Seasonal Fails Competition
The best possible worst presents: Send us your stories
“Ah… socks. Thanks. Just what I wanted…”. Sound familiar? You’ve most likely been on the receiving end of a last-minute panic buy before. Or maybe something you bought for your family is gathering dust in the cellar. Fortunately it’s the thought that counts, and we can often look back at these memories and laugh.
We would love to hear from you too. Simply send us a brief description of the worst present you ever received for Christmas, your birthday, or any other occasion. The 3 stories we judge to be the funniest will receive a festive surprise! Bonus points for stories with unexpected twists. Read the terms and conditions here.
To give you some inspiration, here are some true stories from Getsafees.
El clásico
Ismael: When I started dating my current wife, her father asked her if I was a fan of any football team in Spain. As I am a big Real Madrid fan and all of my wife’s family are Barcelona fans, he decided it would be cool to give me an old Atlético de Madrid jersey for Christmas. I keep it buried in my wardrobe, out of sight and far from any precious belongings.
The godfather with good intentions
Max: When my girlfriend was younger, her godfather noticed that she liked painting. So he bought her an interactive CD called “Wege zur Backsteingotik” (“Paths to Brick Gothic Architecture”). It was a kind of game where you could walk through gothic buildings and look at them. The problem was, she was only like 6 years old at the time.
She also once asked her godfather for a bonsai tree for her room. Instead, he bought her a linden tree – which takes decades to grow and needs lots of space!
The mix-up
Johanna: A few years ago, my dad accidentally swapped my present with my half sister’s, so I received a child’s toy for Christmas. It was a kind of festive model see-saw. Probably pretty cool for young children, but it was pretty much useless for me.
Shutdown
Tom: When I was a teenager, a few people bought me gift cards for my favourite music shop. The problem was, there had been rumours that this shop was going to shut down. The day after Christmas, I went to town to spend my gift cards… but it was already too late and the shop had gone bankrupt. A few months later, the shop offered me 10% of the value of the cards, so I received £3 – not even enough for one CD.
You’ve been framed
Daniel: I once bought my mom a digital picture frame as a present. The guy at the store said that I wasn’t the first person to buy this as a last-minute gift. Since then the frame has been lying unopened somewhere in my parents' house.
Counting pennies
Kathrin: One winter, my brother and I were lacking both the creativity and the cash to get something special for each other. So we decided to make a game out of it. We chose a really specific price (€7.41 if I remember correctly) and had to find presents of exactly this value. I remember standing in the shops with a calculator trying to figure out all the different possibilities. It was a unique experience when we opened these gifts and found things like toothpicks, chocolate bars and apple juice. Of course, we couldn’t forget to include the receipt with a total cost of exactly €7.41. It was definitely a fun way to exchange gifts!
