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What is the most thoughtful LEGO gift you've ever received?

SprinkleOtterSprinkleOtter Member Posts: 2,708
in Collecting
With 2016 Secret Santa coming up, I thought it might be fun to hear what others' most thoughtful LEGO gifts have been. This might even give us some ideas for this year.
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Comments

  • devilheaddevilhead Member Posts: 279
    LEGO.
    matticus_bricksJern92bobabricks
  • MegtheCatMegtheCat Houston, TXMember Posts: 482
    I would have to say it was the #75100 First Order Snowspeeder set my sister gave me last Christmas. It was totally unexpected since I suggested a smaller Star Wars set, i.e. a battle pack or microfighter, trying to stay in the lower price range. (We have to give suggestions or else risk random gift cards to someplace we're never go).


    SprinkleOtter
  • SprinkleOtterSprinkleOtter Member Posts: 2,708
    devilhead said:
    LEGO.
    How... insightful? touching? personal? ;)
    Bumblepantskiki180703bobabricks
  • Speedman29Speedman29 Brickswell CloseMember Posts: 1,181
    My wife got me a framed blueprint of a LEGO brick for my birthday. It looks really cool on the shelf behind my Technic 911. She also got the big VW Camper when it first came out as a surprise present.
    catwranglerkiki180703
  • BooTheMightyHamsterBooTheMightyHamster Northern edge of London, just before the dragons...Member Posts: 1,280
    Mrs Boo bought me Fallingwater for our anniversary a couple of years ago.  Completely unexpected and a lovely surprise.
    catwranglerbandit778Adzbadboykiki180703
  • LostInTranslationLostInTranslation UKMember Posts: 5,497
    I don't tend to get many Lego presents but my sister bought me a Lego bracelet for Christmas last year,  with a Scrabble tile with my initial. It was a total surprise and I love it. 




    snowhitiecatwranglerbandit778klatu003SprinkleOtterkiki180703khmellymelMynattRenegade007cjh
  • catwranglercatwrangler Northern IrelandMember Posts: 1,730
    I still remember how happy I was when I got 6354 and 6593 for Christmas, picked out by my mum. Also, in my teens, asking for a motor and a big Technic set, and the big set in question being this. It was awesome. 
    bandit778snowhitie
  • BumblepantsBumblepants Sofia BG/Dallas TXMember Posts: 5,549
    My wife got me the Lego Neighborhood Book and some Lego art of the minifigure blueprints framed. She won't buy Lego as she knows I can find the best deals so these gifts were a really nice surprise.
    bandit778SprinkleOtterkiki180703
  • ricecakericecake Maryland, USAMember Posts: 879
    My sister and nephew got me #79101 TMNT Shredder's Dragon Bike for my birthday, which is what brought me out of my Dark Ages. He is really into LEGO, and my sister remembered how much I was into LEGO and Ninja Turtles when I was young, so she let him pick out the gift for me.
    catwranglertallblocktookhmellymelBumblepantsLEGO_Dad77jonmdudley
  • TheOriginalSimonBTheOriginalSimonB Felixstowe Member Posts: 1,242
    Probably last year when MrsB surprised me with a trip to Legoland Windsor.  Which is where I bough the Ecto-mobile and officially came back into the light.
    SprinkleOtterstluxsnowhitiecatwranglertallblocktooBumblepantsGothamConstructionCoricecake
  • HugeYellowBrickHugeYellowBrick At my PCMember Posts: 476
    Loving this thread, but I don't remember any particular present.
  • MattDawsonMattDawson Solihull, UKMember Posts: 1,202
    edited October 2016
    Money - it allows me to buy the set I want!

    Well, in all seriousness, it would probably be getting #7130 from my parents, which started me on the Lego path...
    SprinkleOtter
  • ryjayryjay Member Posts: 976
    Never received a Lego item as a gift...although to be fair, I've never asked for one either.
  • SprinkleOtterSprinkleOtter Member Posts: 2,708
    MeganL said:
    Ten years ago, when the husband-to-be (at that time) and I couldn't be together at Thanksgiving.  He left early in the morning, and when I woke up, there was a trail of minifigs leading me to 8877 Vladek's Dark Fortress, waiting for me to build.  Since he couldn't be there, he wanted me to do something fun that day.  It was my first big set since coming out of my Dark Ages.

    It was around that point where I figured I should probably keep him. 
    Vladek's Dark Fortress... Serial Castle collector, I take it?
  • matticus_bricksmatticus_bricks Member Posts: 648
    MeganL said:
    Ten years ago, when the husband-to-be (at that time) and I couldn't be together at Thanksgiving.  He left early in the morning, and when I woke up, there was a trail of minifigs leading me to 8877 Vladek's Dark Fortress, waiting for me to build.  Since he couldn't be there, he wanted me to do something fun that day.  It was my first big set since coming out of my Dark Ages.

    It was around that point where I figured I should probably keep him. 
    I want a love story like this. 
    SprinkleOtterLEGO_Dad77LostInTranslationPenkid11kiki180703
  • MeganLMeganL California, USAMember Posts: 68
    SumoLego said:
    MeganL said:
    It was around that point where I figured I should probably keep him. 
    Other way around.  

    Suffice to say, my lovely bride did not share my enthusiasm for a bag of 650 2x2 gray tiles.

    (My UCS MF is often referred to as: The Two Mortgage Payments.)
    Actually....my husband's participation in LEGO is simply carrying bags from the store to the car.  He does not share my enthusiasm, but thankfully tolerates it slowly taking up more real estate in our home.  :-)
    SumoLegoLegogramkiki180703LEGO_Dad77snowhitie
  • MeganLMeganL California, USAMember Posts: 68

    SprinkleOtter said:
    . 
    Vladek's Dark Fortress... Serial Castle collector, I take it?
    Absolutely guilty as charged.  If a set even remotely alludes that it might look like a castle, odds are I'll get it.  I think that's one of the reasons of my affinity for the Elves line.
    SumoLegoLegogramcatwranglerSprinkleOtterkiki180703
  • ImABrickManNowImABrickManNow BrickyMcBrickMember Posts: 270
    Not sure if this is really "thoughtful" but it is meaningful, my UCS Lego's Batman Tumbler that I received for my seventeenth birthday.
    Legogramkiki180703
  • LegogramLegogram PA USAMember Posts: 311
    When I first became interested in Lego, my hubby surprised me with #75002 AT-RT for my birthday.  It was a set I would never have bought, but I ended up loving it.  My enabler hubby now gives me gift cards to different Lego stores, just because.  An absolute keeper!
    dspigelstluxcatwranglerkiki180703
  • vizzitorvizzitor IrelandMember Posts: 216
    edited October 2016
    A couple of months before Christmas in 2010, my family was asking what kind of presents I'd like. I prefer choosing presents for other people so I kept saying "gift vouchers" or "anything at all, I don't mind" but one time in between all of that, I said "Lego". I don't know why, just the great memory of opening up wrapped boxes of the stuff at Christmas about fifteen years before just came to me.

    Maybe my mother saw the ten year old me in my face when I said it or maybe it was just the only solid thing I had asked for but on Christmas morning I was opening #5867 and #5891. One of my sisters and my father thought it was funny, an adult getting Lego, but as everyone here can probably relate to, I couldn't stop smiling then and over the next few hours, reliving my childhood, making a couple of great sets.

    So my best Lego gift was a couple of really great Creator sets and an end to my dark ages.

    Maybe if I had known then how much I was going to spend, even just on one day because of double points and a free bus, I would have given the sets to my cousins or something... Nah. I regret nothing!


    stluxcatwranglerkhmellymelLegogramtallblocktookiki180703LEGO_Dad77snowhitiesklamb
  • stluxstlux LuxembourgMember Posts: 2,118
    MeganL said:
    SumoLego said:
    MeganL said:
    It was around that point where I figured I should probably keep him. 
    Other way around.  

    Suffice to say, my lovely bride did not share my enthusiasm for a bag of 650 2x2 gray tiles.

    (My UCS MF is often referred to as: The Two Mortgage Payments.)
    Actually....my husband's participation in LEGO is simply carrying bags from the store to the car.  He does not share my enthusiasm, but thankfully tolerates it slowly taking up more real estate in our home.  :-)
    What do you mean, "slowly taking up more real estate"? Are you suggesting there is a different option than "rapidly"?
    BumblepantsSprinkleOtterLegogramMattDawsonvizzitorricecakeYodaliciouskiki180703snowhitie
  • MattDawsonMattDawson Solihull, UKMember Posts: 1,202
    stlux said:
    MeganL said:
    Actually....my husband's participation in LEGO is simply carrying bags from the store to the car.  He does not share my enthusiasm, but thankfully tolerates it slowly taking up more real estate in our home.  :-)
    What do you mean, "slowly taking up more real estate"? Are you suggesting there is a different option than "rapidly"?
    Mine only takes up a small portion of the dining room table as orders arrive and the rest is in my bedroom and the shed. 

    That said, having got rid of a bed, chair and other items out of my bedroom over the past year may have helped the matter...
    stluxkiki180703snowhitie
  • LordmoralLordmoral Puerto RicoMember Posts: 229
    The Revenge of the Sith Clone Turbo Tank set with Mace Windu and his light up lightsaber, spent like a week arming it and it's so awesome.
    LEGO_Dad77
  • MaffyDMaffyD West YorkshireMember Posts: 2,428

    Generally speaking, the most thoughtful present I want is vouchers. None of this "I saw this and thought of you!" shenanigans that means I get something that makes me smile for 5 minutes and then I have to find somewhere to put it until it reaches the end of it's natural life. Of course, I'm not such a curmudgeon that I don't LIKE these presents - a gift is something that reflects the giver, as well as the gifted (giftee?) and for that I am thankful for all presents/thoughts sent my way. Some of them are even things I really want (Amazon wish list FTW)!

    But the most thoughtful present, which I think I shared on this board earlier this year has to be the #6869 : Quinjet Aerial Battle set my wife bought for me on Father's Day. I'd wanted it for quite some time (although not when it was on shelves, unfortunately) but now it was EOL, I thought that there were too many current sets I wanted to justify paying the extra whatever % to get it from a reseller. But it was still on my wanted list, nevertheless.

    So, Cathy found out I wanted it from looking at Brickset (she knows I use this site, but she doesn't normally visit to see what I'm doing!) and then she sourced it from a marketplace seller on Amazon - as that was the closest she could get to a 'normal' shop for reputability.

    And it was a complete surprise when I opened it, and it blew me away. I mean I loved it when she bought the original UCS X-Wing that got me out of my DA, but that was a spur of the moment thing, and exactly the kind of purchase she makes for me (which I also love). This one involved research and planning and lots of other things that took her out of her shopping 'comfort zone' and it made my day.

    It will always be the set I think of first when anyone asks me about my favourite Lego set.

    stluxcatwranglertallblocktooSprinkleOttergmonkey76Bumblepantskiki180703LEGO_Dad77snowhitie
  • piratemania7piratemania7 New EnglandMember Posts: 2,023
    Jern92 said:
    Not sure if this qualifies as thoughtful, but I got 10253 Big Ben from the guy I was dating, who then decided he just wants to be friends a week later. That was confusing. 
    You lucked out!
  • OldfanOldfan Chicagoland, IL, USAMember Posts: 612
    I don't receive too many Lego gifts, I usually buy what I want long before my SO can interrogate me...and besides, I don't want to advertise the cost of a Lego set any more than I have to!

    But my brother-in-law gave me a small Star Wars expand-your-army set for my birthday a few years ago, and on the box he used a Sharpie to change the suggested age range to "6-40".  That was good for a laugh!

    (And for all you OCD collectors out there:  I already had a copy of that set, so marking up the box was not a heartbreak...)
    Renegade007cjhkhmellymelkiki180703msandersLEGO_Dad77snowhitiesklamb
  • Renegade007cjhRenegade007cjh Essex, UKMember Posts: 683
    The first LEGO set that I remember receiving as a present was a small Fire Truck (must have been around 1981 / 82... yes I'm that old!) from my Nan.  I already had a few small sets, but I remember desperately wanting that one as it actually contained a minifigure (a real novelty in those days) and I couldn't afford it with my pocket money, so she bought it for me!  She died a few years later (unrelated, I hope!) and I sometimes wonder how she would view my current, obsessively-ever-growing collection!!

    More recently, it was the Gingerbread House #40139 - I'd been trying to get my hands on one for ages as I missed the promo and had posted a few threads on the forum to buy / trade for one, but to no avail.  And then... my ever-so-thoughtful BS Secret Santa had obviously spotted my cries for help in the LEGO wasteland and answered my pleas!!!!  So thank you again!!
    catwranglerricecaketallblocktooBumblepantskiki180703snowhitie
  • Renegade007cjhRenegade007cjh Essex, UKMember Posts: 683
    Oldfan said:
    ...and on the box he used a Sharpie to change the suggested age range to "6-40".  That was good for a laugh!
    What?  Such sacriliege!
    Oldfan said:
    (And for all you OCD collectors out there:  I already had a copy of that set, so marking up the box was not a heartbreak...)
    Phew!!  Panic over... funny story!
  • wunztwicewunztwice Oregon, USAMember Posts: 25
    I have had many thoughtful LEGO-givers in the past, but there are three which really stand out to me.  
    - First was back in 1989, I received a 6257 Castaway's raft from my great grandmother and that really sparked the LEGO craze in me.  It was my first 'themed' set and I went on to be a rabid Pirates collector for many years after!
    - Second was a HUGE surprise, my dad found a 6973 Deep Freeze Defender on deep discount and totally surprised me with it.  I was still really into Pirates and Castle at that time, and had wanted some large castle set, so as you might expect I showed my disappointment with a small tantrum.  I soon calmed down, told him thanks and proceeded to build it.  It was an AMAZING set, with all the modularity and crazy colors.  I grew to really love that set and remember it as one of my biggest & best LEGO surprises.
    -Third was much more recent, my wife surprised me with a 10210 Imperial Flagship, half for our anniversary & half for my birthday a few months later.  We were not flush with cash by any stretch, so a HUGE LEGO gift was totally out of my expectations.  She had scrimped and saved for it doing odd jobs.  What a wonderful wife!!!
    ricecakecatwranglerkhmellymelBumblepantsRenegade007cjhecmo47kiki180703LEGO_Dad77snowhitie
  • OrmskirkBricksOrmskirkBricks England, UKMember Posts: 265
    I received the small Big Ben last year from my secret santa! The limit was £10GBP, so someone obviously knew I was a Lego fan and spent a bit extra. Was a nice surprise!
    catwranglerkiki180703
  • piratemania7piratemania7 New EnglandMember Posts: 2,023
    ^ I meant to mention something about Secret Santa.  I think doing that the past couple of years here on the forums has been a uniquely pleasant experience.  A pure sort of LEGO joy if you will - both times it was equally as fun and exciting to open the package!
  • MeganLMeganL California, USAMember Posts: 68
    stlux said:
    MeganL said:
    Actually....my husband's participation in LEGO is simply carrying bags from the store to the car.  He does not share my enthusiasm, but thankfully tolerates it slowly taking up more real estate in our home.  :-)
    What do you mean, "slowly taking up more real estate"? Are you suggesting there is a different option than "rapidly"?
    Ha!  Now that I think about it, my husband may have a different opinion as to the speed of LEGO takeover of space in our home.  First it was just a shelf or two, then the linen (now LEGO) closet, then an extra storage closet, and now I've commandeered half of a room for set storage/display/photo studio.

    Of course, every once in a while he mutters something about "too much LEGO", but I'm not sure what he means by that.
    bandit778stluxLegogramRenegade007cjhMattDawsonkiki180703LEGO_Dad77
  • Pitfall69Pitfall69 0 miles to Legoboy's houseMember Posts: 11,300
    SumoLego said:
    The ripped box MF that @Pitfall69 is going to give me for this year's Secret Santa.
    I should have never told you...
     
    SumoLegoSprinkleOttergmonkey76TheMaker37kiki180703
  • SumoLegoSumoLego New YorkMember Posts: 11,495
    Pitfall69 said:
    I should have never told you...
    It's a secret... Santa.
    Pitfall69SprinkleOttergmonkey76TheMaker37kiki180703
  • ethanjwallethanjwall United StatesMember Posts: 118
    The most thoughtful gift I have ever received would probably be inheriting my siblings' sets when they moved out. At one time? Probably when my dad took a business trip and came back with a box of CMFs and Bag End :D
  • bandit778bandit778 Docking Bay 94. Member Posts: 1,893
    Probably the most thoughtful Lego gift I received was #70802 from my wife for Christmas 2014.
    Only had a few older Star Wars sets before that but she knew I liked building things so brought me that set and it was a complete surprise.
    It's also probably one of the few presents I have received that I didn't have the patience to wait to open and play with build.
    I try not to remind her about it though as it brought me hurtling out of my very dark grey age to where I am now and she has probably regretted it ever since. :)

    Legogramkiki180703stluxricecakecatwranglersnowhitie
  • jedijason1138jedijason1138 Member Posts: 141
    My mom and dad took me to the toy store after I was in the hospital for knee surgery when I was 8 years old. I couldn't get out of the car, so they asked me what I wanted. I asked for Lego and they bought me http://brickset.com/sets/497-1.
    SprinkleOtterYodaliciouskiki180703stluxTheOriginalSimonBcatwranglersnowhitieAllBrick
  • paul_mertonpaul_merton UKMember Posts: 2,943
    I think I prefer giving gifts, as I enjoy sourcing bargains for myself and others, and I feel bad if someone gives me any Lego present if I know they might have paid full price for it!

    This year someone (but not my secret santa cos that's all hush hush!) is going to be getting a set that was made in the same year as them (1976) and an advent calendar I made myself and filled with polybags :)
    SprinkleOtterkhmellymelkiki180703stluxtallblocktoocatwranglersnowhitieAllBrick
  • paul_mertonpaul_merton UKMember Posts: 2,943
    I think I prefer giving gifts, as I enjoy sourcing bargains for myself and others, and I feel bad if someone gives me any Lego present if I know they might have paid full price for it!

    This year someone (but not my secret santa cos that's all hush hush!) is going to be getting a set that was made in the same year as them (1976) and an advent calendar I made myself and filled with polybags :)
  • SprinkleOtterSprinkleOtter Member Posts: 2,708
    Wow. Seeing all the amazing gifts given/gotten here, mine feels a little lame.

    Back in 2007, I think, when I was really into Exo-Force, my brother (knowing that my parents had stashed away all the sets from the theme already (they got a great deal on them)), built me a Mini-Lander of Takeshi. I forget how he got the detail on the hair just right- I'll have to try to find a picture.
    khmellymelYodaliciouskiki180703ricecakecatwrangler
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