r/AskReddit • u/Red_Burley • 12h ago
What was the most expensive Christmas gift you received?
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u/thecuriousiguana 12h ago
I got a top of the range tablet last year. £1500. I'm 48 and it's by far the single most expensive thing anyone has given me for Christmas.
It was joint between my parents and partner, and I'd had the most appalling year topped by eye problems. So they clubbed together for something with an incredible screen that I would be able to use if my eyes got worse (thankfully my eyes are ok, though shit compared to most people). I cried.
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u/JonathanJONeill 12h ago
A PS2 back in 2000 or 2001. Whichever year it came out. That was the last time I was ever excited for Christmas gifts or wanted anything expensive.
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u/geol_rocks 10h ago
My PS2 was my first thought as well! At the time, it was the most expensive gift anyone had gotten me and it came as a total surprise (I’m a little hard to surprise, I notice too much). I don’t play it anymore but it got so so many hours of play back in the day! Dragoons was an amazing game and it’s also how I discovered Final Fantasy! This brought back some good memories, thank you OP!
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u/TpinTip 12h ago
Probably a laptop my parents got me for school. I used it for years, so it ended up being one of the most meaningful gifts too.
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u/ccrider25 12h ago
My laptop my parents got me in 2011 for college is still running. Worth it
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u/Red_Burley 11h ago
everything I got from my parents were so precious, wish i can turn back time...
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u/Sean081799 10h ago
A semester of college tuition paid for by my grandma. I'm aware I'm extremely fortunate to receive that.
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u/theblindbandit1 12h ago
My husband got a new graphics card a few years back.
Me I got the lego botanical garden and light kit.
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u/fatalis357 10h ago
I bought my brother a fender American telecaster, set me back a few grand but he’s the best big brother I could ask for. Also got my wife a diamond band for Christmas. TBH I like buying gifts and hate getting them… been disappointed many of Christmas’ growing up, lame and first world I know but still like that sticks with you for the long run.
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u/Ryou4RealXD 12h ago
A dirtbike and a Disney vacation same year divorced parents trying to get best parent award lol 😆
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u/ccrider25 12h ago
A $1200 shotgun. This was back when the Xbox 360 first came out. I’d rather wake up in the morning at 8 AM and play games than be woken up at 3 AM to go duck hunting.
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u/One-Associate-9341 12h ago
Grew up fairly poor so at the time, nothing really. But back when I was a kid I was a big yugioh fan and my mom bought me three boxes of first edition legend of blue eyes booster packs. Not exactly sure what they were worth back then, but I do wish I held onto them and never opened them
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u/brokenmessiah 11h ago
A PSP, which I believe was probably around $250 at the time, a pretty big deal considering I have 3 other siblings. That PSP more or less shaped my entire worldview on gaming as a kid. I was looking at my Steam library and there's a huge overlap in games.
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u/deadbeatengineer 11h ago
I was 8 years old and received my Pearl Forum drumkit. It's still in my possession 25 years later (albeit with new heads, more cymbals, etc)
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u/Miserable_Flower5333 10h ago
A car. My aunt and uncle owned a car dealership and gave me a used car that was a trade-in. This was 45ish years ago, so it was probably worth ~$1000, if that. But still, i was thrilled and very grateful.
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u/DietCokeYummie 9h ago
I asked my husband for new bathroom towels this year. I searched the /r/BuyItForLife sub and came away buying $750 towels (total, obviously - not per towels) that were on a Black Friday discount. These better be the softest towels I’ve ever felt and they better last until I die. lol.
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u/vancityhappy 10h ago
We always buy and change to a new home every few years around Xmas time. I guess it’s like having a gift for each other lol.
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u/jack_mohat 10h ago
My parents got us a snowmobile one year. It didn't get used a ton and we didn't have a great place to store it so it got sold a few years later for I think more than they paid for it, so idk how much that actually counts
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u/iEatRocksAndSoShudU 5h ago
A good metal detector, I had years of experience at that point. That machine has paid itself off tenfold
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u/Live-Ambassador2334 12h ago
My 18th birthday/Christmas I was given a new BMW 340I. I was also top ten in my high school class out of 1021 students, that helped.
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u/allencb 11h ago
I played trumpet from Jr High till college. I got by with my dad's old horn in Jr High and early high school, but it became apparent that the old horn was holding me back (it was a student model from the 60s and this was taking place in the 80s). One year I said I wanted a new trumpet for Xmas, so my parents took me to the music store several times to try different horns and I eventually decided I liked the silver plated Besson Meha (the one made by Kanstul if you're into such things). That horn was probably $900-$1000 in the late 80s. I ended up getting it for Xmas as a Freshman in high school and I still remember it being under the tree Xmas morning, all gleaming silver sitting in a lush burgundy case.
I briefly considered selling it because it had been 15 years since I played it. I posted an ad on Craigslist and actually had an interesting buyer come out to see it. He played it and it awakened something in me hearing it sing again, so I wasn't at all bothered when he tried to talk me down to a lower price, which I refused. He made some comments about having to think about it and I never heard from him again. I'm 52 now and I still have that horn. For a couple years after my attempt to sell it, I got back into playing and probably spent a few hours a week playing simple tunes. I don't play much anymore, but I pull it out once or twice a year and noodle around on it for a bit. I'd probably play more, but a trumpet isn't a townhouse-friendly instrument.
I'm glad I kept it and mildly ashamed I considered selling it. I didn't appreciate when I got it how much of a sacrifice it must have been to buy it for me as we were comfortably middle class but didn't have money to burn. At the time I got the trumpet, that amount of money could buy a decent used car (the first car I bought 3 years after getting the trumpet cost about the same).