To not understand the trend for 'hampers' as presents

[Lockdownlumpy]

Am I the only one who doesn't get, or go in for this trend?
My Facebook is full of people selling or making 'hampers' but I'm not talking about a wicker basket and luxury food, these are a plastic basket with a few things from the pound shop wrapped in cellophane.
I just don't get it. Most contain pound shop shampoo and soap. For me those are essential items and therefore not a great gift, unless they are lovely luxury or special versions that I would never justify buying for myself.
If you and your family like these I am not knocking you at all, taste is individual after all.
I'm just wondering, am I the odd one out here? Or anyone else like me and just doesn't get it?

Having read the post just now by @sosotired1 I completely agree and I'm ashamed to say I didn't even think of stuff like that.

She is right though, if you don't like it then don't do it. I see very very little benefit in making a thread about how they are naff. Maybe you should have a little empathy and think about how a parent who is doing one to bring a little joy to a tight christmas would feel reading a post like yours.

A friend got one of artisanal italian foods. She didn't fancy the donkey salami so she passed it on to me. It was interesting.

When my DB was alive, he used to send us a F&M hamper every Christmas, or sometimes a Harrods one. We have at least 9 wicker baskets of various sizes around the house performing various functions, from laundry basket to sewing box. No cellophane
Always fun opening them and delving into the packing material, everyone taking a turn.

Slight thread detail - F&M hampers aren’t all that. There are much nicer luxury hampers that don’t have the F&M brand on it. DH’s work get sent a F&M hamper and he can claim something from it, so we’ve probably had a full hamper (just over several years). The food is nice but it’s not as nice as local brands. My mum has sent us a hamper this year with loads of smaller food brands that were really excited to try. There are so many smaller companies that offer nice, luxury hampers (not what OP is talking about) that get missed because people just go to F&M.

The hampers that people are posting, I guess if my friend was struggling and doing these, I’d probably buy a couple dismantle the hamper and donate the items to the food bank (with my regular donation). I can see why people would prefer to just buy their friend £15 of essentials but I think for some people it’s the idea of ‘earning it’.

@Kissthepastrychef I think your Christmas themed things sound really nice. We’ve received a cake/sweet treat hamper previously and the contents were varied. We had some more ‘normal’ things that pretty much everyone would like so shortbread bites or brownie bites, then some ‘out there’ introductory things like Earl Grey infused chocolate, which wasn’t really our cup of tea (). So I think even for a Christmas one, I would include some more run of the mill flavours/your best sellers along with your Christmas flavours, just to give people a chance to experience your normal range (and hopefully entice them to buy from you in the future). I’m not a pastry chef, so I’m not sure what is possible/not possible but we have warm pastries on Christmas morning, using the frozen ones you get in the food sections of garden centres. Is there a way that you send a selection of pastries for Christmas morning or frozen/ready to bake pastries which could be filled with your festive jams and festive flavours? If receiving jams/chutneys I usually like a little bit of something to spread it on so I can try it straight away. I would also look at trying to add something light or refreshing (which could be your run of the mill things) for that bit between Christmas and New Year when you’re not quite sure if you’re more chocolate or more alcohol. Something completely non-Christmas themed that will just be a welcome relief after a week of heavy, rich food. But as I said, not a chef so no idea what is possible!

Like many people of a certain age I have been given quite a few hampers of goodies and at the back of the cupboard there is a selection of odd pickles and sauces well past their sell by date!

I did a nice hamper for my mum a few years ago...before they were 'a thing'. Used a proper wicker hamper and filled it with cashmere gloves, Jo Malone perfume and hand cream, books, decent mascara and nice face cream and miniature boxes of her favourite chocolates. Things I would give as presents but just put together and presented nicely.

Some of the Facebook hampers just look tacky..

This is why I say no to Christmas gifting for adults.

We've knocked it on the head in my family. We buy presents for young children and give ££ to the older ones (although they are all now in their 20s so it's possibly time to stop that too!)

DM still insists on buying us small things- the bottles of port I can handle, gift box of shower gels and body lotions (I use neither) or socks (I like a certain brand only) I do not need cluttering up my minimalist lifestyle.

I have seen the cheap hampers on fb - I'd rather just take the choccies in a carrier bag - at least that can be re-used.

OP maybe they would be better off with 20 items at £1 but maybe even the hard up are entitled to something that seems festive. Maybe the giver hasn't got the time or inclination to go and buy 20 items and wrap them.

Honestly if you don't want one that is fair enough, if you don't like them fair enough but at least accept that sometimes people just do different to you. Or be like me and don't have Facebook so you these things are able to pass you by. Can you limit what you see on Facebook, just see your own friends? I honestly don't know so maybe that isn't possible.

If the recipient is genuinely hard up and grateful for shampoo etc, then would it not be better for the giver to spend £20 on 20 items they genuinely need from poundland, rather than spending £20 for 6 items from poundland and industrial quantities of cellophane

^^ This. The whole 'hamper' concept is wrong on so many levels and I doubt very much that people with little money benefit overall.

Money is spent on packaging to make basic toiletries look like a gift when it would be better to spend the money on something useful and not catestrophically wasteful. Remove the items from the packaging that serve no purpose other than to disguise groceries as a gift and that's exactly what you have.

It's an environmental nightmare.

It traps people in a cycle of obligated gift exchange that they would be better off if they were free from.

And no, the existence of the 'Boots Gift Set' does not justify these hampers.

Any one ordered an Aldi Hamper?

@Hailtomyteeth

I can remember being a single parent and any necessary item was a welcome gift, because it freed up a few pence I could spend on a loaf or a tin of beans. I look at my daughter now, in her five bedroomed house with two luxury cars on the drive and think "No-one would guess that you went hungry to bed, that our only luxury was a 17p packet of biscuits." I remember a friend used to leave 50p or so when she came round for a cup of tea, and that I would - when I saw a bargain - buy her daughter something to wear. I expect there are still people facing that kind of life today, who are very happy to receive a few essential items as a gift.

Yes!

I loved getting essential items as they were often the branded ones (we bought Tesco Value everything or equivalent)

@IrmaFayLear

And I think we are all far too affluent when we don’t like this and don’t like that. A good dose of Little House on the Prairie is needed!

Christmas presents so often seem like a chore and a minefield.

Yes- starvation and rescue by the native Americans is what we all need. Going blind due to lack of adequate medical care. Being blown away, stripped naked and killed in a tornado

Thats the good old fashioned Little House on the Prairie way.

@BarbaraofSeville You are the voice of reason Barbara. I often think it, but I'm going to say it this time.

@ancientgran I have enjoyed your contributions to the thread, thank you. I'm always aiming for presents, and I hate gifts!

I love a hamper especially a nice one.
People can buy or not. I doubt it's the person making them life dream at least they're showing initiatives to make some money.

@flaviaritt

Why do so many people use MN to bitch about the presents other people are kind enough to get for them?

Because they show their true nature on MN

@HollowTalk

I was looking at Fortnum & Mason hampers the other day and they had piccalilli in it - who the hell would want that?

I think a hamper someone's created for you bearing in mind what you like is lovely. A bag full of poundland things on sale for more than double the price is less lovely.

Well this has got to be with one of the most unreasonable posts yet - what the hell is wrong with piccalilli?! Bloody love the stuff. If anyone wants to send me hampers I love them, and I'm even a sucker for homemade piccalilli and jams too Honestly, MN is a mental drain sometimes with all the bloody whinging and complaining lol

Oh god the lockdowns have brought out the 'I'll make crap and sell it on FB' brigade hasn't it? The absolute worst one I continually see is someone who is selling a second hand book (yep, sold as such) which is wrapped in brown paper and a few other bits (think hot chocolate sachet, small bath bomb kind of thing) for...... wait for it...... £15!!!!!!!!! I know people are trying to do anything to get in a few quid but really? You also have no choice as to the book you get

I'm a lecturer, and a few years ago one of my classes made me a Christmas hamper - they had all chipped in together, and it was in a basket covered in cellophane with a big bow. Honestly, it was the nicest thing. I can't remember exactly what was in it, but definitely chocolates, handcream, a bottle of wine, bubble bath, gin in a tin, treats for my cat, plus a card that they had all signed. I think there was also the mug that went with that year's John Lewis Christmas advert.

The contents all got used, but even if they hadn't I was so touched that they had gone to the bother - far more effort than just picking up a bottle of prosecco from M&S.

@Yesyoudoknowme

Oh god the lockdowns have brought out the 'I'll make crap and sell it on FB' brigade hasn't it? The absolute worst one I continually see is someone who is selling a second hand book (yep, sold as such) which is wrapped in brown paper and a few other bits (think hot chocolate sachet, small bath bomb kind of thing) for...... wait for it...... £15!!!!!!!!! I know people are trying to do anything to get in a few quid but really? You also have no choice as to the book you get

Some are new 'businesses' as self employed UC has some leniency for the 1st year plus the minimum floor is suspended at the moment

Universal Credit includes a ‘Minimum Income Floor’ (MIF) if you are gainfully self-employed, and your business has been running for more than 12 months. The MIF is an assumed level of earnings. This is based on what we would expect an employed person to receive in similar circumstances.

I like picallili. It's next to the ketchup in the supermarket.

That tells you all you need to know about whether picallili is an appropriate gift. If you wouldn't buy ketchup, why would you buy picallili?

If you make your own which is individual to the person and contains luxury type gifts I think it’s great- I do this a lot, especially where you’re buying for a family of adults or a couple.

If it’s a load of cheap stuff in a basket then no.

Well thanks to this thread I've just ordered my Mum a Hotel Chocolat hamper for her birthday. Thanks MNers.

Because they show their true nature on MN
Mumsnet has the heart and empathy of Trump at times. Anonymity allows some to type things they'd never say in real life.
Especially when it comes to obesity or working class.
Haven't had a grey thread in a week now.