the money, and died.”
Image source: rumantsch
#35
katzenmiauen said:
“An ex-boyfriend hyped up my birthday gift for days, so I was pumped. On my birthday, he presented me with a small, flat box. Inside was a passport. His passport. That’s it. Just his passport. No tickets for a trip, no promises of a trip once we saved up together. He literally just gifted me his passport. I’m still baffled.
**I accepted the present graciously. It was a gift and that’s the polite thing to do. I thought asking about plans for an international trip would be rude. Traveling is expensive! We ate dinner, went home, and the whole thing was pretty much forgotten about as far as I can remember. We broke up years later and this event played no role in it. He’s just a terrible gift giver.”
MeEvilBob replied:
“He wanted you to use it to open credit cards in his name without telling him.”
Image source: katzenmiauen
#36
“My dad got a tattoo on his chest of his birth sign as a gift to me when I was probably 12. He hyped it up all week as he got me some great gifts, like an N64 or something. Haven’t talked to the guy in over a decade now, good riddance. On a brighter note, I did get the N64 later that year from my mother!”
Image source: frenchfreer
#37
“It was my first birthday away from my family since I was in college. There was a bomb threat on my college campus. We (all of the students) had to walk about a half mile in the pouring rain to get to a safe place. I spent my 19th birthday alone, wet and cold.
No one got me anything except a McChicken when a friend remembered it was my birthday three days later.”
Image source: otter_space08
#38
“School supplies. (My birthday is right before school starts).”
Image source: livvyDunham
#39
oliv_esg said:
“My grandma once got me a see-through nightgown.. and was sad when I wouldn’t go try it on in front of MY WHOLE FAMILY.
We then learned she got matching ones for all the girls in the family, and just gave them to us through the year.”
dattara replied:
“You have to tell us the story. Why did Grandma think that was a good idea (I mean the part about trying a see thru nightgown in front of family)”
oliv_esg replied:
“My grandma likes to get gifts from old stores, I don’t think she ever opened the package to see that it was see-through lol, didn’t look it in the package.”
Image source: oliv_esg
#40
“They sent my wife a birthday card with money on my birthday.
**For those wondering, it was from my parents. Usually, they don’t acknowledge my birthday at all so that was a new twist.”
Image source: tempthethrowaway
#41
“A Rick and Morty mug for my 18th… I don’t even watch Rick and Morty.”
Image source: Howl_6
#42
“Makeup remover wipes. I didn’t even wear makeup and when I told her that she said ‘Well you should! It’ll make you look pretty!'”
Image source: Cherryblossoms-
#43
“I got a white box which said “nothing” on the lid and it had nothing inside it.”
Image source: TheMilkyMam
#44
“One time I received an invite to a restaurant from my dad. The same year he offered my brother to pay for his trip to Japan.”
Image source: Leif_Millelnuie
#45
tacospizzaunicorn said:
“A very obviously used candle.”
holechamber replied:
“Who was it from? Thos made me laugh for some reason and now I need some details on the shape, color, type, and scent of the candle.”
tacospizzaunicorn replied:
“It was this deep red big ass flower shaped candle that looked like she bought from the 99cent Store. There wasn’t a smell but glitter all over it. It was from my best friend in high school. She didn’t even wrap it. She pulled it out of her backpack and was like ‘Here. Happy birthday.’”
Image source: tacospizzaunicorn
#46
“One year my husband got me a bag with stuff from the $1 store. Not even stuff I would want. Like a notebook and a coupon organizer and a few other things. Maybe $5 of junk. We had no money troubles that would prevent him from getting me a present.”
Image source: Alien_Nicole
#47
“A used DVD of the Notebook after I explicitly told the person that I had no intention of watching it.
Bonus: it was my stepmom who gave it to me. From her and my dad’s DVD collection… that was in our living room and I could have grabbed it at any time to watch.”
Image source: RockClimber247
#48
“A used pen that my grandma found in her purse on my 16th birthday.”
Image source: devIOUs32
#49
“A pencil and a chess t-shirt (I don’t play chess).”
Image source: obamas_clone
#50
“Years ago I got this chess game for the PS1 from my godmother, thing is, it didn’t work on my PS1, but it did work on her son’s PS1, so he got a new game and I got nothing.”
Image source: MR-WADS
#51
“I have been stung by a bee 3 times in my life, and all of them were on my birthday. I was 3, 14, and 25.”
Image source: HandsomeLakitu
#52
“A brown paper bag with dog c**p in it.”
Image source: duffman199
#53
“A Disney princess doll.
I was 20.”
Image source: whateverimtootired
#54
“For my 16th birthday, I got a book on how to get a 4.0 GPA; I already had a 3.5 GPA. I knew if I wanted to get a 4.0 GPA I just needed to work harder. I didn’t open the book until junior year of college and it had a lot of common study tips.”
Image source: Isdanniray
#55
“A bike when I was 7. The thing broke like five minutes after I hopped on. I ended up landing on a hornet’s nest. Not a fun day.”
Image source: numbskull56
#56
“My ex gave me a trash bag full of dusty old stuffed animals from his family’s garage and then chewed me out when I was offended.”
Image source: normanbeets
#57
“I once got a box of ketchup bottles.
Not kidding. I mean at the time I really liked the stuff and would put it on a lot of things but I mean not that much.”
Image source: ninthtale
#58
“Literal rocks. Grandparents picked them up at one of their local parks. Look like two pieces of gravel…”
Image source: Nycr0
#59
“Either the clearly re-gifted book about politics or the time I got food poisoning.”
Image source: reddit.com
#60
“It was not bad at all but to my 12-year-old self, I was pretty pouty at the time…
My mom alluded for months that she was getting me a phone for my 12th birthday but I got a banana.”
Image source: little_milkee
#61
“My mother-in-law showed up and said get ready, I booked you for glamor shots in an hour. A few weeks after having a baby. I declined. I think she always hated me after that but felt like she hated me at the time.”
Image source: RoadFlowerVIP
#62
“In high school, I got really into learning guitar. All I had at the time was a beat-up acoustic. My birthday came around, and a wrapped present – a fairly large box – appeared in my parent’s living room. For some reason, I became convinced: it was an amp! My parents must’ve gotten me an electric guitar! They didn’t. It was a blender.”
Image source: One_Eyed_Man
#63
“When I worked on a Navy base a sailor stationed there found out that I made stuff out of animal bones for my Etsy and gave me a bag of stinky, wet, dead birds he “found” around the base. Idk how he knew about my hobby, Etsy, or my birthday but yeah. bag o’ birds.
Edited to answer some questions:
1. I had NEVER spoken to him but he knew a LOT about me, and he was very creepy.
2. He was on restriction, which is a phase of being kicked out of the Navy and most people on that base got kicked out for drugs or harassing women and he was not supposed to be talking to me anyways.
3. When it happened I didn’t respond fast enough because I was in shock a bag of dripping birds got set on my desk and he instantly became angry.
4. I used to make shadow boxes, lockets, and jewelry with animal bones, but I’d normally get the bones/animals from the college nearby (from science classes instead of them just throwing them away) and would bury them in the garden and dig them out months later for the bones or would put the animal in a tank of beetles.”
Image source: CroissantMama
#64
suo-my-nona said:
“Grounded because I said that I didn’t need to celebrate my birthday and that was too ungrateful of me.”
caffeineandvodka replied:
“My ex coworker told me with pride that she decided her daughter’s birthday was over at 8 o’clock in the evening, then beat her for asking for something (I think it money to play a claw machine). The poor girl was 10 years old.”
Image source: suo-my-nona
#65
“My paternal grandmother gave me a can of hair mousse.”
Image source: tuenthe463
#66
“Oral surgery, not allowed to eat for the entire day and when I got home late that evening while my mum was literally stuffing pills down my throat I had to listen to my twin complain about how she just had the worst birthday ever.
At least she could eat Birthday cake”
Image source: Singing_Skittle
#67
“My grandma gave me three of those traveling-size toothpaste. I think she forgot it was my birthday and just wrapped whatever she could find or she was trying to send me a not to settle message about my dental hygiene. I miss her.”
Image source: csilvert
#68
“The day before my birthday my brother was in an accident. Nothing crazy serious but he ended up needing stitches and it was a bit of an ordeal.
Anyway the next day, my birthday, the neighbor brought over a cake and a present. I was the one who answered the door. I saw the cake and present and got excited because up until this point most of the day had been, as expected, focused on my brother who got in the crash.
I was about to express my gratitude for them remembering my birthday and bringing me a gift when they said, “Is your brother here? We brought him something to brighten his day”. The cake and present weren’t for me… we still joke about it over 10 years later.”
Image source: papatoe1991
#69
“I was a hardcore dinosaur kid and did not hide this from anyone. A stranger probably could have lured me into a white van with a T-rex plush after five seconds of observation. My aunt always turned a blind eye to this (because of gender non-conformity, I guess) and always got me Barbies. Which I then never used. It took her until my preteen years to realize that no tutu-bedecked little girl was hidden beneath the raptor-obsessed exterior. Then she just settled with giving me hoodies, lol.”
Image source: SpicyBeefwater
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