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“I once received contact solution. My sister and I talk about this all the time; we were really young girls and it was Christmas and one of our relatives gave us contact solution. Neither of us had contacts or wore glasses”
Not every holiday present can be a home run. Despite the best efforts of friends and family, sometimes you end up with a gift you really don’t like. Of course, celebrities feel the same way! While it can be a bit of a surprise to unwrap a frog figurine or contact lens solution, it’s definitely a hilarious holiday memory to look back on.
Find out what these stars had to say about their worst holiday gifts…
1. Emily Blunt
Looking back at the holiday season while she was growing up, Emily Blunt says her grandmother used to re-gift presents that she had given her. At one point, her grandmother gave her back a scarf she had picked out.
“She’d give me back the pashmina that I bought lovingly for her. It always used to make me laugh,” Emily shared.
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2. Steve Carell
Steve Carell says the worst gift he ever got was a pair of Santa socks, adding that most of the bad presents he’s gotten have come from family members who don’t really know him. But at the end of the day, Steve admits you have to be grateful for what you have.
“Those ones [that] the aunt who has met you three times sends you and doesn’t really know your likes or dislikes, just gets something at the gas station on the way over, that kind of gift. But you know what? You have to appreciate it anyway because it’s done out of love,” Steve said.
3. Elle Fanning
Elle Fanning recalls one Christmas when she and her older sister Dakota were gifted contact lens solution from someone in their family — despite the fact that neither one of them wore contacts.
“I once received contact solution. My sister and I talk about this all the time; we were really young girls and it was Christmas and one of our relatives gave us contact solution. Neither of us had contacts or wore glasses,” Elle told W Magazine.
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Dixie D’Amelio and her family, including younger sister Charli, do white elephant gifting every holiday season where they get to pick out some hilarious gag gifts. Dixie says she and Charli have given some pretty bad gifts to each other, including pickles and a calculator.
“So we do white elephant in our family and I gave a jar of pickles. [Charli gave] a broken calculator,” Dixie told J-14.
5. Leslie Mann
Leslie Mann admits that her husband Judd Apatow sometimes makes his holiday gifts all about him. She says that he’s given her the gift of going on a trip — but to a place only he wanted to go.
“My husband likes to give me presents like trips that he wants to go on. That would be an example of a bad present,” Leslie shared.
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One of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s least favorite gifts is when he’s given a pair of socks. He says it’s just not as fun when you get a gift that you buy yourself anyway.
“I think the worst present I always get is socks. I can buy myself socks, parents,” Lin-Manuel joked.
7. Diane Kruger
Diane Kruger’s least favorite gift was a wine cooler, which wasn’t so bad until she tried to use it. She explained that not only is the cooler huge but it only holds one bottle and it has to be plugged in for 45 minutes to get cold. Diane admits she may have re-gifted it to someone else.
“The worst gift I’ve ever gotten was a wine cooler thingy, from one of those stores in America that has inventions — Brookstone! So I got a wine cooler from Brookstone but it’s for one bottle and you have to plug it in and it takes 45 minutes to cool one bottle of wine. And it’s super big and it takes up so much space. So that was a re-gift. So I guess that’s also the worst gift I’ve ever given,” Diane told W Magazine.
8. Claire Foy
Claire Foy’s father got his Christmas shopping done at Costco one year but it didn’t quite go over too well with the actress. She says she ended up receiving a sweater that wasn’t really in fashion.
“The worst I ever received was a jumper that had a sewed-in polo neck on it that my dad got from Costco, for Christmas,” Claire said.
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Allison Janney has gotten some pretty bad gifts throughout the holidays — but it’s all been on purpose. She says that a friend hosts a re-gift party where you have to bring your worst gift ever and she ends up with some pretty weird items.
“My friend Steven Rogers, who wrote ‘I, Tonya,’ has a Christmas party every year where you have to bring the worst gift you’ve ever gotten — it’s a re-gift party. So there have been so many that I’ve gotten. Once, I got a wine caddy that was sort of like a Victorian doll. You put the wine bottle in the cavity of the doll and then you put the head back on. It was just a very odd-looking, creepy thing,” Allison shared.
10. Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson’s aunt must not have liked her too much because she says one year for the holidays, the older woman sent her a half-eaten candy bar as a present!
“The worst gift I ever received was from my old Aunt Mill, who sent me a half-eaten candy bar at Christmastime,” Emma said in an interview.
11. Luke Evans
Luke Evans says that his mom once gifted him a ceramic frog that she bought second-hand. It sounds like he’s never mentioned how he feels about the gift because he makes sure to put it on display whenever she comes over.
“The worst gift I ever received was a china frog that my mum got at a car boot sale, which I still have to get out when she comes to the house and put away when she leaves,” Luke joked.
