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CHRISTMAS IS ABOUT more than giving and receiving presents, but that’s usually a pretty big aspect of the festive season.
We’ve all probably had to feign excitement over a gift we weren’t exactly thrilled about at some stage – and hopefully we’ve received a few amazing presents too.
Here are some of the best and worst presents received by TheJournal.ie‘s reporters:
My dad queued into the night to get me a Furby from the Tommy’s Wonderland in the Blanchardstown Centre. He brought a cushion from home to sit on in the queue.
My mother gave me a shower curtain for Christmas last year … which sounds dreadful but I really needed a shower curtain.
My dad once got my brother a load of turf for his house for Christmas which is probably the most dad-ish present imaginable.
I was given a 1977 Liverpool European Cup winners full kit by my dad in 1990. And I’m an Arsenal fan.
My mom gave my 10-year-old sister a lighter. It was beautiful fish shape, covered in diamantes – she had no idea it was a lighter, she thought it was just pretty.
I got a stepladder when I was about five or six. I was pretty happy with it.
My dad gave me this one Christmas. He didn’t look at the cover properly and decided to give it to me because he knows I like cooking … I keep it with my regular cookbooks to scare dinner guests.
My brother gave me a set of walkie talkies last year and my flatmate and I used to use them to ask each other if we wanted tea and to listen to passing taxi drivers’ radios, before a burglar stole them.
Me and my sisters got a communal Sega Mega Drive one year in the early/mid ’90s – that was GREAT.
The Christmas of 1991 is the one where we suspect there was a minor Lotto win/inheritance. There was a suspiciously high volume of presents. – including Bed Bugs which my dad then intentionally stepped on because it made so much noise.
I got a chest of drawers when I was seven – I still have it.
I got an amazing orange Forever Friends tent one year. When I was younger everything had to be orange. I tried to live there (in the hallway) for a couple of days. It didn’t work out.
My brother bought me this amazing toy hoover when I was about eight, but he never got me the batteries to go in it and I really wanted them because the photo on the box showed it made noise and that you could hoover up glitter.
I still get annoyed thinking ‘Why the hell did nobody in my family buy me batteries?’ I reminded them constantly. It gets brought up now every Christmas, he still hasn’t apologised.
I got a bean bag one year. Loved it.
I was given a plot in Palmerstown cemetery … it’s a long (boring) story, but essentially it was an uncle who now lives in England so wouldn’t have any use for it. It’s actually quite nice.
Can you top any of those? Let us know in the comments.
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God I would love q lod of turf for the Christmas. Class present. An old GF once got me a large gold chain(you could have towed a car with it) with a large BOYFRIEND text hanging from it.
An Orange Raleigh Chopper. Bought from Raleigh on Bachelors Walk.
That was like getting a Porsche for Xmas at the time. O.K. it was on the never never.
One year my brother and I wanted action men. He opened his first and it was the Lone Ranger and his Horse Silver. I excitedly opened mine and my heart sank, I got some Comanche type fella and a pieball.
Every other year we always got the same presents, train sets, binoculars etc. But not that year, oh no. That year I got poxy Tonto.
My mother once got me a rape alarm. Another year she got me a “good” scissors.
My sister was expecting a special gift from her long term boyfriend, she got a car sandwich toaster.. Pretty much ended after that…
Is that a sandwich toaster for your car? Or a sandwich toaster in the shape of a car? Either way it sounds amazing!
For the car, plug in the cigarette lighter :)
Genius present. I’d like one of those. Your sister needs to lighten up lol
Very unusual. I found those 12volt products only available at U.S. flea markets many years later. Still have a 12 volt hairdryer, kettle and a burger heater. The kettle held about one pint of water and took about half an hour to boil driving at a steady seventy. That’s if it didn’t blow the cigarette lighter fuse. Think it burnt itself out.
When myself and my brother were 12/11 we clubbed together and bought our mom a basketball for a Christmas present. It was a really good one. Hours and hours of fun. But for some reason she wasn’t impressed. Still don’t know why.
Why are Irish people saying ‘mom’? Hmm maybe you’re not Irish, “my bad”….
When I was about four, I got the talking cricket doll. It was in a black sack and my dad said it was a bag of coal, sobbed my little heart out and ran away when he tried to get me to open it…fecker.
She lived a short but fruitful existence,Anyone who had one will remember she came with interactive tapes that went into a taped deck built into her back and her lips would badly lip syncs along to whatever tape you played, the folks short circuited her a few months later when they put a queen tape in her one night. They thought it was hilarious watching her lips try keep up with Bohemian Rhapsody.
Poor Cricket was never quite right after that
I once received a present back which I had given to that person the previous Christmas. I said nothing.
Oh and as a family present one year(myself, husband and daughter) we received a cup. Just one cup. It accidentally fell a few minutes later.
Who buys an effin cup for someone? Still annoys me
One golden eggcup
so to you this cup was half empty and not half full them Sam lol Happy Christmas hope it’s a good one for you
A 3 in 1 philips stereo and Queen Live Killers Christmas 1979. I was 14, I still remember it fondly. Oh, for the much younger ones, a 3 in 1 was radio, tape deck and turntable.
Very good, however, you might also have to explain tapedeck!!
That was some gift…they cost about £ir300.00 at the time (early 1970s.)
To the Arsenal fan who got the Liverpool European Cup winners jersey……. Be grateful because Arsenal will never give you that opportunity:)
A torch with no battery’s, my Da told me only to use it during the day.
I remember asking Santa for a torch when I was a young lad. Think I got a Swiss Armey knife with it. God Santa had it handy with me.
A box of afternoon tea biscuits containing jelly stars which had been discontinued for over a year..
Worst – I got a vacuum cleaner, and he even gave me an extension cord to go with it….so I wouldn’t have to keep unplugging the thing. I can’t tell ya wear I wanted to shove the hoover hose.
The same fella gave me anti-wrinkle cream…..I was only 19 at the time.
Best – A pair of roller skates or Mr. Frosty :)
Worst present.
A single white grain of rice.
Jeez he was so mean Uncle Ben.
Over 20 years ago ..93 ..got the worst.and best.present ever ..the worst .I got dry toast and water Christmas.day and sweet shag all.under a invisible tree..the best present was good old ma was out drunk with her new boyfriend and left us.ther three days.on.our own me.and my.bro…oh a mention also.five years b4 that when she killed my.dad overdosing him on the.19th.dec 88…sad but true…today.im thankful to the mother off my own kids who gives unconditional love to.our.twins and is.nothing.short.off my.xmas miracle
Glenn I’m really sorry you had to deal with all that as a child. I’m hoping you have a great Christmas with your own family this year and every year. A loving family are really the best gift of all anyway. A wonderful Christmas to you and yours Glenn and all the best for the New Year.
I was expecting a really big present from my boyfriend he made a really big deal outa it & seemed really nervous Xmas morn ! Then his best friend arrived (he had been minding the present for him ) 2 gold fish in a bag!!!! Lol
When I was a kid I was obsessed with Africa so One Christmas my mother got me a coconut that had a sticker on it that said ” originated from Africa”. She said if I smell it its the same as smelling Africa. I wasn’t impressed!
I bought the missus the rampant rabbit. I’m still not sure if she likes it 4 years on. It was one of them if master card did faces. A well she’ll get over it at some point.
Check the batteries and you’ll know
…I know somone who wore one out…and asked me if I could fix it….
I know someone who lost four teeth with one of them things.
You can’t end that story there Brian!
I had too. Journal deletes most of my comments so I’m trying to be a good boy this Christmas.
My first Christmas with my serious boyfriend who later became husband I was all excited. I had gotten a glimpse of a small box in his pocket so was pretty sure I was getting jewellery. Imagine my utter shock and dismay when I opened the box to reveal a travel alarm clock. You know those small ones that fold down into a square case. To make matters worse it was bought in a jewellers and was in their fancy box. Gutted wasn’t the word. That wasn’t his worst gift by any means. That was when he bought me a pair if mens black shoes two sizes too big. He kept the receipt thank feck but I still have no idea of the thought processes that went into that gift. A valentines gift he once got me was a frying pan shaped clock. It was the tackiest thing known to man. I could go on but I’m depressing myself recounting these gifts. Lol The best gifts usually come from my kids but one time years ago my then boyfriend bought me a tin whistle. Sounds silly but I was living abroad and I just loved it. It was really thoughtful. He got a bit fed up of the gigs and reels after a while though lol
Worst presents:
Headboard from ikea
Hubcaps
Free calendar
Daz
Don’t know why but I read that initially as
Headboard from IKEA
Handcuffs
I know, it’s just me.
…and Baz
No, it’s not just you…
Got a tennis racquet once, only problem was that the nearest tennis court was 18 miles away
Probably slightly off topic,but does anyone know if the “hard up single mother” on last weeks stories on Dublin Talks was a scammer?..been looking for follow up ,but even the FB page seems to have been removed..
@keiran. If it was the can anyone help fb page then yes it was a scam and it was removed. I didn’t see it myself but read the comments after it was removed. Apparently someone clicked into her profile page and saw photos of holidays abroad, spa weekends and expensive toys she bought her child/children.
The N64 and Mario Cart – it was the best Christmas ever!
One walkie talkie.
A wallow then.
*walkie
A paperweight !!
You also received an iPhone? Same here :(
Friend of ours got a bag of spuds and a stuffed talking sheep that sang “When Irish Eyes are Smiling” off the mother in law the first Christmas they’d moved in together. We still get great mileage from it.
When your Granny gets you a CD of your favorite band when you own an MP3 player.
A Technical Lego set for building my own battery-powered Willie O’Dea moustache.
Glass chopping board and a set of plastic lunchboxes
A cricket set
Good or bad though? I’m guessing bad?
A dictionary from my boyfriend. “But” says he, ” you kept admiring it and it’s the MILLENNIUM edition with indented page tabs ” . The box was huge and heavy so I was very excited. Now I am a huge book nerd, but come on…..mind you he brought me on a trip to Oz and NZ the following year so all was forgiven. Highs n’ lows
A Super NES for (I think) Xmas 1992. There’s just no competing with that.
My nanny, bless her, would not be known for the quality of her gifts. Quantity? Absolutely. But quality not so much. One of her favoured tricks is to rewrap gifts she receives and give them to us. In the past I’ve received Penneys umbrellas- more than once. Penneys gloves- more than once. But last year was a new standard. I unwrapped an oven glove- singular. Which I recognised as she had received it as part of a set the prior year. My mother then unwrapped the balance of the set a few minutes later. Thanks nan.
When i was about 6 my parents got me a life size walking talking doll, scared the bejasus out of me, still shudder when I think about it.
I got a little makeup chair with doll with huge range of makeup when I was about 7. I guess my parents thought I was heading in a different direction as early as that!
Frumpy formal pyjamas….from a hot girlfriend (250c.) Back in the old days, when I had hair and hope. “Would that be with ice?” I quipped.
Got a box of English teabags once. No joke. They knew I loved tea…. It’s a funny memory anyway!
I’m guessing that’s Aoife in the picture, you were a cute little kiddie Aoife :)
This sentence is creepy!!!
Yurty if you think this sentence is creepy then I’m afraid that just gives an insight into how your mind works and actually nothing at all about the sentence. It was a genuine comment . I have been told in the past I was a cute kid . All blonde curls and such. Take your mind out of the sewer and Ho enjoy Christmas .
The burial plot. Classic
Guinness book records two years in a row made me cry as a teenager
A playstation 1,with ultimate doom and wipeout, was expensive,so paid half with my confirmation money,bought it in clearys computer department,broke on Stephens day,still best present ever
I once got a Garth Brooks CD. My favourite band at the time was Radiohead.
What did Santa gave you this year… Herpes…
Love that joke
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