Gifts you would not buy for yourself (what do you do?)

[Daffodil55]

Do you return asap to the store and get a refund or exchange or do you keep it and not use it. Re gift it or donate to a food or clothes bank.

I have enough chocs to keep me going for a while but 2 of them are those sea shell things which I am not keen on. They will go into the supermarket food donation containers.

I think a lot of shoppers on 26th are frantically trying to return things but I won't be one of them.

I only get a present from my DP and I prefer it that way. It's a relief not to get those terrible bath sets that are more plastic than anything else. The kids get an amazing amount of noisy plastic toys from extended family.

What do you do with toiletry sets? I hate receiving them as there's only a few bits that I'll ever use. I think the charity shop is the way to go but I just wish the blasted toiletry set had never been invented!!!!

Charity shops love toiletry sets, I run a charity shop and am looking forward to seeing the donations that we will receive today .

Or you could give the to the FB, I volunteer at a FB and one of our clients chose a Bayling and Hardiss set this week (the sort we all sneer at on Mumsnet), she was so thrilled with it, I felt truly humbled.

This is why I think gift buying for adults at Christmas is nonsense. I don’t want anything and never know what up get others. People just end up with a load of crap they want or need.

Completely agree with this.

But if not, regifting or donating at least doesn’t waste it. Can understand some ppl saying they’d put it in landfill.

honestly all the things Ive thought id never use over the years I've ended up needing at some point.

from tea towls to tools to clothes that didn't fit at the time they all became handy along the way.

Thank you, ragwort. I hadn't thought that FB would want toiletry sets, but I will drop them into my local collection box.

I never bin anything giftwise which can be used or eaten by someone else. Yesterday I put 4 boxes of chocs and a few other non perishable food items into the donation bin at Tesco. No use offering them to family as they have their own overflow of sugary gifts.

I kept a couple of chocolate gifts to eat myself as they are my favourites.

Unwanted food goes to the food bank, via a supermarket collection point.

I use any toiletries - it saves me money as it means I don't have to buy any.

Other items:

Get exchanged for something else - but if the item is reduced, you only get the sale price.

Regifted - I will only regift if I think the recipient will want the item. I will keep unwanted toys for when the children are invited to school birthday party's etc.

Donate to charity - some items will go to the charity shop or school fair.

I think I would give it to friends who would like it, try to swap it for something else on for example Facebook market place or regift it.

I’m pretty ruthless - edible stuff to foodbank, kids’ toys / clothes and unwanted adult gifts on FB selling pages, Freecycle etc. But that still leaves quite a lot of stuff I can’t get rid of because the recipient will notice its absence.

Vanya Hargreaves. I get it. I am a lone parent and felt quite miffed this year in particular that I spent considerably more on families than was returned to us. I will be cutting back next year but I know how you feel about it seeming like you are a Scrooge. Its funny though because if it was the other way round I would be saying to the single person, please either only spend so much or don't worry about adult only presents. Its a shame this always has to come from the recipient rather than the actual family being thoughtful and realising that they only have one income.

I am very grateful for everything that ny family and friends have put thought, money and time into buying for me. I always love all my gifts and I really like toiletry sets. Why do some people nor like receiving them as a gift??

@Bbq1 I don't like toiletry sets as I don't really use a lot of the products. I also dislike the amount of packaging that comes with them and I think they are really overpriced for the amount of product that one actually receives.

Return, charity shop or other donation, or give to someone else (explaining that I don't want/need it and asking if they can use it). I'd never re-gift, I hate the thought of them trying to return it and being told it's last
year's stock or otherwise finding out.

We are the last one to have children and this year it's been let's just do the children. Which means we pay out lots and actually get nothing in return. And I'm guessing when it's our turn to have children and theirs are older it will be 'shall we just not bother'