Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

The shit Christmas presents of 22 thread.

721 replies

ChristmasPresentsof22 · 25/12/2022 17:10

Another year, another round of presents from family that I cannot use. I have a serious food allergy and another health condition that means that I can't eat or use some foods/cosmetics. These are not new health issues, had them since childhood, yet there is not a single gift out of the few that I received that I can make use of. I decided to be blunt this year (after years of unsuaitable gifts) and tell the givers that I can't use their gifts due allergy etc but thanks anyway. Now I'm an ungracious brat. Am I? "It's not their fault I'm fussy." I'm really not, I just don't want to get sick. I would prefer not to do the gift thing as I'm not overly bothered about that part of Christmas, but I would be ruining it for everyone else, everyone else who gets decent thoughtful presents based on knowing what they like, it's shit when those thoughts are not reciprocated.

Anyone else want to join the naff presents club.

OP posts:
FrizzledFrazzle · 26/12/2022 10:12

My DM got me an outfit for my DS and a bird mobile for me to hang in his room. She also bought him 10 big bits of plastic tat despite me explicitly asking her not to because we travelled by plane to see them and have no luggage space. He's 6 months old.

Twiglets1 · 26/12/2022 10:17

Katypp · 26/12/2022 09:08

I agree with this 100%.I mean husbands/partners should be expected to put a bit of effort in, but the amount of care and research pps seem the expect from eg SILs is laughable.
Special mention to the op who was outraged at receiving a gift set (the worst present in the world, ever, according to MnN) from a relative that she had given the year before! I am guessing the point was the regifting aspect, but I wondered why the pp was too special to receive a gift set that was apparently good enough for her to give someone else? 😂

Show quote history

It’s hardly the done thing is it to regift the same gift to a person that they gave you last year? That’s rudeness.

Unthinkable8 · 26/12/2022 10:20

Not Christmas but a gift many years ago from my mil for my birthday, I was 32 and in perfect health. She gave me a knackered (not vintage) walking stick!!

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 26/12/2022 10:23

blubberyboo · 25/12/2022 23:37

brother and his gf got me a nail voucher for a gel polish… I’ve bitten my nails for my whole life and can’t use it.

SIL every year gets me a gift that says how much she dislikes me. For the last 2 years she’s gotten me a purse that is obviously either one of her used ones or from a charity shop. No labels or tags on..Last years had someone’s library card in it and this years is full of crumbs. I had been feeling guilty as I only gave them Ted baker perfume / aftershave and chocs each so I also handed them a bottle of gin on the way out the door. Wish I hadn’t bothered

Why would you put any time and effort into buying anything for your SIL, given the awful presents she's got you in the past? Let alone give her an extra present? Tell your family next year you want to stop exchanging gifts, or restrict it to the children.

One of the things I always marvel at when I read these threads (every year) is why don't people just say straight out to the giver what they've said here?

  • Have you forgotten I don't drink alcohol/suffer from eczema/have a serious nut allergy?
  • Why haven't you bought me a present? You knew I was buying you one. Couldn't you make the time and effort to go and look for something nice for me? Don't I matter enough to you to do that? Don't you know me well enough to be able to think of anything I might like?
  • Is this a joke? You seem to have given me a bit of tat. Given that I've bought you a decent present which is exactly what you asked for, I have to say I'm really upset about this.

If there was more honesty about gift-giving, maybe there would be less upset.

beastlyslumber · 26/12/2022 10:31

starrylights · 26/12/2022 09:46

I would give it a go, as a life long nail bitter, I stopped after having a manicure and polish. There is nothing to bite. I kept my nails very tidy and extremely short but they started to grow. They are still a bit weak but I haven't bitten since.

Show quote history

That was a quote fail, sorry. It wasn't me who got the present.

Theunamedcat · 26/12/2022 10:31

FrizzledFrazzle · 26/12/2022 10:12

My DM got me an outfit for my DS and a bird mobile for me to hang in his room. She also bought him 10 big bits of plastic tat despite me explicitly asking her not to because we travelled by plane to see them and have no luggage space. He's 6 months old.

Thank her profusely "forget" to pack it ask her to ship it

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 26/12/2022 10:33

rosemarycait96 · 26/12/2022 00:03

This year if was receiving bath bombs from 2 different people... Who know that I don't have a bath. 😂 The plus side is we are actually looking at getting a bath put in early next year so they won't go to waste!

I'm extremely pregnant, for context here. SIL said to us that they're totally broke this year and didn't get my husband or me any presents at all, but if there was anything we need for the baby, she'll get it in the new year (as long as it's not too expensive). I'm almost due so we have absolutely everything we need, for one. But also when we video called them earlier, we found she'd gotten her 3 kids a new iPhone each, designer clothes, record player and other pricey stuff. She also got MIL and FIL a luxury weekend away voucher. Not going to lie, it has stung a bit!

Christmas or no Christmas, I'd have had to say something. 'Oh, is that why you told us you were totally broke and couldn't run to getting us a Christmas present? Good to know where we come in your list of priorities!'

OK, I probably wouldn't have said that, but I think my face might have given away that I was thinking it ....

StrawberryWater · 26/12/2022 10:35

A bag of half eaten sweets from my oldest sister. She’d cello-taped it shut and had even wrapped it.

I reached over and took back the £100 cinema voucher I got her (something she’d asked for).

She’s not short of money. Far, far from it.

She couldn’t understand why I was upset.

marmitegirl01 · 26/12/2022 10:40

@StrawberryWater thats amazing. Bravo 👏

professionalnomad · 26/12/2022 10:47

I sent BIl and SIL a gorgeous Harrods hamper which arrived at the beginning last week.

My present consistented of all the things from the hamper that they didn't like

Twiglets1 · 26/12/2022 10:47

StrawberryWater · 26/12/2022 10:35

A bag of half eaten sweets from my oldest sister. She’d cello-taped it shut and had even wrapped it.

I reached over and took back the £100 cinema voucher I got her (something she’d asked for).

She’s not short of money. Far, far from it.

She couldn’t understand why I was upset.

Good for you!

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 26/12/2022 10:48

Simonjt · 26/12/2022 06:54

My husbands parents bought him a stay at bible conversion camp for the third year running.

Xmas Shock That's horrific. I take it he doesn't go. What an utter waste of money, but I imagine it's about making a homophobic point? Flowers

TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams · 26/12/2022 10:52

Fluffy polyester blanket from MIL in sludge green tartan. It's vile and scratchy. She is a HUGE fabric and wool snob so it's a real "couldn't be arsed" present.

pompei8309 · 26/12/2022 10:52

TheOtherHotstepper · 25/12/2022 19:38

My passive aggressive SD has only just started giving me Christmas presents. This is the second year. (I've only known her since 2001)

I have a beautiful bauble, but she knows DH has always refused to have a tree, and a miniature bottle of chocolate liqueur, which she knows I would not have entertained even before I stopped drinking.

DH got Hotel Chocolat.

F..k the bauble your problem is your H and his refusal for having a tree, why is that?

WeePMummyG · 26/12/2022 10:53

MIL asked what I wanted for Xmas, I told her to get me clothes vouchers as since my DD was born I haven't got myself new clothes and with the cost of living we are finding money tight. She got us an expensive coffee machine, neither of us drink coffee, but my in laws do

Squiff70 · 26/12/2022 10:54

Vegan macaroons from my dad. I don't mind, they're probably quite nice, but I'm not vegan or even vegetarian so I was a bit confused.

FancyFanny · 26/12/2022 10:54

ThomasHardyPerennial · 25/12/2022 17:16

I got a pack of paper napkins from my SIL. She also gave me a pack for my birthday last month - lucky me I guess 😂

Mine SIL gave me napkins last year! Luckily it wasn't my only gift.

TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams · 26/12/2022 10:54

purplethings · 25/12/2022 17:53

I've had my eye on buying myself a cast iron kettle to last a lifetime. I've been looking for ages for one that could go from the induction cooker to the burner and I was in love with a le creuset one. I was going to wait till the after Xmas sales. For xmas Dh got me an aluminium kettle which holds about 10 litres, with paper thin metal and a handle that looks like it's paper clipped together and is going to break any minute and pour scalding water over whoever's unlucky enough to be using. Now if I buy myself the kettle I want I'll look ungrateful.

You could drop it?

Or he's your DH - if you can't tell him you've been waiting for the sales to buy a different type and can you return this one and exchange it for something else then you are married to a hit

Twiglets1 · 26/12/2022 10:55

TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams · 26/12/2022 10:52

Fluffy polyester blanket from MIL in sludge green tartan. It's vile and scratchy. She is a HUGE fabric and wool snob so it's a real "couldn't be arsed" present.

If she’s a material snob then it’s likely a regifted present that someone bought her. Can’t you ask if she has the receipt to return it because “ I only really like natural fibres, I know you understand”.

KentishMama · 26/12/2022 10:56

My SIL obviously regifted me a pack of three hand creams. One was already opened. One is lavender - and she knows I'm highly allergic because she had to find me some antihistamines when I accidentally sat too close to lavender plants in her garden years ago. Inside the gift box, there were also two five-pound notes. Maybe that's so I can buy myself some hand cream I'm not allergic to? But it's bizarre because neither she nor I are short of funds... so I passed the money on to DS for his piggy bank.

PlaitBilledDuckyPuss · 26/12/2022 10:57

TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams · 26/12/2022 10:52

Fluffy polyester blanket from MIL in sludge green tartan. It's vile and scratchy. She is a HUGE fabric and wool snob so it's a real "couldn't be arsed" present.

Those are good for picnics.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 26/12/2022 10:58

lemoncheesecakemaker · 26/12/2022 07:05

Given my present by DH at 6pm last night. Not wrapped - unless you count the shop tissue paper - two rather horrid Christmas decorations bought from a shop I 'love' apparently. I love the notebooks they sold. Nothing more.
it came with the same old promise of 'I was going to get..' but didn't and never will as history tells us. It took 7 years to get something for my 40th and that was only when I pointed out I never received anything at all.
I wouldn't mind but for the amount of times he has been into town over last few months and he ends up rushing in on Xmas eve to get these.
Just disappointing.

Have you told him how this makes you feel? Does he have other good points?

WilsonMilson · 26/12/2022 11:01

My step mother gave me a half empty bottle of vodka one year, literally it had already been opened and half consumed and she’d just put it in a gift bag and thought “that’ll do”. I don’t even drink vodka, which isn’t really the point but somehow added to the awfulness of it. I couldn’t believe it.

She also gave DH a women’s cardigan. I checked to see if a mistake had been made, but she said no and claimed that it was ‘unisex’. It was not. It was also about 4 sizes too small.

One of my cousins seems to make it her mission to buy the cheapest tat possible. This year she gave me a candle shaped like a champagne bottle, it was dull and full of scratches and frankly looks like she’d picked it out of a bin. Just embarrassingly bad.

BornBlonde · 26/12/2022 11:02

StrawberryWater · 26/12/2022 10:35

A bag of half eaten sweets from my oldest sister. She’d cello-taped it shut and had even wrapped it.

I reached over and took back the £100 cinema voucher I got her (something she’d asked for).

She’s not short of money. Far, far from it.

She couldn’t understand why I was upset.

@StrawberryWater well done that's shocking behaviour on her part

ImpartialMongoose · 26/12/2022 11:03

AngelinaFibres · 25/12/2022 18:43

Wow that's a seriously weird gift. Good job they weren't still warm , you might have to wonder if he'd stolen them from a passing jogger, or recently dead person. Perhaps you should get him some pre worn underpants.

Show quote history

😂yeah, complete with skid marks

Swipe left for the next trending thread