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

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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