What was the most thoughtful gift you have gotten?

[Melvang]

Like the title says, but relating to what you actually wanted more than just lovey dovey mushy stuff.

Most years, my wife and I know what the other is getting each other for our anniversary.  This year, my wife was actually keeping it under wraps pretty good.  But in the end due to having to had over a significant sum of money for lawyer fees (for handling her dads estate) she couldn't get me fully what I wanted, instead she is giving me a good portion of cash to put toward that fund.  Plus, in the last week my choice on model has changed with Sherline announcing they are coming out with a larger mill that comes with a 7"x13"x3/4" tooling plate.

Base price for this model is $2045.  But I *should* be able to mill a TKL case with just one setup for the top and one setup for the bottom.

Last year, I got her a mothers ring.  It is 18 karat white gold, with 3 birth stones.  The guy at the jewelry store (local jeweler) asked if I wanted simulated stones.  I told him no, if I wanted simulated stones I would have gone to the jeweler at the mall.

The year before, I got her a Canon 7d for her wedding photography.

[noisyturtle]

For my 30th birthday I was alone, broke, jobless and depressed. My mom sent me a care package for my birthday and one of the things was a book called The Rose In My Garden, by Arnold and Anita Lobel. As a very young child I loved this book to death, and when I was around 4 or 5 I had my parents read it over and over to me. Sadly the book was severely damaged from years of handling, but my wonderful mother went and had the actual copy from my childhood she used to read me at night professionally restored and sent it to me. **** still gets me right in the feels.

[njbair]

Great idea for a thread! And thanks for restricting it to material things on your want list so that this doesn't become Chicken Soup for the Soul. Also, local jewelers FTW!

The most thoughtful gift I have received was probably back in the Windows XP days when I was planning my first self-built desktop computer. My parents and sisters split up the parts list to get me everything I needed. Obviously my folks shouldered the biggest cost burdens, but my older sister got me RAM and my younger sister got me a PSU.

Recently my folks did something similar when I started outfitting my house with Z-Wave stuff. My sisters pooled together and got me a compatible thermostat and my folks bought a bunch of switches and outlets.

It's great having a nerd family.

[inanis]

For my 30th birthday I was alone, broke, jobless and depressed. My mom sent me a care package for my birthday and one of the things was a book called The Rose In My Garden, by Arnold and Anita Lobel. As a very young child I loved this book to death, and when I was around 4 or 5 I had my parents read it over and over to me. Sadly the book was severely damaged from years of handling, but my wonderful mother went and had the actual copy from my childhood she used to read me at night professionally restored and sent it to me. **** still gets me right in the feels.

This is a great gift! You've got a good mom, for sure.

 
The best gift I ever got was probably 7 or 8 years ago. We had a problem with our boiler in our house, and it caused heating it properly to be literally impossible. The heat could only run for about an hour at a time without needing attention, or it would shut off and/or overheat. Every night or anytime we left the house we had to shut the heat off. Our house had ZERO insulation, so if it was 17 degrees outside, that is what we would wake up/come home to in the house. It was brutal, but we were young and couldn't afford to have it replaced, or have the house insulated.

For Christmas my husband snuck home from the party we were at several times to turn up and monitor the heat before we left for home. When I walked in the house at the end of our 2 day trip to our families house, my house was warm. I actually cried I was so happy. I remember being able to smell the heat when we walked it. I couldn't believe it. And lest you think that didn't cost any actual money, getting the heat up to 67 degrees in that short amount of time probably cost him $100 in oil. 

That was a really long winter. We got it fixed in the spring, thank goodness.

The best gift I ever gave (I think anyway), was the wedding gift I got for my husband. I spent months researching watches and picked out an Ebel for him. He totally didn't expect it. I slipped it inside his suit pocket so when he put it on he found it. I don't think I'll ever be able to top that. Not because of cost, but I'll probably never surprise him like that again.

[Melvang]

For my 30th birthday I was alone, broke, jobless and depressed. My mom sent me a care package for my birthday and one of the things was a book called The Rose In My Garden, by Arnold and Anita Lobel. As a very young child I loved this book to death, and when I was around 4 or 5 I had my parents read it over and over to me. Sadly the book was severely damaged from years of handling, but my wonderful mother went and had the actual copy from my childhood she used to read me at night professionally restored and sent it to me. **** still gets me right in the feels.

This is a great gift! You've got a good mom, for sure.

 
The best gift I ever got was probably 7 or 8 years ago. We had a problem with our boiler in our house, and it caused heating it properly to be literally impossible. The heat could only run for about an hour at a time without needing attention, or it would shut off and/or overheat. Every night or anytime we left the house we had to shut the heat off. Our house had ZERO insulation, so if it was 17 degrees outside, that is what we would wake up/come home to in the house. It was brutal, but we were young and couldn't afford to have it replaced, or have the house insulated.

For Christmas my husband snuck home from the party we were at several times to turn up and monitor the heat before we left for home. When I walked in the house at the end of our 2 day trip to our families house, my house was warm. I actually cried I was so happy. I remember being able to smell the heat when we walked it. I couldn't believe it. And lest you think that didn't cost any actual money, getting the heat up to 67 degrees in that short amount of time probably cost him $100 in oil. 

That was a really long winter. We got it fixed in the spring, thank goodness.

The best gift I ever gave (I think anyway), was the wedding gift I got for my husband. I spent months researching watches and picked out an Ebel for him. He totally didn't expect it. I slipped it inside his suit pocket so when he put it on he found it. I don't think I'll ever be able to top that. Not because of cost, but I'll probably never surprise him like that again.

Those are the best kind of gifts, where you find it in an unexpected spot.  I have done this many times with my wife, including her wedding ring.

[SamirD]

To me, the best gift is what I need most right when I need it by someone that cares enough about me to give it to me right then.

That's a really tall order, so it's only happened a handful of times in my life, but I've cherished each time.

[saturnotaku]

A rather substantial sum of money from my parents to be used as the down payment on the new house my wife and I are buying.

[Dernubenfrieken]

I remember one christmas when all I wanted was lego mindstorms, I had played with my friends R2D2 one, and had seen the nicer reprogramable version in the catalog, and desperately wanted to be able to build robots and machines. Christmas morning, I opened my gifts and.... no mindstorms, no legos at all. Very bummed. Then my mom told me to go into the back bathroom...

A box bigger than me, with the base mindstorm set, and every accessory pack. Absolutely the best gift I have ever gotten. Totally helped push my interest in engineering, helped win me multiple science olympiad metals, and definitely helped make me who I am today.

[jerue]

I think the best gifts are the ones that are completely random. Out of the blue my dad got me this game for my Gameboy Advance called Killer 3D Pool. I think he bought it at a Walgreens or something, I can't remember, but I thought him buying that for me was both sweet and funny. It serves as a memento of my father's love. Should a day come that I lose that cartridge...it will be a very sad day

[SamirD]

To me, the best gift is what I need most right when I need it by someone that cares enough about me to give it to me right then.

That's a really tall order, so it's only happened a handful of times in my life, but I've cherished each time.

So I remembered an example of this.  I was looking into a cheap tablet (before there were cheap tablets) so I could work on my website from anywhere that had wifi.  It had to support flash so the ithings were out.  The cheapest my brother suggested to me was an HP Touchpad, but they were so limitedly released that everyone gobbled up the supply.

My brother was going through a tough time at this point in life and we talked almost every day.  The next time I saw him, he handed me this box and said, 'thanks for being there for me.'--It was a brand new in the box HP Touchpad!  I'll never forget that moment.  That touchpad and I went everywhere until it started doing the battery ? mark thing.

[PunksDead]

Only knew *******s in RL whom only cared about themselves

So....

A little over a year ago I got to chatting with a GH member. A real cool dude whom I extremely miss conversating with now a days since he seems to be MIA. Anyways I was chatting him up about a KBPv60 I had purchased and was stoked to recase (my first time with mx greens). After taking it apart I wrecked the usb hub and killed the board trying to resolder. He offered to fix the board free of charge. A few days later I received a message that he fixed it and it was being sent to me from the UK. How did my board get to the UK??? He reached out to new father BunnyLake whom was selling the same exact board and had it shipped to me... Amazing

That lead to me having faith that not everyone is a douche and GH is a magical place...

Not to mention that same guy and I were discussing buckling springs and how I was saving my pay checks to buy one. The next day he sends me photos of a SSK being custom painted/leds for me..

Nicest dude I ever met
And I hope he is well

[tp4tissue]

I got an Xbox in 2001. ...  It was exactly what I wanted.   I didn't need anything else except m0re halo.😙

[Pdub]

I mentioned to my brother I wanted a leather duffle bag.  I mean I REALLY wanted one. When I was promoted at work he sent me one. It was fantastic of him to do that. It made me feel so nice he knows me so well. 

[Pdub]

My brother also did my a set of three langoile chef knives. It cost him 300$ and they are the nicest thing ever.