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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask what gifts you didn’t like?

152 replies

MamToTeens · 26/12/2019 09:10

I’m not saying this to be ungrateful, but sometimes I do wonder what goes through my relatives’ heads at Christmas Grin anyone else? We received:

A tin of peaches for my 12 year old
Clothes that are 5 sizes too big for my 15 year old
Alcohol for me, when I’ve made it very clear that I don’t drink and haven’t for 20 years
A window vacuum
A box of drawing pins

What strange gifts did your family get?

OP posts:
JaJoJe · 27/12/2019 10:03

who is it now ralph - I am allergic to pork too, when having a reaction I've never had the urge to eat cheese though.

GinNsnowmen · 27/12/2019 10:52

A bin

TheReluctantCountess · 27/12/2019 11:17

@PapayaCoconut I’m fine with Baylis & Harding, really.

PapayaCoconut · 27/12/2019 11:25

@TheReluctantCountess

I feel like a gift should be some kind of treat though, don't you? Not just something you don't actively resent. My MIL once needed to buy a present for someone she dislikes intensely. She bought a fancy soap. It was a passive-aggressive statement. "I don't give a shit". Very effective, IMO.

WhoisitnowRalph · 27/12/2019 11:35

I wasn't confused about her being allergic to pork JaJoJe, I was baffled by her choosing to eat a pork pie knowing she is allergic in the first place Grin

Freesunglasses · 27/12/2019 11:42

Some recycled smellies and a whisky flask, what the hell do I do with a whisky flask?! we don't even do presents normally. Then I remembered, she told me she'd had a big clear out the previous week.
A silver cross, I'm not a Christian and some other truly crap jewellery off my mum's friend, she does it every year.
So much waste!

PhilCornwall1 · 27/12/2019 11:50

I didn't get any crap presents, my wife nails it every year. I did get my eighth pair of a specific make of sunglasses, but I love the style of them and they are all slightly different.

The sunglasses are a running joke between us, but I do love getting them.

zukiecat · 27/12/2019 12:51

Toilet rolls from my mother, I get them every year, and I they're not a joke present.

This year two ex work colleagues who I've stayed friendly with got me a Grinch mug, but with my face where the Grinch's should be.

I've struggled with Christmas for many years, and it's always been a very quiet, subdued affair for me and my DC, not sad or sombre, just very quiet and I don't spend a huge amount of money because I can't afford to, as I live on disability benefits.

I don't buy for them and I've asked them year after year not to buy anything for me, but this year they gave me this Grinch mug, which I actually found a bit hurtful.

I'm Pagan, so celebrate that rather than Xmas, only do Xmas for the DC, within the pagan group we don't really give gifts, but have a small ritual folowed by lovely food round the fireside.

zukiecat · 27/12/2019 12:55

@Lofari

That made me giggle Grin

Just up the road from me there is a wig shop, nothing creepier than a window full of severed heads, all with different wigs on, it's next to a hairdresser too.

Never going to that hairdresser or it'll be my head in the window next Grin

TheReluctantCountess · 27/12/2019 12:56

@PapayaCoconut we must live in different worlds Grin

LittleReindeer · 27/12/2019 13:01

A “Where’s Wally” type book. Because obviously I seem like someone who has time to sit around staring at pictures to spot the hidden cat/dog/pineapple. It cost £15 too! What a waste.

northernknickers · 27/12/2019 13:20

Various bath bombs and bubble baths...I don't have a bath (small house/shower room only!) 🤷‍♀️ I will re-gift 👍

Familamilam · 27/12/2019 13:20

I always think it's such a shame when relatives buy DD a Christmas outfit. It inevitably doesn't get opened until later in the day and then there is the one day to wear it on! I usually try to save them for the next year and hope they still fit!

PapayaCoconut · 27/12/2019 16:13

DM often buys me Christmas decorations as a Christmas present. 😒

One year she had wrapped up an old silver cross necklace that a distant relative had given me as when I was a teenager. She'd found it at home and decided that something I already owned and clearly hadn't liked enough to take with me when I moved out was an appropriate gift. Bonkers.

PapayaCoconut · 27/12/2019 16:14

@LittleReindeer
That's crazy. I think a child might enjoy it though. Maybe you can regift?

purpleleotard · 27/12/2019 16:24

Tin of Christmas tea, neither of us drink tea.

Scented candle, horrid smell.

LittleReindeer · 27/12/2019 16:36

Maybe you can regift?
Oh no. It’s personalised. The things you have to find in the pictures are my cat, my dog, my car, etc. “Little Reindeer took her dog Sidney for a walk but he ran away, can you find him?”

The giver probably thought it was really thoughtful and spent ages customising it online. I’ve just given it to DC. Not sure why anyone would think that’s a suitable gift for a woman in her forties!

Miriel · 27/12/2019 16:59

My mother got me enough chocolate to fill two carrier bags. It's mostly cheap stuff of the sort that you'd put in a kid's Christmas stocking to bulk it out a bit. I'm in my thirties and don't have any children.

I'm also at a healthy weight for the first time in years, after a lot of effort this year. I specifically asked people not to buy me any food for Christmas this year, for that reason.

MrsDragonLady · 27/12/2019 17:04

Shampoo and conditioner from MIL.... everyone else got lovely, thoughtful gifts.

She always asks in advance what I, dc and DH would like and I always tell her (she sets a limit and we chose things under this limit). We always ask what her and FIL would like too, and buy what they have asked for (wine this year) usually she gets what we have asked for, so not sure what I’ve done to deserve the shampoo and conditioner!

theseaisbrightfromhere · 27/12/2019 17:06

paulhollywoodshairgel I actually love that! I'd buy a few of those if they had different styles of faces . . .

MikeUniformMike · 27/12/2019 17:08

I got two presents.Both were delightful.

Mrsjayy · 27/12/2019 17:09

Nothing except getting "the free" thorntons chocolates i really don't like them .

MrsHampshire2017 · 27/12/2019 17:17

A doorstop gnome from a recent IL trip. It’s quite large and heavy considering they brought it back. Just seems completely random - I’d have loved an Xmas tree ornament!

And alcohol- dh doesn’t drink and I’m breastfeeding so it doesn’t get used.

BillyCongo · 27/12/2019 17:19

YSL lipstick. Fabulous, luxurious, perfect........ except he let 4 year old DD pick the shade with no thought or censor.........Eye wateringly bright almost florescent coral/orange. Sadly just looks horrific on me with my skin tone.

Laniakea · 27/12/2019 17:24

Both MIL & BIL asked what the dc would like then completely ignored what dh suggested & gave bizarre/inappropriate/duplicate gifts to all four of them. It’s almost as if they did it deliberately ... dh has returned/exchanged everything today. He’s disappointed that yet again they are so fucking weird & annoyed with himself for not checking. I’m not letting them irritate me ... we’ve had a lovely Christmas & the children weren’t upset :)