To hate homemade gifts

[Bearbehind]

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

Actually, thinking about it I've never received a home made gift that I liked or was able to use/wear/eat. I hate hand knitted stuff with a passion. If I want a cup of hot chocolate I will make one from the tub of hot chocolafe I keep in the kitchen and use one of my many mugs to put it in. I don't eat cake or chocolate or most sweet type things. I have sensitive skin so don't like amd can't use the weird oils that my sister often goes through phases of making she's a frustrated aromatherapist.

Luckily everyone in my family and my partner know me well enough to know that the only presents I want are the ones on my John Lewis wish list .
I'm not a diva oh no not at all

Wow! There are people who actually think like this? It just sounds so ungrateful to me.

Homemade gifts are the best, it shows real thought and that someone has actually spent time doing something for me.

(and anyway, isn't half the fun of Christmas tasting auntie Maureen's (really not very nice!( homemade chocolate truffles)!)

I love home made gifts. Anyone can buy an Argos voucher or a book token or a new CD for someone, making something is personal and special.

It's the thought that counts OP

I’ve had homemade jam, homemade rocky road, homemade garlic olive oil (with a visible dog hair), one of those scrabble tile things, a chopping board with ‘home’ painted on it.

They didn’t last a week. Couldn’t regift or charity shop them so ended up in the bin.

If the giver enjoyed making them then that’s good enough for me but I don’t like jam, am gluten free, avoid dog hair in food as much as possible and can’t stand clutter.

It’s lazy and selfish.

How can it be lazy and selfish? I don't give homemade gifts because I'm shit at making anything but my friend made me the most beautiful blanket this year when I was poorly. She spent so much time on it and made it in my favourite colours. She made it to take to chemo with me because she knows I always get cold - to me, it's such a thoughtful gift and I'll treasure it.

Depends what it is. I'd never turn my nose up at a BiL's delish homemade fudge, nor a niece's lovely peppermint creams. Same niece knitted fantastic snowman jumpers for little Gdcs last year.

Not to mention the sloe gin we've been given several times. Goes down a treat on a cold night.

I am an artist and silversmith and I only give handmade gifts if they're specifically requested. No way am I going to waste the hours of my time spent producing something unique and beautiful on someone who'd rather have one of the 5 million handbags/toiletry sets/bottles of Prosecco that everyone else gets.

I'd rather get a homemade anything, than something that someone's just picked up in a hurry and bunged in with their weekly shop, or worse still something hideous that someone's spent a lot of money on but is to their taste not mine.

I remember XH scoffing at my penchant for homemade gifts from my dc, telling me that he and his sister had never made anything for their mother, as they wouldn't be so 'cheap' as to give something homemade. Twat.

I'd hate a scrabble name thing, not my taste at all. I wouldn't like flavoured alcohol either but anyone close enough to give me a gift would know I don't drink.

I crochet but I sell my stuff on etsy (so not someone who 'sells' to a mate) and I get the person to tell me what they'd like - it's far too much effort to make something for them in the wrong colour or style!

I love a decent handmade gift as I know the effort that goes into them, but you need to be reasonably talented at it. Lots of my early stuff wasn't good enough to gift!

"I’d love to see the correlation between those who vote for YABU and those who make their own gifts."
Bear, I love homemade gifts -- I really appreciate the personal thought and effort. But I couldn't make one to save my life. I tend to give consumables that I know people like and will eat/drink/use.

@katseyes7

If that’s the sort of thing you give you friends, please let me know next time you have a friendship vacancy.

I never get homemade gifts, probably because I'm very good at crafts and make everything I possibly can myself (it's connected to how I make my living as well as being something I enjoy). I am asked for things I make though- mostly cakes, soap and quilts.

I give homemade gifts, but only if I'm sure the person will like them. If you know that Mary is a diabetic, for example, why would you give her fudge? I've known this to happen and it's just nasty, IMO. It's a very clear message that it doesn't matter what the recipient wants, it's all about the giver.

Obviously, homemade gifts can be a disaster, just as any gift can. Once I knitted my mother a cashmere shawl to a pattern of her choosing, in her favourite colour. I was less than pleased to see it lining her dog's bed when I visited, so now she gets nothing. She did explain that she tried using it to cover the stain on the seat of her sofa first, so apparently that's okay then and I am just moody.

I'm quite sure I have misjudged a gift or two, but that isn't solely a feature of handmade things. And I never give anything that I'm just learning to make, I wait until I'm sure I'm actually good at making it first.

I'm on the fence with this one. I don't want anything knitted because I've very sensitive skin and wool really irritates me. So if someone gave me a hand knitted scarf, I'd make appreciative noises, but make a mental note to to give it to charity at the earliest opportunity. The hard work and time that went into knitting the scarf would be wasted on me.

Equally, I don't want scrabble letters spelling out names/words or an upside down wine glass covered in glitter. This is the sort of thing I could make myself fairly easily if I was having a crafts day with DD - and I'm not particularly crafty. That said, I've bought ornaments and decorations at craft fairs in the past, but only where the person is clearly talented at what they do and the item is good quality and (imo) worth the price they're asking for it.

I've a sweet tooth so anything along the lines of home made biscuits/mince pies/tarts/chocolates/pudding would be very welcome. Home made gin would be equally welcome. I'd be quite happy to receive a home made candle also. I have a friend with wonderful sewing skills and I would be really appreciative of a gift of a lovely cushion cover/table cloth from her (or anything else along those lines).

katseyes7

That is absolutely gorgeous and a really lovely and thoughtful gift. I love handmade gifts anyway, but I’d have been especially thrilled to receive something as beautiful as that.

FriedasCarLoad Thank you, that's very kind of you to say that! She's been a very good friend to me, and l knew it was something she'd wanted for a long time. The one l gave her is fairly heavy, she said she didn't want to take it off her bed when the weather was warmer, so l'm actually making a lighter weight one in the same colours for her birthday next year. The squares are solid rather than alternate blue and white rounds, but otherwise the same.

My mum designed a seagull cross stitch thingy and made it for me for my bday this year. It's up on my wall. Obviously she knows me, but that means more to me than a social media greeting (tacky and I don't go on there so i won't get it) or chocolates or even a card which I can't keep all of, indefinitely.

My family don't really do homemade Christmas/birthday gifts, but as a teacher I've received some - always welcome. I am not one of the MN germophobe brigade and will happily eat anything cooked by pretty much anyone (even children ). That's probably why I never get d&v bugs - strong constitution from years of eating biscuits made by sticky children's hands.

I knit, but am only now getting good enough to make things for other people. Only occasionally, and never as a main Christmas or birthday present though, just as a random occasional gift.

Aww I love them!

I often get them off clients and I cherish every one.
I love the thought of someone taking time to make something for me. I don't care what it is

(Does mean I have some right tat on display in my house though)

RobynsMama Thank you. l'm always crocheting (l can do it while l'm watching tv, and l don't really have to concentrate) - l have boxes and boxes of squares ready to make into blankets/throws/rugs when l eventually get round to it!

SpiderCharlotte, what a lovely and thoughtful gift from your friend. I hope all your treatment went/goes well.

@Shodan I want to be your friend. I love handmade with thought, and my silversmith friend is sadly no longer with us.

A homemade gift is 100 times better than some prepackaged ‘gift set’ chosen just because it says ‘gift’ and has Reindeers galloping all over it.

I love the idea of homemade gifts. Some right Scrooges on here.

Oh God, I've just finished blocking a scarf for my MILs Christmas. I had literally no idea this was an issue. I'll maybe give it to DM and give MIL something from A Shop.

Wow! There are people who actually think like this? It just sounds so ungrateful to me.

Why is it ungrateful? You're not obliged to like very single present you receive!

My friend makes cakes as Christmas presents and they're always a bit soggy bottomed but I'd rather have that then a boots box of smellies. Remember crap cake is just pudding you haven't warmed up yet and smothered in custard

One of my friends doesn't do handmade gifts, but her gift wrapping is incredible. Last year's was hand stamped matt brown parcel paper which she'd made with her daughter, a hand made gift tag, beautiful Christmassy ribbon, baubles and some gorgeous little sleigh bells. That would never have occurred to me in a million years. l've got the sleigh bells hanging on the door in my craft room.