AIBU To Think That Christmas Hampers Are A Con & A Waste Of Money

[TheShellBeach]

I was idly looking at Christmas hampers online this evening and I was shocked by the cost. Well, not so much the cost, but what you got for the money.

A Highgrove £75 hamper just contains marmalade, jam, tea, shortbread and fudge. You also get the basket, I suppose, but it doesn't seem value for money at all.

A Fortnum's £75 hamper is a little better because you get some chocolate and mints as well. LOL.

Does anyone think they're worth buying? Am I a Grinch?

F&M you can build your own hamper- not cheap but feels luxurious.

Nothing new.
Every year I have looked at them for the past 30 years thinking this year I will treat myself.

Every year I have look and come away disappointed as the amount of stuff
i would end up giving away simply isn’t worth it.

For the past couple of years have looked them with my adult dc in mind. Still end up making them.

And don’t get me started on bloody expensive high end advent calendars (and why the fuck do companies write on the box what’s in them?)

I have received a few hampers as gifts and in a work role I have purchased hundreds.

As a corporate gift they appear extravagant but also offer something for everyone. They can be purchased online and delivered with a personal message enclosed. Undoubtedly some of the contents can be a little obscure, some very weird pickles etc.

I have always loved receiving them as a gift but find it odd that anyone would consider buying a hamper for themselves.

They are very handy for business sending out to clients, employees etc. Uniform, nicely packaged, prestige brand. Like the nice dates, bakoor, and coffee you gift at Eid.

I always look out in charity shops for wicker baskets & boxes. Always get a good deal on picnic hampers people are getting rid of.

DP gave me a small F&M one last Christmas as a one off treat and it was lovely. We enjoyed everything in it and kept the hamper (it's now a blanket box in our living room). It all got used and really enjoyed. He did one of the pre-made ones and it was lovely but unless you find one that really suits someone (I'm thinking of giving him the tea lover one one day) then I think places that let you choose the contents are better- F&M are great for this. The deli near my parents does a roaring trade in them for Christmas- they sell lots of very naice goodies and they do PYO and pre packed. Not F&M or similar prices but not cheap.

I think they should be very luxurious though, I think that's the point of them- the products etc, they're meant to be that fancy, even slightly absurd and should come from somewhere luxurious. That's why they're such occasional, one off, one day purchases. I suppose, like Margo on The Good Life they're something I think should Come In A Van. It's part of it! I draw the line at the price of F&Ms little hamper xmas tree decoration though. Way over priced!

My mum does me a care package of lots of toiletries for Christmas and it all goes in a particular large gift bag. We are under no illusions that it is a "hamper" or a "pamper hamper" and do not refer to it as such.

F&M stuff is crazy expensive, £17 for a small tube tin of biscuits with one pack of biscuits in.
So I can believe their hampers are priced well, relative to individual items.
But also eye watering and don't feel good value, but luxury brands rarely do.

Id certainly feel id been spoiled if I got one.

I have done random food orders from F&M, Selfridges and Harvey Nichols as gifts and they all package everything so beautifully that I didn't feel the need to get a proper hamper.

You are entirely unreasonable. Eveyrone knows that hampers are not "worth" the cost of the contents. They aren't supposed to be. You pay for the impact, but most importantly the convenience.

Not everyone is watching the pennies. Lots of people have plenty of money. They feel like their own time is worth paying money for...they don't want to make their own hampers and source all the products individually and go to the post office. They want to click on the button and have someone else do the work, and the recipeient get a nice gift. Sometimes the recipient might even be themselves.

They aren't a con. And they aren't a waste of money for people who have the money and want to spend it.

Tell us more! What do you include?

"Not everyone is watching the pennies. Lots of people have plenty of money"

Oh well. That told me. 😬

I don't think they're a rip-off. You could probably make your own more cheaply, but you're paying for the label and experience too.

No need to be arsey about it. It's true, and you know that.

Your contention that hampers are "a con" was really quite silly. They're a product, that people can choose to buy or not. They aren't pretending to be anything other than they are. You can easily check how much the seperate components cost, and whether you think there is any value in it.

The fact that you personally think they are a waste of money does not make them a con, does it?

Most people on this thread do not agree with you, though.
I do not think I was being "arsey".

People cannot choose to buy them or not, if they do not have plenty of money, can they?

It doesn't matter whether they agree with me, since I'm right! It's categorically not a con.
Lots of things are expensive, just because you can't afford them or think they aren't worth the money doesn'tmake them so.

I can't afford them, and I don't think they are worth the money, TO ME. I know other people who can afford them, and they are definitely worth the money to them.
That's capitalism for you.

You're paying for the brand. It's like buying a designer handbag - it isn't worth (say) £3000 in terms of materials and labour, you are paying for the cachet. Some people are happy to do that - I wouldn't (and couldn't afford to) but it's not really fair to single out hampers when this applies to most branded goods.

YANBU. I saw Tesco have started selling make your own hamper kits, with a basket and cellophane.

Much better idea.

We used to get them from a supplier when I was growing up. It was always fun discovering the things like tinned octopus...

You can buy a basket with 'straw' in other supermarkets and shops like Wilko, and fill them with treats

Yeah, my mam used to pay into a scheme throughout the year (we were dirt poor) and then get a massive hamper at Christmas. It was always really exciting to see so much stuff we would never usually have and unloading it all onto the pantry shelves. I loved the Terry’s of York jelly fruits because they seemed so exotic and special.

Didn't those cataloges go bust and not refund people's money?

I bought a hamper years ago, one of those ones you pay over the months and it was quite expensive at that time. What I got in it wouldn’t have covered 1 layer of a supermarket trolley. Total rip off.

That jar of piccalilli stood in the cupboard for years!

One of them did - Farepak back in 2006 - it caused a huge scandal. Christmas cancelled for folk who'd saved up all year . There's now legislation in place as a result of this that means money paid into 'Christmas Club' schemes has to be ring fenced.

I think the OP was referring to luxury hampers, which are a different thing.

Well, they aren't a con - you can clearly see what you're paying for.

You pay a huge mark up for a wicker basket though. Only you can decide how much you like those.

I don't buy hampers.

I won a Harrods Xmas hamper in a raffle years ago - there were only a few things that I didn’t like and I just gave them to friends
I still have the basket which I use to store beauty products in

We have a F&M picnic hamper and every Christmas DH empties it and stuffs it full of all the F&M goodies I love, that way I only get stuff that I will actually eat.

When I have finished, picnic hamper goes back into the loft until needed in the Spring/Summer, then rinse and repeat for next Christmas.