'A very obviously used candle': Top 20 Birthday Gift Flops

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Jul 15, 2023 4:00 PM EDT

For some folks, gift-giving is very much not their love language. In fact, some people are so bad at coming up with thoughtful ideas for presents that they should just be barred from doing so at all. It's almost better for the relationship if those folks accept this reality, relieve themselves of the stress of coming up with a good idea that will inevitably be bad, and relieve the receiver of the gift who will have to lie about how great said idea was. In short, bad gift-givers should stop trying. It's almost like genetics: you either have the ability to give good gifts or you don't. 

 

Like many of the folks who shared their horrible birthday gift stories via this r/AskReddit thread, I have personal experience with this top as well. When I turned 12, my mother got me a dictionary. We mocked her for this even then. The next year, she really outdid herself when she got me a pencil cup holder. Not a pencil, mind you. Not even a pen. A pencil cup holder. This is when we accepted the reality that my mom is just not the best gift-giver and since then, our relationship has thrived. So I'm living proof that these kinds of honest moments with the bad gift-givers in your life can improve relationships and expectations. That is, unless the bad gift-givers react poorly to this news and are completely surprised by the conversation. In that case, this person in your life is not just a bad gift-giver, but they are also just plain old delusional.

 

Keep scrolling below for this collection of bad birthday gifts. For more, check out these Michael Scott-esque boss moments.

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  • 01
    Product - r/AskReddit . Posted by u/sulemannkhann: F 2 160 6553 45 49 5856 What's the worst birthday gift you ever got?
    via Adi Goldstein
  • 02
    Font - RockClimber247. 17 & 3 More A used DVD of the Notebook after I explicitly told the person that I had no intention of watching it. Bonus: it was my step mom who gave it to me. From her and my dad's DVD collection...that was in our living room and I could have grabbed at anytime to watch. 35.6k Share
    via u/sulemannkhann
  • 03
    Font - HandsomeLakitu 3 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. 28.5k Share
    via u/sulemannkhann
  • 04
    Font - suo-my-nona 2 28.0k & 14 More Grounded because I said that I didn't need to celebrate my birthday and that was too ungrateful of me. Share
    via u/sulemannkhann
  • 05
    Font - GoKickRox. edited 3 yr. ago 34 & 27 More Forgotten. It was either a blessing or a curse, considering my mom forgot until 9pm, left me a voicemail telling me Happy Birthday, and forgot to hang up. Hearing her tell my sister "There, I did it." Was... interesting. Edit: Holy Iguys, woke up to a lot of love this morning! Thank you all <3!!! 26.2k ↓ Share ...
    via u/sulemannkhann
  • 06
    Font - Revenge_of_the_Khaki A pair of homemade custom pajamas. 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. 25.8k Share
    via u/sulemannkhann
  • 07
    Rectangle - tacospizzaunicorn 12 A very obviously used candle. 22.7k Share
    via u/sulemannkhann
  • 08
    Font - JPO_5x5.3 2 & 4 More 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 18.8k Share
    via u/sulemannkhann
  • 09
    Font - One Eyed Man 2 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. ✩ 17.7k Share
    via u/sulemannkhann
  • 10
    Font - mikeardigan 2 3 13 & 2 More 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! 17.6k ↓ Share
    via u/sulemannkhann
  • 11
    Font - o Vyper28 & 3 More My grandparents were super low-effort low- budget at every birthday. One year they got me a 2nd hand colouring book from a swap meet. It was almost completely coloured 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... 16.1k Share
    via u/sulemannkhann
  • 12
    Font - masteroffeels. 32 & 21 More 4 I got a credit card for my 18th birthday and 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 $350K line opened. Turns out my father had tricked me into signing a co mortgage, and not credit card paperwork on my 18th bday. I received Debt on my 18th bday.
    via u/sulemannkhann
  • 13
    Font - WonderWeeble. A lint remover. I was 12. 14.9k Share
    via u/sulemannkhann
  • 14
    Font - devIOUS32. A used pen that my grandma found in her purse on my 16th birthday..... Edit: I've never gotten more than 50 upvotes on anything before! The response has blown me away! Thanks redditors for helping turn the tables on a slightly upsetting memory. Its good to be able to have a laugh about it now 10.4k Share
    via u/sulemannkhann
  • 15
    Font - sneakysnakeeeee 2 & 6 More 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. 10.2k Share
    via u/sulemannkhann
  • 16
    Font - obamas_clone. A pencil and a chess t shirt (I don't play chess) 9.3k Share
    via u/sulemannkhann
  • 17
    Font - oliv_esg my grandma once got me a see through nightgown.. and was sad when i wouldn't go try it on infront 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. edit: i feel like i should add she is very religious, like go to church 3 time's a week religious. 9.1k Share
    via u/sulemannkhann
  • 18
    Font - ShinyQuest1. 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. 8.9k Share
    via u/sulemannkhann
  • 19
    Font - PM_ME_UR_CLEAVE 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. 18.5k Share
    via u/sulemannkhann
  • 20
    Font - BBoySlim HR complaint from two subordinates fighting over how to throw me a surprise birthday party. 4.9k Share
    via u/sulemannkhann
  • 21
    Font - Isdanniray For my 16th birthday I got a book on how to get a 4.0 GPA; I already had 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 alot of common study tips. Edit: Thanks so much for all the upvotes and the award. I didn't expect this to blow up. Also, it was my aunt who got me the book. 4.5k Share ...
    via u/sulemannkhann

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FAILS gifts entitled parents FAIL birthday askreddit relationships happy birthday entitled family birthday cake reddit thread Reddit funny entitled people
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