The shit Christmas presents of 22 thread.

[ChristmasPresentsof22]

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.

I received a cellulite massage mit with a tube of Elancyl Slimming Concentrate Gel. A gift with a message? Rude.

@janeeyreair

You may not like Hotel Chocolat choccies, I love them and they're expensive so I don't have them often but my son bought me a big box of them for my birthday in March and another for Mother's Day a week later. So far, I've eaten 2 chocolates from that batch, so I said to my son that I'm still trying to get through all the chocolate he bought me in March, so please don't buy me any for xmas. Guess what I got.... yes, a big box (at least £60 worth) of Hotel Chocolat choccies, so I suspect these will still be sitting waiting to be eaten come next xmas.

I'm thinking you can't love them that much if you've only eaten 2!!!

I just can’t get upset about it. You may have the time and talent to handpick the perfect gift but not everyone does! Doesn’t mean they don’t give a shit. If it matters so much what you get buy it yourself or tell them what you want. It’s unrealistic to expect everyone to care about high quality gifts/remember your interests/recall a hint. It’s madness grown adults huffing and puffing about this.

Save yourself the angst and have a no gift rule then spend the money on yourself. Or do the Secret Santa thing. Christmas is about more than getting the perfect present.

@imnotthatkindofmum

I do love them but there's so much chocolate in my house (still got loads from last xmas, including quite a few more HC ones) and I'm trying to be good (as I need to lose weight), so I've been saving the lovely HC choccies and only having them as a real treat (maybe 1 or 2 a week), so I've only just opened my birthday box. Now I've got this big box of about 100 chocs to add to the collection.
Don't get me wrong, it's not a horrid gift but I did say there's a book I'd like or even an Amazon voucher because I'm moving house in the spring, so I'm sure there'll be things I'll need at the new house, but no, I got these lovely (but unnecessary) chocs and a One4All gift card (that I've misplaced) and will probably never use anyway (if I ever find it) because I never shop in any of the stores it can be used in.

Not Xmas but for my bday this year my dad gave me a box of fudge that was 2 years out of date. My DD tried a bit it was vile.

Ahh I see! I was thinking like it was the only 2 chocolates you had eaten in that time!

You're doing better than me, my strategy is to binge eat all the chocolate in the house and THEN start being good. Not recommend.

From OH I received a Stranger Things poster and a puppies calendar - my daughter also bought me a calendar but at least hers has recipes on it.

I'm 45. Why would I want a poster!?

My Mother gave me a LOT of chocolate (think £10 tin of quality street and about a kallax box full of sweets ranging from boxes of matchmakers to loads of those fun size bars and god knows what else)

I do like chocolate but I am 10 stone overweight and diabetic

I'd have been grateful for any presents to be honest. The only thing I got was a voucher from my boss and a notepad from my 9 year old.

@harmonypus
Sorry to hear you don't like the One4all voucher, I think you can use it in John Lewis and M&S as well as lots of other high street stores, it's the one my relatives ask for if they don't trust me to choose something for them!

I am so sorry to hear this. I was in a similar position years ago. This is how I dealt with it - I bought myself at least one nice Christmas present in November, got it gift wrapped and saved it for Christmas Day. A great idea and not as ‘sad’ as it sounds. It’s like “ this is me looking after myself instead of feeling sorry for myself”
I hope you have enough money to do this.
another idea is to join a savings scheme and save whatever you can over 12 months. For example, £5 a month would give you £60 to spend on yourself.
Best wishes 🌺

Why can’t he simply be ignored and let your daughter have her iPad? Don’t let him push you around.

@Iamnotausername who gives a fuck what grandad says. He’s not in charge here. The money should go towards the iPad she’s saved for. If he asks to see the school shoes say oh she didn’t need any.

My BIL gave me a wax melt (I don't have a wax burner - and no desire to buy one), so I might have it out as room scent for a couple of days, then that's going in the bin. He also got me a candle in a scent I specifically told him I don't care for.
I asked my older sister for a wall calendar for my kitchen. She got me lipbalms instead...?

It's all crap they have been given and they have regifted it to you . I would say 70 % oh gifts are recycled

@Iamnotausername so why not just tell your daughter you'll use his money for school shoes next time she needs them and that means you can give her the money you had saved for her next pair of school shoes and she can use it towards the ipad.

Bag it all up and take the crap presents to the charity shop - that’s what I did today - very satisfying!

Suck it up, say thanks, give to charity, feel good for passing on a small act of kindness. It was kind for someone to give you a gift. No one can remember everyone’s preferences. Happy Christmas!

@Railwayroad yes! That’s it - is really childish. Too much chocolate- give it away, someone will want it, toiletries to charity- just say thank you, someone thought of you and that’s enough. Enjoy the holidays before it’s time to go back to work.

No point in telling them after the event. You should make it clear before Christmas and decide on a category of gifts for everyone to exchange, or perhaps no gifts apart from for kids.

I like that Mumsnet is a place to talk frankly but TBH I'm pretty shocked at how ungrateful some people are that friends and family bothered to source a present for them? There's some genuine venom on here. Forgive the long post but I urge you reflect on your annoyance. Not liking your present doesn't mean it's a shite present or that it was not purchased with love.

Didn't get what you were expecting? Maybe they were out of stock of the preferred present when purchasing or (as I experienced) the present was lost in transit and they had to make last minute substitution from what was left. Of course, some of the presents mentioned are genuinely not great but unless they were clearly rude presents, it's best to assume the giver wanted to make you happy.

Surely, recieving stereotypical presents/brands are par for the course at Christmas? If someone is stuck for ideas they will go with 'tried and tested' and if you are lucky they'll buy from an upmarket brand to level-up the present. Hence Hotel Chocolat rather than a box of Celebrations. They want to show they care by at least getting an upmarket brand.

I have seen a middle-aged woman have a hissy-fit in front of everyone at recieving a small Cath Kidston purse as her office Secret Santa present. Complete meltdown claiming that whoever brought it doesn't know her at all (well yes that's a possibility with Secret Santa) and it's an awful present meant for an old lady (which she may appear as, to the youngest members of the team) and that she wants to return it. What a horrible thing for the person who purchased her gift to experience. It was a perfectly lovely present. So it wasn't to her taste but it doesn't mean the gifter didn't put in a lot of effort. Be kind, assume the gifter meant well, and stop being so materialistic. It's the season of goodwill after all x

I believe that a thoughtless present is actually worse than no present at all.

At least with no present at all you're not expected to be grateful.

With thoughtless presents you're supposed to be faux grateful to spare someone's feelings who didn't give a shit about yours.

I've had some spectacularly thoughtless presents this year but at least DH has had the sense to talk about how we can avoid that next year. Basically asking for money and I'll buy it for myself, he can give it to them to wrap and I can act surprised but also genuinely thankful for the gift.

The in laws got myself and DH, SIL, BIL an electric tower fan.
Googled it and it's over £90!
Really baffled considering it's been so cold recently.
We already have one which we use in the summer and one for our bedroom. Just feel what a waste.
Going to store it in the loft, next time we have a heatwave hopefully can sell it on.

Poppyfie1ds, I totally agree. People need to either speak out and ask the people they know to stop exchanging gifts with them, OR accept that most gifts are likely to be generic items because very few people have the time, energy and organizational skills to carefully curate gifts that are based on an in-depth knowledge of the other person and their idiosyncrasies.

I'm not talking about the people here who got genuinely bizarre, rude or unhygienic gifts (half-used items, for example) - I'm talking about the people having a hissy fit because they got hand lotion or Lindt chocolate balls and THAT'S SO GENERIC, WHY DIDN'T I GET SOMETHING PERSONALIZED SPECIALLY FOR MEEEEEE?!?!

I think the erosion of normal friendships and human contact has a lot to do with this. A lot of people have narrowed their range of personal contact with other humans down to the point where they have become dependent on only a handful of people when it comes to getting their personal and emotional needs met, which is leading to over-the-top expectations of friends, and big increase in friendship drama. A couple of years of people having nothing to do but shop online has probably not helped, either - it's like some people cannot envisage getting joy from anything except consumer items and shopping.