Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To hate homemade gifts

480 replies

Bearbehind · 19/11/2019 16:02

New thread with the vote enabled this time!

Unless the giver is actually good enough at making what ever it is to sell then I wish they just wouldn’t give homemade stuff, especially food

Fortunately I don’t generally receive them but I have a friend who’s a teacher who’s inundated with them at Christmas

It just seems such a waste as it pretty much all gets binned

OP posts:
Thread gallery
22
Original poster
Bearbehind · 19/11/2019 16:03

Bugger it’s posted twice now!

I’ll ask for the other one to be deleted!

OP posts:
heartsonacake · 19/11/2019 16:06

YANBU. It’s lazy and selfish. It’s all about what the giver can or wants to make with no thought or regard to the receiver bar maybe sticking their favourite colour in there somewhere.

It’s all “well this is what I make so this is what everyone’s getting”. There’s no choosing of a individual present that someone might actually want.

They are also rarely any good. Except people are polite and will say how lovely they think it is and so the cycle of receiving crap homemade gifts and then throwing them away continues.

PooWillyBumBum · 19/11/2019 16:06

I'll see your homemade gifts and raise you gifts, of any kind. I buy what I want and need throughout the year and am no longer a child - I really don't need/want vouchers or posh smelly stuff or chocolates or whatever, which only serve to create an obligation to reciprocate. Time and time again I suggest 'let's just go out for a meal' or try and duck out of gifts entirely and it's always ignored. I now just smile, nod, donate everything, buy everyone vouchers and try not to get too het up about it. Homemade stuff usually gets binned because charities can't resell it!

womanaf · 19/11/2019 16:07

I hate shop bought gifts, they’re mostly a huge waste of money. 🤷‍♀️

YABU.

BlastEndedSkrewt · 19/11/2019 16:09

I love a homemade gift & disagree that it's lazy - there's likely a massive amount of time & effort gone into it.

That said I am I have never given one as i'm just not that good at it and those that I have received are from people that sell these things

Original poster
Bearbehind · 19/11/2019 16:10

I hate shop bought gifts, they’re mostly a huge waste of money.

To be fair, I don’t like them much better either! 😂

Totally agree that gifts for adults are often a waste too but at least they tend not to go into the bin straightaway

OP posts:
goose1964 · 19/11/2019 16:10

I would prefer hand made presents. Although it does depend on what and who sent it. Last year I gave my son's in law's after eight vodka. This year DD (adult) is having home coffee rum. I also make fudge for friends.

PsychosonicCindy · 19/11/2019 16:11

I think it's the sentiment behind the gift that counts. People are trying to be nice!!

Original poster
Bearbehind · 19/11/2019 16:16

I’d love to see the correlation between those who vote for YABU and those who make their own gifts

OP posts:
StroppyWoman · 19/11/2019 16:16

I think they’re lovely - someone putting thought and time. It costs as much for yarn to knit a scarf as to buy one, or sew something, or make something that means something to the recipient.

Some of my favourite presents have been homemade.
(Then again, I move in crafting circles)

I love choosing colours/styles to suit my loved ones as well, and making gifts personal to them.

NeopreneMermaid · 19/11/2019 16:18

I have a friend who does this. A lot. The things she makes would be cute (but still abominations; think fake Scrabble letters and plastic beads glued on canvas) if my 6yo had made them but definitely not a 36yo woman. She comes to my house a lot though so I daren't chuck them.

Either that or she'll bake cakes with dry sponges and buttercream apparently made from margerine, sweetener and food colouring. I'd never had to spit cake out before (discreetly).

Thegirlwithnousername · 19/11/2019 16:19

I would rather homemade stuff than just that picked off the shelf with no thought in to it at all.

shinynewapple · 19/11/2019 16:21

I don't think I'm able to vote on the App and having just typed a long response which wouldn't then post as the old thread was being taken down I'll just say that some times home made gifts are appropriate if the giver is good at what the do and they know the receiver will appreciate the gift.

In cases like someone I know who gives people home made cup cakes but has really poor hygiene- then NO!

YANBU to not want these for yourself though.

Tableclothing · 19/11/2019 16:23

Depends on the thing, really. I have a friend who always does homemade presents. Her knitting is a thing of beauty, she's made us some genuinely lovely items - lacy knit scarves in silk/cashmere yarn, gorgeous baby things, etc. Those I will treasure forever. Sometimes she does food gifts though, and knowledge of the presence of her multiple pet cats in the not-obsessively-clean kitchen always makes me feel a bit queasy.

runoutofideasnow · 19/11/2019 16:24

I hate them too.

3yo DS making me something for Mother's Day is of course fine and lovely.

From an adult? No.

Wigglewagglee · 19/11/2019 16:24

I did a cross stitch card for a 50th birthday last week. Took me ages to do

Aderyn19 · 19/11/2019 16:24

Depends who is making them and their level of skill. My mum has made me beautiful scarves and blankets and a beautiful glass bead Christmas decoration. My dad makes awesome homemade wine.
I value those things more than anything they could buy me, but then I am sentimental about stuff like that.

runoutofideasnow · 19/11/2019 16:25

I did a cross stitch card for a 50th birthday last week. Took me ages to do

Why? What is someone meant to do with that? Keep it forever gathering dust?

charm8ed · 19/11/2019 16:26

I don’t like them either, I do however like it when people give meaningful photos in nice frames.

ConfusedAndStressed95 · 19/11/2019 16:26

My friends quite like homemade gift's, but we're all students so have low budgets for gifts. We get each other a token gift and a homemade thing as well. So someone may draw or knit something, one friend might write a poem or short story or bake or something. We appreciate the time and thought that goes into it more than anything.

spoonfulofsalt · 19/11/2019 16:27

The only homemade gifts I enjoy receiving is from DP. From everyone else, I tend to prefer food gifts as I can actually eat it instead of having it sit there in my house gathering dust and taking up space!

runoutofideasnow · 19/11/2019 16:28

Disclaimer, I think knitted clothes for a baby are totally fine and not in the same league as the tat I assume op is talking about

Fakeflowersaremynewnormal · 19/11/2019 16:29

I like homemade gifts as long as they are of reasonable quality (the sort of thing you might buy from a fete or market) and something I like. I love food things of that sort. I wouldn't be that bothered about a random mug with some cheap hot chocolate bunged in but I wouldn't hate it.

dementedma · 19/11/2019 16:29

Bet you'd like a bottle of my fruit gin! It's bloody lovely

WotchaTalkinBoutWillis · 19/11/2019 16:30

YABU
I love receiving homemade gifts, it means so much more than last minute shop bought ones (still like them as well though!)
Just mean it's more personal, and I love stuff like homemade jams, chutneys, picallili, fudge, all of it.
Still remember a blanket someone knitted me years ago, love it and was so touched had gone to effort of making it!
So yes. YABVVU