To ask if anyone actually like 'token gifts'

[Bearbehind]

Inspired by a thread in the Christmas section about family limiting adult gifts to £10.

If you had a choice between receiving say 5 gifts at £10 or 1 at £50 which would you prefer?

I literally can't think of 5 things that cost £10 that I'd buy for myself let alone for other people.

People are always going on about waste, especially at Christmas and I just can't my head around why you'd do this.

I'd rather have nothing that 5 bits of tat I'll probably never use.

Does anyone actually like 'token gifts'?

if someone spends 50£ on you and you hate it you’d feel guilty about not using it. If someone spends 10£ you can say ‘oh well’ and regift it or give it too the charity shop

Exactly this. Worst is when people spend a lot of money on something that is not quite right. I feel I can't justify getting rid and buying the version I actually want, so I'm stuck with something that makes me unhappy (secretly counting down the days til it breaks or I can declare it too shabby and replace).

I want to choose my own expensive stuff.

A suprise is much better if it's consumable or cheap enough not to matter.

Token gifts don’t have to be “tat” though.

We do an adult Secret Santa with a £50 limit for just that reason. Far better to buy one nice present than 5 or 6 smaller ones.

Likewise the prosecco / chocolates option is seen to be 'thoughtless' even though, I agree, it's a sensible choice that won't go to waste

I don't think it's thoughtless. I'd much rather have that than tat. Tat is a waste of money and bad for the environment. In fact Christmas is bad for the environment full stop.

I don't, neither do the rest of my family really so we try to avoid it. Adult parents and grandparents will still buy for their adult children and grandchildren, and vice versa. But we don't do sibling gifts, aunts and uncles to nieces and nephews once the younger generation are adults etc. It's not that nobody could possibly get me anything I'd want for £10, although that's by no means a guarantee. But honestly I have enough stuff already and I'd rather they spent the time they'd be choosing and wrapping my gift having a bit of peace and quiet or something.

When I say I love token gifts I'll clarify by saying I don't like any of the 'gifts' which only appear at Christmas! Eg. Miniature mustard sets because I like mustard, A single glass with a bottle of cheap wine, pack of mulling spices etc.

I wouldn't expect a £50 if anyone other than DH. I like novelty presents that mean something eg a lovely keyring or a nice smelling candle or even some daft socks. I like less chocolate or wine but still wouldn't turn my nose up!

I very much like chocolate. That's the problem!

I can literally think of hundreds of things I’d be very happy to receive which cost £10 or less!
I wouldn’t consider any of them token gifts.

Whether it is tat or not is subjective. For me a lot depends on who is giving it to me - someone I don't know well who gives me a candle because they want to give me a present would be lovely. Someone who knows me well and gives me a massive Bayliss and Hardy gift set - tat.

There is very little I would dislike as much as a Bayliss and Hardy set!

I agree, I'm quite happy with a £10 gift, but I think a lot of what posters are listing are not "tat gifts" per se, but actual gifts. And in all cases, this depends on the individual person!

I'm a fan of
-books
-candles
-socks
-chocolate
-wine
-coffee mugs (travel or home)
-bath sets (depending on the scent)
-a £10 donation to a charity I support

I get where OP is coming from because of all the people I have on my Christmas list, there are two who I feel compelled to buy for as they always buy for us, but who I don't actually know well enough to think of a thoughtful gift. They will end up with some sort of "tat gift" which may even be on the list above (bath set, or candle perhaps?), but because it's an obligatory gift purchase and not a thoughtful gift, it feels very meh.

I like them - especially the consume able ones, but a book or flowers are always welcome (and I like supermarket flowers fine). I especially like random candles or sweets/snacks from TK Maxx.

If people have decent ideas a £50 gift is better, more likely to be used. Computer games, clothing, etc

£10 gifts esp for a bloke are hard, socks, toffees, novelty stuff (tat).

Back in the day CDs and DVDs were good but so many people stream music and have multiple tv channels do they still use such things?

Love that SputnikBear has quoted only part of my sentence

I do consider a Harry Potter mug from Primark to be a bit of a 'tat' present BUT my brother a.found it amusing, b.uses it daily & c.likes Harry Potter! I know my audience therefore it's a suitable & enjoyed gift.

However giving him a Royal Doulton cup would be odd

Either way a gift should be thoughtful & if it is then how much money it cost or where it's from shouldn't matter.

I am happy with a £10 gift, something like a book or kindle voucher, some chocolate or prosecco suits me fine. I only buy gifts of £50+ for my husbands or kids tbh. Family gifts are limited to £20 max per person as there are so many of us.

For me as well, it's as much about whether I want to buy token gifts in return as anything else. Which I don't.

I love token gifts. Had a party recently (just a get together) and some friends bought lovely chocolates, some macarons and a few candles. Loved them all and these were things I would not have necessarily gone out of my way to buy for myself. one Christmas I received a pair of house socks with the little grippy dots on the bottom. Never had a pair before and now I buy for myself as I really enjoy them. Wouldn’t have thought to buy before being gifted them.

If the token gift was wine, Lindt chocolate, a candle, food, or a good book, then I'd be thrilled with that. Hankies, talcum powder or pot pourri, you can keep that thank you very much!

I'm happier with socks, chocs and books than anything else really. I don't object to bath stuff either, if I can't use it it can go in the food bank collection.

I like luxurious little gifts I wouldn't treat myself to so:
Mini flavoured gins
A nice candle
A book (winner!)
A waterstones voucher
Vegan chocolate
Lush products
Deli type stuff - pickled ideally
A nice charity shop buy (my family would know I would be very happy with that!)

I would be meh about a generic gift especially if tested on animals/not vegan friendly (like dairy choc or non vegan wine) but that would be the case regardless of budget.

I love exchanging small gifts, as long as they aren't completely thoughtless. I love receiving nice dark/coffee chocolates (even if it's a tiny pack), nice coffee, socks (rather one fancy pair than 3 novelty pairs), fancy ciders, actually anything edible at all - I'd love to receive some interesting jam! A book that the giver thought I'd like even if it's nothing I would normally look at, slippers, gloves, a nice hat, etc - little luxuries that I wouldn't normally spend the money on myself.

I can't think of anything worse than an adult secret santa - the only person who knows me well enough to get me a "surprise" £50 gift that I'd actually like is my partner, who I do separate gifts with anyway. If I have to write a list of what I want that defeats the whole point, I'd rather not bother and buy it myself.

Should add... would also love a paperchase notebook 😁

Am I the only person who rwads a lot but hates being bought books? At least 50% of the time it's either something that I've read or something i don't want to read. It's even worse with people buying children books unless they know the child and their bookshelf really well.

Token gifts should only be consumables IMO, but generally I'm against buying (or being bought) gifts for adults generally. Most adults buy themselves tjings they want, and if they can't afford to then they can't afford to participate in the reciprocal gift giving circuit either.

I'd love to get five £10 gufts as there are loads of things I loke that come in at about a tenner.

Wax Lyrical sweet pea and violet jar candle (this is my favourite candle in the whole world)
Occitane miniature hand cream, any scent
M&S pink champagne truffles are about £6 and are a dupe for the Charbonel et Walker equivalent which is twice as much for fewer chocolates
Any prosecco
Any half bottle of gin, Lidl 70cl flavoured ones are great for £13
A Lush shower gel is £8.50, I love the Rose Jam one

If I had five of those, I would be very pleased indeed! You would have to know me though, to know what I liked. I get that my choices are quite specific

I like small gifts! liftle treats for under £10 like Lush Bath Bombs, a good book, a nice bottle of wine, chocolates, some nice cheese, a lovely nail polish.