What was the strangest wedding gift you received?

shabbatiscoming

Thu, Jun 24 2010, 12:27 pm

apparently its very trendy in south africa to give funky or very nice spoons and so we got quite a few spoons from really beautiful to funky but at the time I just thought that my in laws friends were weird, until I learned of the "tradition" if you will.

and another VERY weird gift was from an old lady who was already senile. she gave US a bracelet with little baby shoes attached and a silver bowl that was most definitely from her own house.

Barbara

Thu, Jun 24 2010, 12:47 pm

louche wrote:

Barbara wrote:

amother wrote:

A ceramic dish that can't fit anything into it. It looks sort of like a canoe, but the sides are wavy so that anything liquidy would leak out of it. It's just big enough that I could probably squeeze the slices of pickle into it. It came with a spoon, which we call "the paddle."

It's the thought that counts.

An olive tray? I actually bought one of those, but mine came with little metal picks with olives on them.

Sounds like a dish for canned cranberry sauce. You slide the jellied sauce out of the can onto the dish (you cut off the top and bottom of the can and use the bottom to push the whole thing out) and either slice it or leave it whole and let the diners slice it themselves using the "paddle" .

Olive boat:

http://www.prevailingwinds.com.....6.htm

I can't find the cranberry server that you mention, though.

Tapuzi

Thu, Jun 24 2010, 12:55 pm

I think I may "win" this one- a pair of sterling silver spurs. As in boots spurs, that cowboys wear to move along their horses. Apparently this is a big gift in South America. They weigh a ton. Just bizarre. Wish I could have the cash value.

amother

Thu, Jun 24 2010, 1:05 pm

Segueing into the gift you thought was weird but actually use, we were given a shallow glass salad bowl that fits into a wooded stand. Lovely if you're serving salad for 50 people, but not very practical. Right? Wrong. Hordes of kids (in addition to mine) regularly appear at my door expecting Shabbat lunch, so I often serve pasta with meat sauce -- cheap, and they like it. This is the perfect serving bowl.

No other strange gifts. We did receive a number of mezuzah cases without kosher scrolls. Please don't give me a gift that I have to spend money on to make it useful.

Barbara

Thu, Jun 24 2010, 1:07 pm

Tapuzi wrote:

Ebay?

Tapuzi

Thu, Jun 24 2010, 1:26 pm

My MIL did tell me she would take them back to the store the next time she visits the country of origin and exchange them for something more useful. It's apparently a very fancy store. But they are so heavy she never feels like shlepping them.

louche

Thu, Jun 24 2010, 1:32 pm

Barbara wrote:

I can't find the cranberry server that you mention, though.

Don't bother, unless you're mad for sliced canned cranberry sauce. A friend of mine got a silver-plated one, which I found really odd. If you were serving canned cranberry sauce at a meal elegant enough to use silver, would you really leave it there in all its tin-can-shaped glory so everyone knows you didn't even bother to doctor it up so it looks freshly made? Seriously, now...

Besdies, sliced jellied cranberry sauce always looks like beets to me.

louche

Thu, Jun 24 2010, 1:36 pm

amother wrote:

We did receive a number of mezuzah cases without kosher scrolls. Please don't give me a gift that I have to spend money on to make it useful.

They're saving you the expense of buying the case. It isn't as if they're giving you a painting you have to frame--which you wouldn't have to do if you didn't have the painting. You's have to buy the scrolls in any event.

solo

Thu, Jun 24 2010, 1:37 pm

amother wrote:

We did receive a number of mezuzah cases without kosher scrolls. Please don't give me a gift that I have to spend money on to make it useful.

oh! thats my go to gift when I want to buy something nice but dont know the couple well.
I always thought it was a nice gift. as a matter of fact I received several as wedding gifts and thought it was nice. oh well Sad

hope not everyone feel the way u do bout this gift

louche

Thu, Jun 24 2010, 1:45 pm

solo wrote:

amother wrote:

We did receive a number of mezuzah cases without kosher scrolls. Please don't give me a gift that I have to spend money on to make it useful.

hope not everyone feel the way u do bout this gift

It IS a nice gift. It's nicer if you include the klaf because the klaf is really the expensive part, and it can really add up if they have to buy several, but it's still nice all by itself if you can't afford the klaf.

Chocoholic

Thu, Jun 24 2010, 2:01 pm

louche wrote:

solo wrote:

amother wrote:

We did receive a number of mezuzah cases without kosher scrolls. Please don't give me a gift that I have to spend money on to make it useful.

hope not everyone feel the way u do bout this gift

Yeah the scrolls are expensive, but a nice mezuzah cover is a very parve & thoughtful gift

OOTBubby

Thu, Jun 24 2010, 2:16 pm

slushiemom wrote:

Yocheved84 wrote:

A card offering myself and DH a free haircut and color. 1) I was going to be covering my hair anyway and 2) DH is bald.

We got a nice kiddush cup with a plate- and on the plate had the name engraved of the people who gave it to us! not as regifted, but it said in hebrew 'from mishpachat X'

we think of them every time we make kiddush Smile

Yes, several of DS received bechers as Bar Mitzvah gifts that were engraved as a gift from X (including from a prominent Rav in our city).

Last edited by OOTBubby on Thu, Jun 24 2010, 2:20 pm; edited 1 time in total

shabbatiscoming

Thu, Jun 24 2010, 2:16 pm

louche wrote:

solo wrote:

amother wrote:

We did receive a number of mezuzah cases without kosher scrolls. Please don't give me a gift that I have to spend money on to make it useful.

hope not everyone feel the way u do bout this gift

ive given mezuzah holders as gifts (when I was single and now as married) and all I can say to this is that not every person going to a simcha can afford the klaf but a nice mezuzah holder is also something that is needed by the couple so I dont see why it is not a good gift.
we got quiet a few holders and I really appreciated them. it just meant that we did not have to buy them.

louche

Thu, Jun 24 2010, 2:30 pm

shabbatiscoming wrote:

just thought of another one. a box from tiffany's jewelry store that had our invitation engraved on the top. we still cant figure out exactly what the box is good for. it is the size of a small tissue box.

Anything small, really. It's called a "whatnot box" or what in my family we call a "junk box" LOL

Candy; matchbooks; spare change; all those little thingumajiggies that you don't know what to do with like rubber bands, safety pins, bobby pins, buttons, twisties, screws, washers, needles, thumbtacks, corks, snaps, broken necklaces and bracelets, orphaned earrings, earring backs, cufflinks, paper clips, random keys, keychains, lapel pins, political statement buttons, pocket mirrors, old mascara wands you're saving for an emergency, the pacifier some guest with a baby dropped on the floor last time they visited, loose photographs, ID cards and similar flotsam and jetsam that clutter up various horizontal surfaces in your home. A cigar box works just as well but a silver one from Tiffany's looks nicer.

shabbatiscoming

Thu, Jun 24 2010, 2:32 pm

louche wrote:

shabbatiscoming wrote:

Anything small, really. It's called a "whatnot box" or what in my family we call a "junk box" LOL

wow, thats a lot of uses for a small box. doesnt matter, we got married in america and we had four suitcases coming back to israel and that was not one of the things that made it into the cases (it was actually heavy) so one day when my parents clean out their house they will find a very fancy box with our invitation on it Smile