MILs annual bag of tat has arrived!

[DonaldDucksTowel]

MIL doesn’t have anything to do with our DC, sees the older ones maybe twice a year, she’s never met the youngest
Yet every Christmas (and to a smaller extent Easter too which is a bit random) we receive the biggest gift bags she can get her hands on full of the shittest most unsuitable tat for each child imaginable
All from a market stall (or shoplifters) wrong sizes, wrong ages, personalised things with the wrong names on, roughly 20-25 books each every year, bath bombs for the child with severe eczema, peppa pig toys for a 9 year old...all stinking to high heaven of smoke and air freshener

We’ve told her before not to bother (DP told her directly and through the family members she sends the bags through) and when she ignored this DP has tried to steer her in the direction of more suitable things and tells her every year it’s too much stuff and asks her to get less - and I swear each year the bags are getting bigger
This year my 3 year old could stand up in the bag and we could shut it and not see him, and we had 4 of them, bulging with stuff! (I don’t know where she gets these enormous gift bags I’ve never seen any as big!)

It all goes to the charity shop or in the bin
It’s just such a colossal waste of her time and money
It drives me potty 😤
Rant over

THIS is hilarious. For us obv, not for you I'm sure. But yes, I just leaked a little pee at your child fitting in the bag!

Who's choice is it for her not to have anything to do with the DC. Obviously not NC as your DH has phoned to let her know what she should be buying?

Oh good. We haven't had a MIL bashing thread for 15 seconds today.
Accusing her of buying stolen goods is a new bar to stoop to though.

That would actually really piss me off - but I hate clutter with a passion! And the extra work she’s causing you by having to get rid of it all as well!
Does she do it to other family members or just your kids? I suppose she might have mental health problems? But really she should have listened to your dh.

Book it’s not an accusation it’s true, I tried to return something she’d bought from Next once and it flagged up as stolen - never dared try to return anything else, just charity shop the rest
Plus I think DP knows her a bit better than you so therefore knows she buys things from the shoplifters in the pub

Jelly hers, not NC no, she’s just never really bothered with them, DP tried to arrange visits and she’s usually busy (hence why she sees the older ones a couple of times a year, when he can pin her down to a time/day) she’s just more like a distant relative not a grandmother/mother
Which is why I don’t understand these huge gift bags for children you barely know, they really wouldn’t miss them if she bought them nothing

But it does sound like the oddest collection of tat to ‘gift’ anyone personalised items with the wrong names? Wrong sizes? Wrong ages?

That does sound like such a weird collection of tat!

missy it used to really piss me off but I’ve kind of accepted it now, especially now the kids know it’s all shit and don’t insist on keeping anything
She buys random things for other family members too but not to the extent she does the DC, it’s very strange
I do suspect mental health problems but I get shot down if I dare say it so I just keep my mouth shut and dutifully shlep it all to the charity shop each time 🙄

frazzled it is such strange stuff, it’s like the generation game pulling things out of the bag and wondering what on earth could be next
Then I feel bad that we actually find it funny
She clearly spend quite a lot of time and energy collecting all these things, I just wish she’d put half the energy into buying one thing that they could actually use

Please list this year’s offerings. At least we’ll have a laugh!

Oh yes,please list them. Or a photo would be even better!

I actually love the idea of your family all clustered by the front window waiting for the postman to arrive, screaming "Yayyyyy, MIL's Annual Bag of Tat has arrived!!!" Made me snurk anyway.

Yes, please give us some examples of what's in this year's bag!

Electric kettle, cuddly toy....!

Oh my god I think we might be related - my MIL is like this too although ours have the aroma of smoke and dog! We have a visit there tomorrow so I'm dreading the enormous sacks of shit! My daughter (10) sadly said as Easter "she doesn't know is very well does she" when presented with a frozen colouring book!

This is one of the most unpleasant threads I come across, even by post Christmas, entitled, gift-obsessed mumsnet standards. Not just the OP but the gleeful, goady responses, looking for something to mock.
Just that.

We had my MIL and her sister round for lunch yesterday... the children were pleased with their gifts (DH told them I had bought them and given them to Granny to wrap up) - correct, but at least they got suitable gifts. My son was given money by Great Aunt, but my daughter was given a rather odd, extremely heavy metal brush and comb set, clearly 2nd hand and actually had an old gift tag inside the box, "To Keisha, Love from Auntie Dot" - probably came from a charity shop...and going straight back! DH and I were given a bashed box of biscuits and an old Punch annual from the 70s, with a filthy cover and brown pages!.. Why do old folks think you want all their junk?...take it to the charity shop or bin it please!

YES!!! My MiL does this too, twice a year. Ours will arrive tomorrow, I can’t wait to show my friends the utter shite we receive. It’s just become funny now.

This would drive me crazy! I hate plastic and tat. Sounds like there's nothing you can do apart from, say thanks then charity shop it all. How embarrassing though about returning the 'stolen' next item! 😲

“This is one of the most unpleasant threads I come across”

Really? Because there are some incredibly sad threads on here about all sort of abuse and horrific scenarios we secretly wish are made up, but most likely aren’t. If this is the most unpleasant thing you’ve read on here, you’re choosing to do so.

How did the item that you returned to Next get flagged up as having been stolen???

I didn’t realise things flag up as stolen? How does that work? How can they tell the difference between something stolen and something bought?

What item did next flag up as stolen? the bar codes for each individual item isn’t unique.
It is a shame they don’t get anything nice/useful but she must get some sort of pleasure in picking the (odd) items.

Mind you there was a post the other day about Next returns and the poster seemed to be saying that the store would know by the barcode on the clothing where it was bought and how it was paid for. Maybe Next have superduper powers of deduction !

Mine is the same albeit purchased rather than lifted. Clothes too small for DS, horrendous things I would never wear and then ridiculously extravagant items that she can barely afford. All stinking of smoke. And the worst thing? She spent £33 sending them by post this year. We love MIL, don’t see her that often as we live 4hrs apart and she doesn’t travel well, but I wish she would save her money!

Oh good. We haven't had a MIL bashing thread for 15 seconds today.

This^^^*

When I return things to Next they just scan the barcode on the item and it brings up my name and account details to put the money back onto. So presumably if something is stolen it could be flagged via the same system.