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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:
rosemarysalter · 27/12/2022 20:58

Bloody Yankee Candles again 🤣

Justdoitmumma · 27/12/2022 21:02

Am loving these stories! My Nan used to always give us gifts back that we had given to her throughout the years. My ten year old sister got given a blue vase once. The best was when I was 12 she gave me some cheap kitchen scales lol actually even better was when my sister received a set of fimbles ( the ones people use for knitting) 😂merry Christmas everyone! 😀

ettabea · 27/12/2022 21:08

From husband's auntie, I got given a beautifully wrapped..... box of very cheap crackers.....

PurpleHippo83 · 27/12/2022 21:17

Youngest daughter got a selection box of chocolate and a festive “lolly” of chewy sweets from OH’s brother, as did her siblings.
She’s four months old…

Hopeandmoss · 27/12/2022 21:23

An xxl wankey candle and a wankey candle gift set both in Christmas scents and a Christmas mug. Packed away for next year as Christmas ends on Christmas Day doesn’t it? MIL and SIL bought large matching ornaments in a colour scheme that doesn’t match anything in my house and which they have said they will look forward to seeing when they visit (help).

NancyVicious · 27/12/2022 21:42

My mother bought me a puppy calendar, 2 Tupperware pots, some primark leggings 3 sizes too big.

My son also got Tupperware and some car de icer (he doesn't own a car, is taking lessons but won't be able to afford one for a year at least)

Daughter got superglue and some fake nails. The extension things you get at a salon but with no other stuff to go with them

imnotthatkindofmum · 27/12/2022 22:14

ElfShake · 25/12/2022 18:42

My only present this year was a bottle of Britney Spears fantasy. It gave me a good laugh though, I sprayed lots of it and asked DP if he thought it smelt like high school? He was so surprised that it did😂

My friend bought me this, I was well chuffed as I still love it lol. She knows that though, she wasn't just being crap!

DannyOD · 27/12/2022 22:27

My daughter has had eczema basically since birth. She’s now 22. Cannot use any scented toiletries and yet gets gifted them every damn year!!

Madmanc · 27/12/2022 22:34

That’s rubbish but why wait until the festivities are over? I’d get rid now & start the New Year as I mean to go on. 🤞

imnotthatkindofmum · 27/12/2022 22:44

My mum usually buys shit gifts but she actually got me a lovely habitat tray, totally my style abd colour and some vintage peanuts books. I usually whinge as she obsessively buys me snoopy stuff as I liked snoopy as a child (I'm 45 now 🙄) but I actually like the comic strips and I love a retro/vintage book. Sadly it's not actually a thoughtful gift as she will have seen them at the charity shop she works at and just automatically got them...because....SNOOPY! (For my bday I asked for pjs and got snoopy pjs 2 sizes too big and really thick and fleecy even though I'm menopausal so that's the usual standard.)

From Dh for Xmas I asked for pjs (to make up for the crap ones my mum got me) I was very clear I wanted nice pjs, not novelty ones. he did get me one lovely pair but then a second pair in turquoise (I would never choose to wear that colour) with 2 baubles where your boobs should be. He thought they were amusing in a cheeky, sexy way but in reality I'm 4 stone overweight with saggy menopause mammaries. Not amusing just sad that my boobs are about 6 inches below the fucking baubles.

Danlsb · 27/12/2022 22:59

I got a square egg maker and two normal egg cups 🤔 I’m not particularly partial to eggs and the square eggs won’t fit I the round egg cups. Bizarre gift from SIL but I’m sure the kids will like them

NippyWoowoo · 27/12/2022 23:01

Brackensmomma · 27/12/2022 18:07

After a conversation 2 weeks ago with my cousin (who is my only blood family that I have contacted with) about chocolate and how thanks to the menopause I've gone off chocolate not eaten it for months.
I get the worse present ever.
A box of chocolate truffles and liquors.
That even if i liked chocolate I wouldn't eat.
Am I ungrateful or fussy.
I'd say neither. Especially after the conversation we had. In the bin they went. As I don't know anyone who world eat them.
No one is fussy if its for medical reasons it could be deadly if you eat or use something you know is going to hurt you.
Those who give these presents obviously don't listen or care.
My one and only present went to the bin. Great. Christmas 23 is cancelled.

I'm sorry that's a really shit gift. I said it upthread and I can't stress it enough, if you're only giving a person one present, giving chocolate as that present is thoughtless.

Maybe next year you could link to a few things you like and have them pick one? That what I've done in the past

felizdia · 27/12/2022 23:06

My BiL bought DH and I matching Panama hats ..WTF? I do not want a man’s Panama hat! Lazy and thoughtless!

GruffaloCrumble28 · 27/12/2022 23:18

We received a light switch from my FIL as he didn't like the one in our new kitchen 😬

JT12 · 27/12/2022 23:36

Some of these are hilarious though!!!! 😂

EricNorthmanYesPlease · 27/12/2022 23:43

Babooshka1990 · 27/12/2022 00:26

Just looked again and it actually isn’t a diffuser. Just a weird lamp.

Does it have a spinning 'pearl'? My DD is obsessed with these. She has seen one in our local shopping centre. Im biding my time until i have to give in.

It is the tackiest thing ive ever seen too, and not even in a kitsch way

Babooshka1990 · 27/12/2022 23:50

@Hopeandmoss the giving of Christmas stuff is so odd. My baby was gifted a set of three Christmas outfits that obviously won’t fit him next year.

Was I meant to change him into the three outfits throughout the day? And what about needing to wash baby clothes before wearing?

Babooshka1990 · 27/12/2022 23:52

@EricNorthmanYesPlease yes that’s right! My Mum really doesn’t get my style but this is even worse than the Buddha canvas with light up eyes c10 years ago.

EricNorthmanYesPlease · 27/12/2022 23:53

Babooshka1990 · 27/12/2022 23:50

@Hopeandmoss the giving of Christmas stuff is so odd. My baby was gifted a set of three Christmas outfits that obviously won’t fit him next year.

Was I meant to change him into the three outfits throughout the day? And what about needing to wash baby clothes before wearing?

I agree with this. Although it was a xmas themed abc book!
I also got a Xmas mug, clearly not using that all year.

greenteafiend · 27/12/2022 23:55

Brackensmomma · 27/12/2022 18:07

After a conversation 2 weeks ago with my cousin (who is my only blood family that I have contacted with) about chocolate and how thanks to the menopause I've gone off chocolate not eaten it for months.
I get the worse present ever.
A box of chocolate truffles and liquors.
That even if i liked chocolate I wouldn't eat.
Am I ungrateful or fussy.
I'd say neither. Especially after the conversation we had. In the bin they went. As I don't know anyone who world eat them.
No one is fussy if its for medical reasons it could be deadly if you eat or use something you know is going to hurt you.
Those who give these presents obviously don't listen or care.
My one and only present went to the bin. Great. Christmas 23 is cancelled.

Sorry you are feeling unwell, but this is a ridiculous, wallowing-in-misery post.

You mentioned during a single conversation that you were "off chocolate" and when your cousin posts you a box of chocolates, you construe it as being akin to a "deadly" present that is going to "hurt" you.

Do you not think it is a bit more likely that Cousin has multiple people she needs to buy presents for (because her social circle may be a lot wider than yours) and that she got muddle between you and another person, because the end of the year is a busy time and most of us don't have perfect memories?

I just find that a bit of grace, and understanding that other people have busy lives and are imperfect, is a better way to go through life, than always trying to interpret less-than-perfect action as being a malicious act of harm. And turning it into "Great, Christmas 23 is canceled" is absurd. Is there absolutely nothing else that you can get any winter season joy from, apart from this single present from a single person that all your expectations seem to be riding on? No winter get-togethers with friends or illuminations or special treats or anything? How come you don't know a single person who would eat the chocolates, or who works in an office and could simply leave the chocs in the tea-and-coffee-making area or something? If you are determined to be miserable, that's how you will end up.

A couple of friends of mine who are a little older than me went through weird touchy phases when they were going through the menopause, and we had fallings out over something incredibly minor that they overreacted to in a really paranoid way - afterwards, they apologized and said they were wrong to do this. I'd recommend trying to be aware of your own actions as you go through this tricky hormonal period, and understanding deliberately and consciously that you might be prone to misinterpreting people's actions right now, or you risk upsetting your one and only blood relative and damaging the relationship.

EricNorthmanYesPlease · 27/12/2022 23:55

Babooshka1990 · 27/12/2022 23:52

@EricNorthmanYesPlease yes that’s right! My Mum really doesn’t get my style but this is even worse than the Buddha canvas with light up eyes c10 years ago.

Haha

We do a crap present swap on xmas eve. You cant spend more than £3, and the worse it is the better.

One of the winners was a holographic foil printed virgin mary with lights. It was horrendous!

Fucknfamily · 28/12/2022 00:00

'D'P told me to buy what I needed so got two bras and some pants as I was running low.

He asked what I'd got his Mum and I said nothing as in the 19 years we've been together she's once got me a £10 voucher as she thought I'd earned it that year.

He still thought I should have got her something?!?

Unsurprisingly she got me nothing so glad I didn't bother.

AcrossthePond55 · 28/12/2022 00:06

Not this year but I was once gifted a very fancy box of gourmet biscuits. I have Coeliac Disease. The 'gifter' said "Oh, but the box was so pretty!". So basically they gave me a box contaminated with gluten? OK, then.

yphtutor · 28/12/2022 00:10

Goodness me you need to remember the true spirit of Christmas 🎄 please!

anon666 · 28/12/2022 00:20

After years of awful presents from my brother and his very odd, passive-aggressive wife, we went into a secret Santa.

Best thing we ever did. Now no-one knows who got them the present they inevitably hate, and it's not such a financial investment/waste.

But it's not completely killed Christmas dead. Best compromise.

And I'm really easily pleased. If you can eat it, burn it, or bathe in it, I'm thrilled. Even unsuitable home gifts make it into the house for a while. Plus I know how hard people try - and fail - to get the right thing.

I remember my 40th being just so grateful people came. But almost every gift was some sort of mug. 😬 Still not bovved.