Things you have bought that were immediately shite (Christmas/New Year Edition)

[PandaChopChop]

Bought beautiful new bedsheets. Reduced in the sale, gorgeous colours with toadstools on them, felt ok in the shop.
Got them home, washed them and they have gone shiny 🤬 like the kind of static shiny so that your duvet ends up in a weird shape and you're rolled up like a stuck sweating pig.

Am absolutely gutted (and furious 😠) and hoping a trip to Homesense will cure me of my wierd shiny-bedsheet-hate.

I bought from Sainsbury's two packs of two prawn and scallop starters and they were in plastic pseudo-terracotta bowls, these went into the over but I read the instructions very carefully as I was a bit worried. They were very good by the way!

Sorry if I'm saying the effing obvious, but do the lamps have an On/Off switch ?

(I was near to complaining to hotel reception that the provided hairdryer didn't work, then noticed a button that had to be pressed in constantly to work)

Totally agree with @lostmysocks re Smash cups. I loved mine until one of my kids killed it (don't ask).

I have mobility issues, and like to carry my own cup upstairs from the canteen at work. This has to go in my coat pocket, so I need no leaks. It seems really hard to get a decent cup that doesn't leak if it falls over & I've bought lots over the years that leak despite anti-leak labelling.

I got a new (free) one with my coffee advent calendar from Kaffekapslen. As good as my Smash.

DD (8) asked for an air up bottle for the last 4 birthday and christmases, I gave in this year and purchased one around £40. She hates the taste!

Alcohol free sparkling wine on NYE - had some really good ones over Christmas & was looking forward to this one but it tasted really nasty!

Granted I haven’t actually used it yet but I bought a paint by numbers kit with incomprehensible instructions. The instructions themselves are labelled as a “crash diagram explain”, probably foreshadowing of my painting skills!

Lots of ready meals come in plastic trays which can be microwaved or oven cooked.

Even easier to use pieces of iron on Velcro where the poppers were.
When I did mine I stitched Velcro the whole width of the duvet. What an idiot!

Got a wireless phone charger with a mug warmer on it, Good idea for Teams meetings, but you can't use both things at once.

A few posters have mentioned Crimpit gadgets. I received the larger sized wrap one (there is a smaller size for little wraps). It works well and is the right size for standard Lidl and Tesco wraps. You need to dampen the edges of the wrap with water before crimping them (first one I tried without doing this didn't seal properly).

Had bought a set of dip bowls in Lidl. When I opened it on Christmas day, I then discovered someone had nicked one of the bowls, took it back and got a refund (a bit disappointing as it looked like a good item).The Lidl pork belly bites were moist and tasty!

When dd was small she was desperate for a lava lamp but they weren't in fashion and really hard to get locally (no internet for us then). Eventually I found one in I think Argos. But it's about 1m high.
This takes about 4 hours to work properly.

It is lovely (and still works 20 years later) but wasn't quite the fun present she thought it was.

I thought the original/standard Terry's Choc Orange was the milk one... the others are all special editions.

They have been opened, which is how we know they're not nice, so understandably nowhere will take them.

Most food banks don't take opened, half-eaten food. I agree on minimising waste, take them to work or something, but not a food bank.

Yeah the name is confusing! It’s this and it’s vile:

www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/terrys-chocolate-milk-ball-145g

There were a couple of posters on MN last Christmas who worked for (different) food banks and they confirmed they will accept opened tubs of chocolates. Obviously as long as they are individually wrapped. One person said they were bagged up and put out on a table as extras for people if they wanted them alongside of whatever package / bags of food they were getting. Another said they put them in a bowl for their users to have / help themselves whilst they were waiting to be seen to.

Lots of newer cars have the "cigarette lighter" installed but no connection, unless you buy the "smokers' pack".

I bought all my party food from M&S and will never do it again. Veggie Wellington had a soggy bottom and was an absolute mess to serve. Charcuterie platter was vacuum packed - took half an hour to separate and plate up. Honey roast carrots and potato Dauphinoise very average. Cheese platter was good but no crackers. Kids did like Sleighride Colin though. I’m going to Lidl next year.

I was just about to buy a mushroom duvet cover - is it the Furn Amanita that you bought?

@Imnotarestaurant @TheFormidableMrsC

We had the Aldi pork belly bites! They turned out looking nothing like the picture because they are frozen in a big lump and the cubes then turn to mush when you break them up as they cook - next time I would thaw them first and gently separate them. They were not crispy or appetising after the time stated so I left them in the oven until they were, and they were delicious!

Oh no, I picked up one of these in the sale & was really looking forward to it. Did you get a helios? Mine is coming today 😕

NoBiscuitsLeftInMyTin

I laughed at your not funny comment because it could have been anything which I found funny! (At work and tired!)

Did you try putting a new set of batteries in it? DS has a remote control car and it drains the batteries even if it's not being used. We take them out every-time he's finished playing with it now or it ends up needing a new set everyday.

@RainbowZebraWarrior this is so helpful thanks. I will try again.

Interesting all the m and s food issues- their catalogue was so well done, ended up not shopping there but really wanted so much!!!

Aldis pork belly in airfryer worked well? Also their yule log was lovely (sounds like less sweet than the Waitrose one).

Ours was a flip phone (£50) with the sim card holder that slots in backwards (hole poker side on the opposite side to the way the sim needs to go in to read the chip) so can't be used other than for games/radio

Sxhlseller Mini 2G Flip Cell Phone, 2 SIM Card Cell Phone for Seniors