The mother of redditor justgrant2009 chose a brilliantly original wedding present. As he grew up, she collected everything that he left in his pockets. At his wedding rehearsal dinner, she presented them to him sealed inside a lamp:
Growing up, whenever I left something in my pockets and put them in the dirty laundry, before she would wash things, she checked my pockets, and if she found anything, she put it in a glass jar on the top shelf in the laundry room. I remember as a kid, wishing soooo hard that I could get some of the items back, but it was forbidden to even go near the jar. By the time I was old enough to be sneaky about it and get into it, I had just learned to accept that that was how it worked and I wouldn't get those things back.
Years went by and I had completely forgotten about it, until this last May. I got married, and at our rehearsal dinner, when my mom and dad stood up to give their thank you speech, my mom pulled a large gift bag out from under the table. She started by giving a short speech explaining that over the years she had collected stuff from my pockets, and it was in that moment that I thought, "I'm gonna get the jar!" I started tearing up before she had finished talking. When she did, I opened the bag and found that not only was I getting the jar, I was getting it back in the form of a lamp (and yes, she has sealed the top of the lamp to it so that I still CANNOT open it).
I was more concerned with how and why she kept all that junk instead of giving it back to her son at the time.
If your marriage can't stand an ugly lamp, then you may have other issues.
Also, if someone is that sensitive I see many more problems than a lamp of this nature in their future.
My own mom overstepped bounds when my brother got married (e.g., planting flowers in their front yard as a surprise, buying things for their house) and it caused a lot of problems then and down the line. I always try to keep that in mind when approaching my own venture as a mother-in-law. Now, to be perfectly fair, the mother (in law) may have known her son's bride so well that she was CERTAIN it would be accepted happily. I just don't think it's a good idea for others to copy without thinking.