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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to not "get" expensive towels?

62 replies

QuizteamBleakley · 04/01/2017 13:28

Each year our family does a Secret Santa: you pick a name out of a hat and then spend up to £75 on that person. Saves a LOT of admin and means the recipient gets one gift they really want.

This year I got a bath towel. It's lovely but who are the people who regularly spend £70 on a bath towel? I'm not complaining much as it will be a lovely poncey touch for the guest bedroom. It feels much like the supermarket ones we get and is cotton, not unicorn pelt. Surely a towel is a towel is a towel or do we actually live in a world where people do not sniff at the idea of paying £70 for a £5 towel?

What don't you "get"?

OP posts:
Original poster
QuizteamBleakley · 04/01/2017 13:29

Mercifully in ivory

OP posts:
Figure17a · 04/01/2017 13:31

I actually prefer the cheaper ones. Take up less room in your washing machine/sports bag/suit case and dry quicker.

You should see a difference though - do you think you got your full allocation? Grin

Coralfish · 04/01/2017 13:33

Haha I'm glad you added the link. I was going to say 'no way your secret Santa spent £70 you have been had'! Turns out £70 towels exist. Gosh. My mum once bough 'posh' towels from an outlet place (no idea of the cost). They were lovely but after one wash were just as stiff and scratchy as our M&S ones. Mind you, that was probably my mum's washing...

TinselTwins · 04/01/2017 13:34

We treated ourselves to some expensive bath towels with our wedding money, they went tatty pretty fast. We have some cheaper ones we replaced them with that still look and feel good years later.

Dito sheets, very thin/low cotton count sheets are miserable, but mid range ones are just as good as our expensive ones once they've had a good number of washes to make them nice and soft.

Softkitty2 · 04/01/2017 13:34

I like good quality towels because I prefer 100% cotton and not polyester and would be very happy with towels if they are gifted to me.

Original poster
QuizteamBleakley · 04/01/2017 13:34

Figure - I haven't actually used it yet waiting until I shave my legs and have clean bedding on but I hadn't thought about the space! I sound like a complete ingratiate so I should add that I also got a v naice bottle of red and I had specified only "I'd like something that I wouldn't think of buying myself" so, with a high rate of jokers in the family, I would say I did VERY well!

OP posts:
Original poster
QuizteamBleakley · 04/01/2017 13:36

Ewwww, Softkitty I had no idea that polyester towels existed! Wouldn't you just spontaneously combust during vigorous back-drying?!

OP posts:
TinselTwins · 04/01/2017 13:37

You can get 100% cotton towels for much less than £70
All of our current cheap towels are 100% cotton

Figure17a · 04/01/2017 13:37

Tescos value towels are 100% cotton, just a bit thinner. I've never come across polyester in a towel

NavyandWhite · 04/01/2017 13:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

AcaciaYou · 04/01/2017 13:38

Pebbles instead of lawn. A house near us has just done this - replaced the whole front garden with ten square metres of pebbles. It looks so stark, is a desert for wildlife, and will soon be collecting dead leaves, wind blown litter, moss, bird poo and general dirt, because these sort of 'gardens' always do. I very much doubt they'll be out there tidying up regularly, which is what it will need, because this sort of thing is usually done in the name of low maintenance.

I know it's an increasingly popular look, but it's not one I 'get' at all.

TinselTwins · 04/01/2017 13:38

I've tried microfibre ones but I don't like them, and they're actually more expensive than some pure cotton towels

( I'm just realising I sound like an oddball towel enthusiast who goes to towel testing evenings instead of wine tasting etc Grin - I'm just quite old so I've tried a lot, but it's not my hobby or anything! )

LucyInTheSkyWithDonuts · 04/01/2017 13:40

I will admit to liking expensive towels and think there is definitely a difference. We bought some £100+ ones when they were in The House of Fraser sale at 80% off (they are a slightly odd colour!). We've had them about a year and They get softer with each wash without feeling thinner.

RockyBird · 04/01/2017 13:41

Costco towels are almost as cheap as Asda and magic quality.

Our family secret Santa is £20 limit.

AcaciaYou · 04/01/2017 13:41

Oh I see this has ended up as a discussion about towels. I read the 'what don't you get?' bit as the main point. Ok ignore me! As you were...

NavyandWhite · 04/01/2017 13:42

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LucyInTheSkyWithDonuts · 04/01/2017 13:42

I'm also a sucker for very expensive bedsheets - I paid about £60 for a sheet which was originally £200+ and it is an absolute joy to get into bed Grin

TinselTwins · 04/01/2017 13:44

There is a general "things you don't get" thread going on too Arcacia Grin

I agree and would add in astroturf/fake grass where you don't have dark garden issues - look so grubby so fast. And odd even when clean. Good for pokey dark terrace gardens though

maras2 · 04/01/2017 13:48

One of our towels has DD's name tag in it from when she went swimming with the school < she's now 40 > Blush It apparently came from the co op originally.
In all honesty though it has been in the cat box and not in general use for a few years. Grin

mintthins · 04/01/2017 13:48

Whilst I can't imagine ever buying someone a towel as a Christmas gift, Frette is a lovely make, and our posh towels are an absolute joy to use every time. Technically I am sure they do the job no better, but they are bloody lovely to wrap yourself in.

OOAOML · 04/01/2017 13:48

I don't like microfibre towels or cleaning cloths, I have dry skin and they always feel like they are 'catching' on it. I would be a bit 'meh' about a mega expensive towel but try to hide my bafflement I think.

MyKidsHaveTakenMySanity · 04/01/2017 13:50

I used to think it didn't matter until some neighbours gifted us a 'relatively pricy' towel bale after the birth of our daughter. Egyptian cotton fancy schmancy things and omfg! I love them. 10 years later they're starting to get tattered so I'm looking for the same ones again. It's like drying yourself with the cosiest, fluffiest, softest, heavenly fabric hand crafted by angels!
Okay they do the same job as other towels but these are so much nicer.

£70 for ONE towel though? That's a bit much, even for me.

BarbaraofSeville · 04/01/2017 13:50

You've been had and that's a crap present. How is a towel, even if it is made of unicorn wool, a present? Confused.

I bet it didn't even cost £75, but came from one of those places that sets comedically high prices so they can sell things at '70% off' so it would have really cost about £30. Even the most expensive super luxury bath sheets in John Lewis 'only' cost £40 each FFS.

Did you say anything? I would have a hard time looking pleased and grateful about that to be honest.

JellyWitch · 04/01/2017 13:50

I've got an amazing pair of white company towels I got for a 1st wedding present. They take so long to dry, even with a heated towel rail that they have barely been used in 20 years. Such a waste.

Rachel0Greep · 04/01/2017 13:54

I love expensive towels, but I but them in sales. I would be disappointed in that present, tbh. Then again, I was once given a tablecloth as a birthday present...