What is the Worst Reaction You've Received When Giving a Special Gift to Someone?

[ManiaStar]

Feel free to state whom you bought the gift for, what it is and a story about it.

The worst reaction I ever received was a special custom made b-day gift I bought for my mom.

Here's my story.

This past July was my mom's birthday. I wanted to get her something special as I had never bought her anything special or custom made before. I spent a very long time researching/thinking of what to get for her. I finally decided on one of those 3D Glass Crystal Picture things. (sorry, I don't remember exactly what they're called). Then, I spent even more time trying to decide on which picture to choose to get made.

I ended up on getting a beautiful picture of my mom and my grandma together (my mom had an amazing relationship w/ my grandma and my grandma was my best friend growing up --- loved her sooo much!! and I still really miss her).

Then I went to the mall where they get them done. I sent the photo and they uploaded it and I spent a good hour there talking to them trying to come up w/ the perfect saying to commemorate my mom and my grandma's relationship and the one person that worked there, came up w/ the most amazing saying (which I'll post next time)

The shape I chose to get was a heart and I bought the lighted base which you put the 3D crystal on and it illuminates the photo which to me, looked amazing.

The people I worked w/ there said to me, you must really love your mom to want to buy her something like this. This piece will be treasured for generations to come and said that my mom will love it. I was so excited.

I was so excited to get it and couldn't wait for my mom's reaction.

Well, on my mom's b-day, she opened the present up and just stared at it. She was like, well, this is different. Then she just kept staring at it, not saying anything. Then she lit the base up and put the heart on it and was like, well, I'll put it out but I'm not going to light it up. She wasn't excited. She wasn't happy to get that present and I didn't even get a thank you. She did give me a hug and kiss but that was it.

My best friend was there with me and when we left, he was like, I saw you looked like you were so upset and ready to cry so he gave me a great big hug to comfort me and I so needed that after her reaction.

I spent $390 on this present which normally, I'll only spend $50 on a b-day present and about $200 on Christmas for each of my parents but, for me, at the time, the price didn't matter because I felt she deserved something special but, after giving it to her, and her reaction, I was like, nope, never again. I am never going to spend this much time, energy and money on getting something special for my mom bc most likely, she'll never like what I get her.....

 

[blue_ladybug]

I have never gotten a bad reaction to presents that I've given.. But I have received and given away MANY presents that I didn't want and had no use for.. lol

 

[Lynx]

The worst reaction hasn't happened yet because I'm not sure how to react to a spongebob tie. What do I do with this thing? I'm not gonna wear it.

 

[Miri]

Feel free to state whom you bought the gift for, what it is and a story about it.

The worst reaction I ever received was a special custom made b-day gift I bought for my mom.

Here's my story.

This past July was my mom's birthday. I wanted to get her something special as I had never bought her anything special or custom made before. I spent a very long time researching/thinking of what to get for her. I finally decided on one of those 3D Glass Crystal Picture things. (sorry, I don't remember exactly what they're called). Then, I spent even more time trying to decide on which picture to choose to get made.

I ended up on getting a beautiful picture of my mom and my grandma together (my mom had an amazing relationship w/ my grandma and my grandma was my best friend growing up --- loved her sooo much!! and I still really miss her).

Then I went to the mall where they get them done. I sent the photo and they uploaded it and I spent a good hour there talking to them trying to come up w/ the perfect saying to commemorate my mom and my grandma's relationship and the one person that worked there, came up w/ the most amazing saying (which I'll post next time)

The shape I chose to get was a heart and I bought the lighted base which you put the 3D crystal on and it illuminates the photo which to me, looked amazing.

The people I worked w/ there said to me, you must really love your mom to want to buy her something like this. This piece will be treasured for generations to come and said that my mom will love it. I was so excited.

I was so excited to get it and couldn't wait for my mom's reaction.

Well, on my mom's b-day, she opened the present up and just stared at it. She was like, well, this is different. Then she just kept staring at it, not saying anything. Then she lit the base up and put the heart on it and was like, well, I'll put it out but I'm not going to light it up. She wasn't excited. She wasn't happy to get that present and I didn't even get a thank you. She did give me a hug and kiss but that was it.

My best friend was there with me and when we left, he was like, I saw you looked like you were so upset and ready to cry so he gave me a great big hug to comfort me and I so needed that after her reaction.

I spent $390 on this present which normally, I'll only spend $50 on a b-day present and about $200 on Christmas for each of my parents but, for me, at the time, the price didn't matter because I felt she deserved something special but, after giving it to her, and her reaction, I was like, nope, never again. I am never going to spend this much time, energy and money on getting something special for my mom bc most likely, she'll never like what I get her.....

Just a thought, but maybe there were things going on between your grandma and mum
that you weren't aware of.

 

[Desertsrose]

Feel free to state whom you bought the gift for, what it is and a story about it.

The worst reaction I ever received was a special custom made b-day gift I bought for my mom.

Here's my story.

This past July was my mom's birthday. I wanted to get her something special as I had never bought her anything special or custom made before. I spent a very long time researching/thinking of what to get for her. I finally decided on one of those 3D Glass Crystal Picture things. (sorry, I don't remember exactly what they're called). Then, I spent even more time trying to decide on which picture to choose to get made.

I ended up on getting a beautiful picture of my mom and my grandma together (my mom had an amazing relationship w/ my grandma and my grandma was my best friend growing up --- loved her sooo much!! and I still really miss her).

Then I went to the mall where they get them done. I sent the photo and they uploaded it and I spent a good hour there talking to them trying to come up w/ the perfect saying to commemorate my mom and my grandma's relationship and the one person that worked there, came up w/ the most amazing saying (which I'll post next time)

The shape I chose to get was a heart and I bought the lighted base which you put the 3D crystal on and it illuminates the photo which to me, looked amazing.

The people I worked w/ there said to me, you must really love your mom to want to buy her something like this. This piece will be treasured for generations to come and said that my mom will love it. I was so excited.

I was so excited to get it and couldn't wait for my mom's reaction.

Well, on my mom's b-day, she opened the present up and just stared at it. She was like, well, this is different. Then she just kept staring at it, not saying anything. Then she lit the base up and put the heart on it and was like, well, I'll put it out but I'm not going to light it up. She wasn't excited. She wasn't happy to get that present and I didn't even get a thank you. She did give me a hug and kiss but that was it.

My best friend was there with me and when we left, he was like, I saw you looked like you were so upset and ready to cry so he gave me a great big hug to comfort me and I so needed that after her reaction.

I spent $390 on this present which normally, I'll only spend $50 on a b-day present and about $200 on Christmas for each of my parents but, for me, at the time, the price didn't matter because I felt she deserved something special but, after giving it to her, and her reaction, I was like, nope, never again. I am never going to spend this much time, energy and money on getting something special for my mom bc most likely, she'll never like what I get her.....

So sorry Mania Star. I'm sure that hurt deeply!

I have a friend that was really going through an emotional state because she was turning 50. So I decided to take her to lunch and I bought her a 14k gold necklace that said best friends on it. I let her pick the restaurant.

At lunch the whole time she complained about turning 50. She even told me that I should have forgotten her b-day and not celebrated it. She wanted to ignore anything that reminded her that it was her birthday. I took special care to make her day a delight, to help her forget the fact that she'd be 50 and I even paid more than I normally would have as well.

As they say, live and learn. I was quite upset at the time and I won't ever do that again for her. It took a while to forgive her, but I finally did.

There could be a number of reasons why a person doesn't like a gift. In my case she was so wrapped up in self that all she could think about was a number - 50. In your mom's, maybe she wasn't as close to her mom as you think or maybe she doesn't like photos or maybe you just caught her on a bad day.

There also have been other disappointed faces when giving someone a gift so I gave it some thought. I decided to either give people something I know they'll really like instead of what I like because I'm buying this for them and not me.

I also decided that if I can't think of a fantastic gift, or I don't know what they really want, I give a gift card.

Some people are the type of person you can buy flowers for, perfume, satin pajamas, chocolates etc. Then you have others that are practical and want an appliance, a kitchen gadget, socks or underwear etc. So it really helps to know what will bless their socks off.

But I did want to say that you're a sweet daughter who wanted to love on your mom and make her day very special, to show her how much she means to you. I want to encourage you to forgive your mom and allow the hurt to heal if you haven't already. The enemy loves to put a wedge between those we love so that we stay in a state of unforgiveness without even realizing it.

You may already have forgiven her, but in your post it sounds like you may still be hurt. I also will never again make it a point to make my friend feel special by buying a nice gift and taking her to a nice restaurant when she gets like that. But not out of anger, I just know it won't do any good.

 

[seoulsearch]

Wow, Mania, I'm so sorry your Mom didn't appreciate all the trouble you went through.

I have a very good friend, and we hit a major milestone in our friendship a few years ago. In celebration, I bought her a necklace--the stones in it were genuine, and the price reflected the fact that they were real.

When she opened it, she had sincere, "Oh, thank you," kind of reaction but I'm pretty sure she didn't realize how much it cost. I got something high-quality to reflect what I thought of her and our friendship.

How can you tell someone, "Uh... That's not a $19.99 Walmart special..." because now days, it can be really hard to tell what's cheap and what's not.

Next time I'll probably get something much more in the mid-range.

 

[MultilingualMessenger]

I usually act like the gift I'm giving a person is "just a little something," even if I was ecstatic about it the moment I saw it and thought of them. And then I fight the urge to tell them they're gonna love what I got for them. I do that so if they don't jump for joy, at least it doesn't make me look stupid for thinking my gift was special and they would love it.

 

[ManiaStar]

Just a thought, but maybe there were things going on between your grandma and mum
that you weren't aware of.

They were very close. My grandma lived with us for 5 years after her husband passed away. My mom was always talking/joking and taking my grandma places. They loved each other so much and they had a very close/special relationship w/ each other.

My mom was deeply saddened and missed my grandma when she passed away in 2012.

The only thing my mom told me after I gave her the present is that she doesn't like displaying pictures of herself around the home, Yet, she has this one picture on our bow window of her and her mom and it's an excellent photo.

The photo I chose to use was from 2010 at my cousin's wedding. It was a beautiful picture of my grandma all dressed up and my mom all dressed up and they both had beautiful smiles on and, it was a great time.

I figured that was the best picture I had of the 2 of them together.

And when the base lights up, it makes the picture shine more.

 

[ManiaStar]

So sorry Mania Star. I'm sure that hurt deeply!

I have a friend that was really going through an emotional state because she was turning 50. So I decided to take her to lunch and I bought her a 14k gold necklace that said best friends on it. I let her pick the restaurant.

At lunch the whole time she complained about turning 50. She even told me that I should have forgotten her b-day and not celebrated it. She wanted to ignore anything that reminded her that it was her birthday. I took special care to make her day a delight, to help her forget the fact that she'd be 50 and I even paid more than I normally would have as well.

As they say, live and learn. I was quite upset at the time and I won't ever do that again for her. It took a while to forgive her, but I finally did.

There could be a number of reasons why a person doesn't like a gift. In my case she was so wrapped up in self that all she could think about was a number - 50. In your mom's, maybe she wasn't as close to her mom as you think or maybe she doesn't like photos or maybe you just caught her on a bad day.

There also have been other disappointed faces when giving someone a gift so I gave it some thought. I decided to either give people something I know they'll really like instead of what I like because I'm buying this for them and not me.

I also decided that if I can't think of a fantastic gift, or I don't know what they really want, I give a gift card.

Some people are the type of person you can buy flowers for, perfume, satin pajamas, chocolates etc. Then you have others that are practical and want an appliance, a kitchen gadget, socks or underwear etc. So it really helps to know what will bless their socks off.

But I did want to say that you're a sweet daughter who wanted to love on your mom and make her day very special, to show her how much she means to you. I want to encourage you to forgive your mom and allow the hurt to heal if you haven't already. The enemy loves to put a wedge between those we love so that we stay in a state of unforgiveness without even realizing it.

You may already have forgiven her, but in your post it sounds like you may still be hurt. I also will never again make it a point to make my friend feel special by buying a nice gift and taking her to a nice restaurant when she gets like that. But not out of anger, I just know it won't do any good.

I'm sorry to hear what you went through as well. It can be difficult as sometimes people are so into what they're going to and as you stated, no matter how hard you try, sometimes even the nicest gestures go unnoticed. I'm sorry you had to go through that.

You know, part of me has forgiven my mom for that day but, what makes me upset is her reaction and her lack of saying thank you. She was just so I think taken aback by the gift that i caught her off guard and she gave me a hug but, i could easily see how much she didn't like it so yes, I felt heart broken 1. bc of the high price of it and 2. bc i spent so much time figuring out what exactly to give her so, even though i did forgive her, i'm still hurt by everything.