to boycott the utterly crap christmas 'gift sets' which are on every shelf of every shop

[GetOrfMoiLand]

Is there a person alive who would want to recieve the following:

A gift box of bubble bath and bath salts

A comedy inflatable sofa with a bottle of budweiser in

A Jack Daniels coaster. ONE. With JD miniature.

Christmas socks

A lone champagne glass with a mini bottle of cava with 3 champagne truffles.

Fuck it. What a waste of time, effort and money.

I am very pleased actually as my family and friends have all agreed not to bother with presents for adults this year, so people will not feel the need to spend a fiver/tenner they can ill afford on crud like this.

[JaxTellersOldLady]

well you bunch of misery guts' I quite like the sets of 'nice' things, not sure which you are referring to GOML but I have received a lovely box or Origins Ginger body lotion, body wash and perfume, with a wash cloth. It wasnt cheap tat and I for one use body lotion every day. Who doesnt?


The blow up chair and miniature things are fun items to be given as a laugh, not as a main pressie or as a stocking filler if you are stuck for ideas.


BAH HUMBUG

That said, I would rather get nothing than a pressie that wasnt thought about at all.

[SoMuchToBits]

YANBU - they are piles of shite! I do buy presents for quite a few people, but I try to buy them actual real things they might really want. So many of these gift sets are immediately recycled to charity shops/school fairs etc.

Just looking at the huge piles of this stuff on the shelves makes me feel ill. It's just like buying stuff for the sake of it somehow. And I actually love Christmas, but not all the crappy gift sets that go with it!

[mamatomany]

Buying for teachers is so hard, you don't want to get to know them too personally but equally want to show your appreciation. Am starting to feel like we should be putting cash in an envelope :(

[storminabuttercup]

Totally agree about minatures!! Who wants a SMALL bottle of wine????

And you could get a normal size bottle for the same price just with out the poxy glass! I have glasses!!!

[GetOrfMoiLand]

Bah humbug indeed

Now Origins stuff I would be happy to recieve. That is a nice present.

But doxy gift sets for a fiver - it is just a waste of money I think.

And I think 'novelty' presents of any type are just crap.

[SuePurblybiltByElves]

They are shit. Similar to the shit that is wheeled out at Father/Mother' day. Usually there's only about 25ml of every product anyway so what you've given someone is one very posh bath.

I'd rather pay for a bottle of wine or nice chocs.

[MissMashMissMash]

I like socks and smellies, wouldn't say no to champagne. However my favourite part of Christmas is the Jesus aspect so I don't see the point in spending silly amounts of money on gifts.

[GetOrfMoiLand]

"Just looking at the huge piles of this stuff on the shelves makes me feel ill. It's just like buying stuff for the sake of it somehow. And I actually love Christmas, but not all the crappy gift sets that go with it!"

That is exactly how I feel.

I am an extravagant so and so at the best of times, but to rampantly spend money on such needless SHITE seems pretty wrong in these times, I think.

Fuck it, I am going to crochet everyone book marks (children included)

[FancyALittle]

storminabuttercup You don't even really need a glass

[SoMuchToBits]

Yes, storm, I'd rather have a decent sized bottle of wine and no crappy glass.

[AntonDuBurk]

My DH always refers to the male equivalent of these gift sets as "Lynx and a can of Stella"

[emptyshell]

Aaaah teaching - never ever need to buy bubble bath again... bubble bath got used, shower gel got used, even body lotion occasionally got used - what didn't were the thirty of those shower pompom things that aren't as useful as sponges but seem to have replaced them.

Thinking about it - I could have hung them all on my Christmas tree and saved on baubles.

[SoMuchToBits]

Lol at crocheted bookmarks!
I love choosing gifts for people, but I agree with GetOrf it seems so wasteful to buy stuff like this which hardly anyone actually wants.

[gorionine]

Euphemia can I ask you a question? What would you rather get from pupils? Would you rather have no present than one from GOML lists?(sorry for hijack)

[Itsjustafleshwound]

Does this open up the whole voucher/present debate ... I would far rather have a collection and buy the teacher some vouchers than buying non-descript presents ....

[storminabuttercup]

FancyALittle You know me in RL don't you you've seen me swig from the bottle

[GetOrfMoiLand]

Or buy your whole family an african goat from Oxfam (there was a thread about this last year, it all kicked off )

[storminabuttercup]

Oh bugger that didn't work

[fedupofnamechanging]

I don't think that teachers should complain about presents from children.

If I was a Primary school teacher I'd be very happy to get 30 boxes of chocolates/bottles of bubble bath. By the time the kids get to Secondary level, you would be lucky if you got a Christmas card.

Teachers complaining about this makes me want to tell my DC not to bother!

You are right about the rest though.

[strandedatseasonsgreetings]

getorfmoiland - my dd's get a child from haiti and a child from tanzania from my brother every year.

[mamatomany]

strandedatseasonsgreetings - My DC would actually want the child over to play, they are still waiting for their Tiger and Dolphin to arrive.

[MrsVincentPrice]

I tend to do nice looking but cheap jewellery from M&S for teachers (glass/shell beads/bracelets etc) but put in the gift receipt so they can swap them for a bottle of wine something more to their taste if necessary. Is that OK do you think?

[JaxTellersOldLady]

ah I see, I would never buy Lynx or Stella for anyone, actually I wouldnt buy the blow up chair type thing either, but I do like a 'funny' pressie - usually from firebox.com or IWOOT type web sites, DH loves getting something in his stocking

I did once buy some Oxfam gifts for some friends - that was as well as their 'proper' pressies. It was agreed pre buying that that year we would be more 'aware'... only lasted 1 year though.

[JennyHaniver]

It's the ones for men that are the worst...mini basket ball to play in the bath. remote controlled 1" car etc.

Also, sometimes i see the little green envelope when you open a pressie and wonder if you were the freebie

[MsSparkle]

They are very expensive for what they are as well. When you look at the price per ml, it's marked up really high compared a normal sized bottle of say body wash.

If i was going to do a smellys gift set, i would buy some stuff individualy in a normal sized bottle and put them in my own fancy box. I found it works out cheaper and you get to choose what you want to go in the box.