Best & Worst gifts

[scooterbug44]

40th thread got me thinking.

What are the best and worst gifts you've ever received or given?

What would you love to receive as a gift?

 

[seacrestkristi]

best gift, besides health, love, grayt family, the hubbabubba and babies, and all that mushy stuff..... fancy, fine chocolates
worst gift , a pair of hamsters for the kids from the neighbor when they were little :roll:

 

[scooterbug44]

My best gifts are a tie between a Crazy Creek chair (the best chair ever) and gifts of artwork/jewelry from family members (they get me stuff that's great because they know my taste or it's from their travels).

The chair was a gift from my cousin - she found them when she was out west backpacking and got them for her sister, my brother, and myself. It is basically a pad of washable nylon folded/angled in half w/ 4 padded struts and 2 side straps that you adjust. I have used it for EVERYTHING: as a seat at the beach, outdoor concerts, camping, when painting, as a sleeping pad, as a grime barrier on buses, ferries & in train stations, as a carrying pouch, as a splint, you name it. I've had it almost half my life and figure I've got more than 1,500 miles on it via canoe, kayak, & foot. It's made it to 2 continents and I don't know how many countries so far.

Apparently they've updated it a bit for its 20th anniversary, adding handles, but it's hard to improve!

 

[whitesands]

Oh my gosh! My best gift and worst gift were one and the same. We went to an auction many, many years ago. We would go "just to look" They passed around a sapphire and diamond bracelet. I picked it up off the velvet cloth and said to my husband, "Gee that's pretty". Well, the guy started at $10,000.00 with no takers; then $9,000.00 with still no takers, and continued on down in increments of $1,000.00 until he reached $2,000.00 STILL with no takers. Then the auctioneer said to one of his assistants "Ok, take this back." At which point my husband, BLESS HIS HEART, stuck up our card and said $2,500.00! At this point, I turned to stone...said nothing, didn't look at him, didn't/couldn't move a muscle...musta kinda looked like :shock: The auctioneer said $3,000.00 takes it. My husband "took" it. I was still in shock and speechless, when he then turned to me and said "How do you want to pay for this?" Oh my god, what a memory ...as I said, that bracelet was/is my best and worst gift!

 

[seacrestkristi]

oooh, at least it's somethin' pretty, whitesands, and a good investment too ;-)
scooterbug, you're right, I forgot all about handmade artwork gifts, those are way better and way longer lasting than fancy chocolate though I do wish I had some right now.

 

[audie]

it's a tie for best gift: my dory dog definitely was a gift that kept on giving, and i love when my nephew colors me a picture for a special occasion. those are the bestest ever !

at this point i don't remember any really horrible gifts...

 

[scooterbug44]

scooterbug, you're right, I forgot all about handmade artwork gifts, those are way better and way longer lasting than fancy chocolate though I do wish I had some right now.

I have artists in my family and my mother frequents a lot of art shows/knows local artists so it's not exactly "homemade art." It's cool because they get their inspiration from the things around them so while it's professional art work (sometimes it gets borrowed to flesh out a gallery show), it's of our family, vacation destinations, views from our houses, etc. Mom's on a blown glass kick right now so she gets cool stuff that students at her university make. I think art is so much cooler when it has additional meaning!

 

[sunspotbaby]

Whitesands-I have a story kind of similar. After Katrina, there were many fundraisers here and my husband & I were compelled to go to at least one even though we were broke most of the time and really couldn't afford it. So there was a silent auction ....which btw... we'd never done, but my husband was at the tables for quite some time. He said he had bid on just about everything. About 15 minutes later they closed the bidding....and we learned we were the proud owners of a new Tiffany lamp. I was shocked. I kept saying "What was your bid, Steve!?" and he wouldn't tell me.
I think he was the 2nd bidder on this lamp and had way blown it up (he said he was trying to get the bids higher so they made more money....not intending to be the winning bid because he thought there was much more time left in the auction). Anyway for an evening we planned on spending maybe $50 we ended up spending about $300.00 on a lamp. Don't get me wrong...love the lamp
-really is the nicest thing in my mobile home. :funn:

 

[DD]

Whitesands-I have a story kind of similar. After Katrina, there were many fundraisers here and my husband & I were compelled to go to at least one even though we were broke most of the time and really couldn't afford it. So there was a silent auction ....which btw... we'd never done, but my husband was at the tables for quite some time. He said he had bid on just about everything. About 15 minutes later they closed the bidding....and we learned we were the proud owners of a new Tiffany lamp. I was shocked. I kept saying "What was your bid, Steve!?" and he wouldn't tell me.
I think he was the 2nd bidder on this lamp and had way blown it up (he said he was trying to get the bids higher so they made more money....not intending to be the winning bid because he thought there was much more time left in the auction). Anyway for an evening we planned on spending maybe $50 we ended up spending about $300.00 on a lamp. Don't get me wrong...love the lamp
-really is the nicest thing in my mobile home. :funn:

 

[whitesands]

Whitesands-I have a story kind of similar. After Katrina, there were many fundraisers here and my husband & I were compelled to go to at least one even though we were broke most of the time and really couldn't afford it. So there was a silent auction ....which btw... we'd never done, but my husband was at the tables for quite some time. He said he had bid on just about everything. About 15 minutes later they closed the bidding....and we learned we were the proud owners of a new Tiffany lamp. I was shocked. I kept saying "What was your bid, Steve!?" and he wouldn't tell me.
I think he was the 2nd bidder on this lamp and had way blown it up (he said he was trying to get the bids higher so they made more money....not intending to be the winning bid because he thought there was much more time left in the auction). Anyway for an evening we planned on spending maybe $50 we ended up spending about $300.00 on a lamp. Don't get me wrong...love the lamp
-really is the nicest thing in my mobile home. :funn:

Awww, what a sweet story sunspotbaby. Your husband sounds like his heart was in the right place at the right time ...but I can empathize with you and your shock at the time too!