The parents were tossing and turning around in their beds, while memories of bad gifts swam through their heads...

What was the worst gift you ever got? In doing research for this article, I found some hilarious examples, like a pack of Kool-aid and a single stick of gum!  Check out the links below for a good laugh. There's a fine line between a thoughtful, tasteful gift and a useless item barely worthy of the recycle bin. It requires skill, knowledge, and finesse to navigate that line without crossing over to the side of crass, tasteless, or even offensive. Some gifts that seem appropriate on the surface turn out to be hazardous traps, luring in buyers who are just too rushed, harried or inept to make good gift choices.

Gift Traps to Avoid

Forget the fruitcake - there are some wonderful food gifts (filet mignon or lobster, anyone?), but there are also some questionable ones. If you're not sure the recipient absolutely will love the item, don't send food. I don't just mean fruitcake. How about those kits full of cured meat logs and cheeses that somehow don't need to be refrigerated. And even though I love fruit, there is no way we're gonna eat through a Giza-sized pyramid of pears (or apples, pomegranates, etc.) before they go bad on us or we get sick of 'em! Really, we can get good fruit at the farmer's market here. And boxes of Godiva do not impress either. The end result is a box of chocolates with holes poked in the bottoms as we attempt to find a filling that's appealing.  By the way, don't give steaks to a vegetarian, or candy to a diabetic, either.

The handmade gift - handmade gifts are very endearing...if they happen to be from your kids. I happen to keep almost every item ever made by my two, from the time they were making Mother's Day crafts in preschool. Otherwise, beware. The hand knitted sweater or the hand carved wooden toy is a dicey choice unless you are proficient enough at your craft that the item doesn't scream "HANDMADE". Many people are actually excellent at their craft, so I'm not saying no to the handmade gift completely, just make sure it's a well-made and appropriate item.

Worse however, is the unreturnable handmade gift - you know, the ones made by the labor of a village full of Guatemalan women raising money to lift themselves out of poverty - "oh, but it's for a good cause!" One year my daughter got an alphabet print made in a foreign country. We couldn't figure out half the letters. Okay, we got A is for acorn and C is for crab, but why in the world is there a mermaid next to letter S? Another year we got a Ziploc bag of wild rice, "handpicked" on an Indian reservation, I think. Take a look. A Ziploc bag. Sorry, there's nothing wrong with a good cause, but it does not equal a good present in my book.

The "as seen on TV" gift includes everything from the Chia Pet, the Sham Wow!, the Snuggli (aka the backwards bathrobe) , Blendy Pens and Bend-a-Roos, the Samurai Shark Knives, and from older days, the Clapper -- how many of us remember Clap on Clap off? Avoid anything you've seen the late Billy Mays shouting about on TV infomercials, including the Big City Slider Hamburger Press and the Awesome Auger Yard Tool. Experience dictates that the gadgets as seen on TV do not deliver the "miracles" claimed in the advertising. The vendors of these doodads lure you in with the promise of "call now, we'll throw in a extra set of knives" and a money back guarantee, but they are already making money on inflated Shipping and Handling charges.

How does one write a thank you note after having received one of these? Dear friend, Thank you so much for the Ped Egg, I am really looking forward to doing some serious callous removal this year!

Books - unless a particular book is specifically asked for, books are treacherous. I've had to immediately purge seemingly innocuous children's books we've received. Folks, just because a book is from the children's section doesn't mean it is appropriate for children. For book gift-giving, make sure you know your reader's specific interests.

Music - almost as treacherous as books. Again, only go there if a specific item, album or artist has been asked for. Be extra vigilant about the inappropriate language that is common in popular music.

Note: online bookstore websites like Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble have a wish list feature, where you can post books, music and other items so that others can view what you would like to receive as gifts. I highly recommend using them to make gift giving easier.

Lingerie or any undergarments - not recommended unless you are actually living with the other person!

The Re-gifted Item - volumes have been written and said about re-gifting. Re-gifted items have a tendency to come back and bite you know where. Proceed with extreme caution only on unopened, unused items. Enough said.

The Repeat Gift - the same scarf, tie, shirt, sweater, socks. Not again! Please try to keep track of what you have already given to someone as a gift, it's just common sense. Which leads me to ...

The Unreturnable Repeat Gift - My kids have actually been given the exact same book 3 separate times from the same family member. Not only that, but this person WRITES in the book, "from XXXX" so it can't be returned or exchanged. Before, we also received as a gift from this person a Christmas ornament engraved with the year and the words "First Christmas Together."  For two years in a row.  Only one of those years can be our 1st year together, no? Simply defies logic.

The Circular Gift

There are 3 sisters in my family. One year, my sister got a Salad Shooter for each of us. I got her a Salad Shooter. The three of us all opened them at the same time - a triple Salad Shooter Christmas! Believe it or not, after more than a decade that Salad Shooter is still going strong.  I still have it and use it often.

http://money.aol.com/special/the-worst-gift-ever

http://worstgiftever.net/

http://www.motherinlawstories.com/worst_gift.htm

Do you have a worst gift ever story?  Tell about it in the comments...