'I got a check... for $5. It bounced and cost me $10': 20+ Birthday gifts that were major disappointments

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Oct 26, 2024 11:00 AM EDT

Is it better to get a bad birthday gift, or to not receive one at all? These birthday boys and girls would probably argue that it's better to get no gift rather than a completely thoughtless one. Maybe you're thinking that they're just being ungrateful. Well… perhaps. But what about the person who was gifted a KitKat bar, and then told that the reason was that they were 2 for $3? That person only got one KitKat bar! The gifter had to brag about the price point while not even giving the birthday kid the full gift. 

Other people were given checks that bounced, leaving them with less money than before after paying their banks' fees. One kid got just school supplies! There are clearly plenty of ways to not gift someone properly, and these people can tell you all about it, thanks to u/andrewsteiner88's intriguing question. Maybe it'll spark memories of your worst birthday gift, like getting back something you regifted, or getting a present from someone who knows nothing about your interests and just took a wild guess. Check out a collection of the funniest answers below!

Then, read about the 16-year-old employee whose boss "wanted me to train my replacement, but I didn't work there anymore." 

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10419942656
    via Getty Images for Unsplash+
  • 02
    What was the worst birthday gift you've ever received?
    via u/andrewsteiner88
  • 03
    One_Ad_7151 I got a used Victoria secret tee shirt that said SINGLE JINGLES.
    via u/One_Ad_7151
  • 04
    austeninbosten I got a check from my elderly aunt for $5. It bounced and cost me $10 fee from the bank.
    via u/austeninbosten
  • 05
    Skyrick A note saying that she was combining my birthday gift and Father's Day gift together. The combined gift. was telling me that she wanted a divorce.
    via u/Skyrick
  • 06
    finzaz Not a gift to me, but I still don't understand what we did so wrong to the person that they gave my 5 year old daughter a karaoke machine
    via u/finzaz
  • 07
    Teriin When I was six, my paternal grandparents gave me a... Potato. They said "It looks like a cat or a doggie! You can play with it, and you should be proud - we grew it ourselves!" They also gave me the cheapest set of crayons. Their other
    via u/Teriin
  • 08
    grandchild received a very cool and rather expensive toy piano a week prior. Yeah, my paternal grandmother never liked my mom, and the mother of the other grandchild was her daughter.
    via u/Teriin
  • 09
    [deleted] I'll never forget the birthday where all I got were school supplies
    via u/[deleted]
  • 10
    PechugaDude A KitKat bar. Would have been okay, but the explanation was they were 3 for $2. I got one.
    via u/PechugaDude
  • 11
    Solid_Internal... A goldfish. I was 18, 31 now, he is still going strong. I HATE him. do I hate that fish. Unfortunately as he is my responsibility I feel obligated to give him the best life possible. I'm going. to be so happy when he finally dies. Until then that f will keep living the life of luxury.
    via u/Solid_Internal_9079
  • 12
    gogojack It wasn't so much a gift, but... When I was going through my divorce, my future ex wife offered to take me out to dinner on my birthday. The last one we'd celebrate as husband and wife. It seemed like a nice gesture. A final act of civility
    via u/gogojack
  • 13
    on the eve of an ugly process. So we were sitting there over the appetizers at this restaurant, and I asked "so, how did you find this place?" "Oh, this is me and (guy she was leaving me for)'s favorite restaurant!" Worst birthday ever.
    via u/gogojack
  • 14
    missmatched... Not a gift but a card. This is now legendary in my family: I have an aunt (she's pushing 70) that is extremely extroverted and loves to celebrate everything and be extravagant. I am an introvert. I don't like my birthdays. I don't like to celebrate my birthday for reasons. I don't like attention. When I turned 40,
    via u/missmatchedcleansox
  • 15
    my aunt sent me a card- and inside she wrote how I should be happy for my life and celebrate it.... Then she proceeds to write not one, not two, but SEVEN obituaries in my card of people she knew who were d ad or dying. In detail. It
    via u/missmatchedcleansox
  • 16
    was the most hilariously morbid birthday card I have ever seen. We now have it in our family safe as a legendary artifact. I know. her heart was in the right place, but oh it was so bad.
    via u/missmatchedcleansox
  • 17
    [deleted] My mum bought me a hot pink suitcase when I was 17. That was all I got. Really felt like she wanted me to move out lol.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 18
    A coat hanger. When I saw it, (10yo) I was so confused. Then I was told it came from my family members trip to France, which furthered my confusion, lol.
    via u/MilkMan1880
  • 19
    crispycrunchy... When I was around 14 for my birthday my mom brought me my grandmother and my aunt to this nice buffet. The food was good but at the end my mom was having trouble presenting her voucher to the cashier because the place didnt have wifi and she didnt have data at the time.
    via u/crispycrunchychurros
  • 20
    She turned to me and asked me if I had data to which I said I didnt. She kept asking me to just check if I still had some left but I really didnt and so she ended up telling me that I was useless and that she shouldnt have bothered asking. I ended up crying in the car ride home with my aunt telling me that I shouldve had data and that I shouldve been prepared in case something like this happened.
    via u/crispycrunchychurros
  • 21
    SkittleMonk3y My little brother bought me a framed painting from the op shop, cost him $2. Absolutely no thought put into it. I wrapped it up and gave it back to him for his birthday
    via u/SkittleMonk3y
  • 22
    eli74372 Coming home from school to immediately be told my dog died
    via u/eli74372
  • 23
    Marshmallow... my cousin gave me a signed picture of herself when I was like fourteen or fifteen, | mean, she put it in a frame so that was nice, I guess?
    via u/MarshmallowFloofs85
  • 24
    HargorTheHairy A handbag. It was ugly and I was 12, I didn't care about bags. It was the only gift I got. I felt so sad that day.
    via u/HargorTheHairy
  • 25
    ToeJans_55 underwear, socks. id be extremley gratful for it now, but when your nine and your expecting fruit of the loom. legos, not
    via u/ToeJans_55
  • 26
    Heimdall2023 Not me but my brother. We did an anonymous gift exchange and the people that got him got him a play. me Elmo type fake guitar. He was 14-15 and pretty good at playing the real guitar. He tried his best but my aunt that got it for him was p ed because he didn't sell being excited about it well enough.
    via u/Heimdall2023
  • 27
    psychkp I got a straw once. It was extra special because it was a combined party for family members with birthdays near each other and my cousin got a cd player from the same person.
    via u/psychkp
  • 28
    tevogrid A carton of canned liver was sent to my hostel by my uncle. My roomie ever since has become inexplicably suspicious of me. I hate liver by the way. I'm just confused why he sent 25 cans of liver to a student who doesn't even like cooking.
    via u/tevogrid

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