Tubs of chocolate & toiletries gift sets - show no thought

[notedbiscuits]

Now shops have aisles full of gift sets - mainly toiletries. Plus tubs of chocolates

To me, they make me think they are bought by people who give no thought. Plus some gift sets are more expensive than buying them separately. Take Dove, 2 bottles of shower gel and a body puff thing. Cost in shop £6. Go to a shop and can buy the bottles for £1.50 and body puff thing is 75p-£1 (though doesn't have the Dove tag on it) You are paying £2 for a box! Card Factory do sell gift bags for that size for about 75p. For me also, there are things in gift sets which I don't use such as bubble bath and bath salts - have shower. Last week I had a clear out of the cupboard which has medications, toiletries etc and put some of these into food banks and the posher brands, to those charity shops that do sell (unused) toiletries.

Those tubs of chocolate, which get smaller each year, There's always one chocolate families don't eat. Quality Street- toffee finger and penny - due to fillings, Heroes - Eclairs (they cheapen it by adding Eclairs) again due to fillings.

Remember being behind a woman buying 50 odd tubs of the same chocolate. Said to the cashier "Oh that's my Christmas present shopping done in one shop". Glad I am not related/friends with her. As she would give each member a tub.

If you have no idea what to buy someone, don't buy anything. My family have not sent each other Xmas presents for many years. Why waste time, money and stress?

I was actually googling right now where I could donate them to! Women’s aid is an excellent idea, thank you ❤️

I find gift giving incredibly incredibly stressful. I've had near meltdowns and spent many extremely stressed days and nights trying to think what to buy people. Just thinking about it now raises my blood pressure. I've missed parties because I couldn't think what to bring. I've now realised that this is ridiculous and life is too short to worry. So chocolates and other 'thoughtless' gifts is what I tend to opt for or I ask people to tell me what they want.

I agree. Something that I can and will use or consume is always welcome.

I suspect that you’re not alone! Personally I only welcome ‘craft’ gifts if they were made by young Gdcs - but they’re different, obv. Ditto cards - fine from Gdcs, but I really don’t want adults’ hand-made cards - I feel too guilty about binning them.

For adults in this family, we now stick to presents you can eat or drink - preferably not the sort of things you’d buy every day.

I like those gift sets of bodywash etc. I travel quite a bit and they are great to keep in the box and pop into a bag or case, use at the destination and then bring whatever is left home to shove into the bathroom for general use. It saves me having to find a body wash and a moisturiser that I can take with me.

But then, I get through a LOT of shower gel etc... (am a runner, so lots of showers!)

I bought literally all of our presents for extended family from a chocolate shop last year and I'm not sorry and may well do it again.

I don't mind these sort of gifts, although I tend to receive fudge, Sanctuary stuff, and fancy nuts rather than tubs of sweets and Dove (which I would be equally happy with).

So often when people try hard to get the perfect gift, it is something you don't love but are now stuck with. I never buy Sanctuary stuff but I'm always happy to use it, so it never gets wasted.

I work in this industry. Toiletry giftsets are absolutely a gift for someone you want to or have to give something - teacher, great aunt, secret santa etc - but you don't know them well enough to chose something they actually want. The landfill issue is definitely a problem, but in most cases you would be using shower gel etc anyway. The retailers I work with are pretty strict now that outer packaging has to be fully recyclable and ideally compostible, or something that is kept and reused like a wash bag.

Personally I only really use bar soap, but always happy with chocolate. The little hand creams are good for always having some in your bag etc

@notedbiscuits

what bothers me far more is people moaning about Christmas in AIBU when there's a whole topic for Christmas!

Even more annoying to receive these when you don't eat dairy and are careful about only using cruelty free toiletries.

I agree - our poor dog groomers always show a huge pile of tubs of chocs people have kindly bought them at christmas - it must take them the whole year to eat them...I think they'd prefer £5 in a card!

With kindness I would suggest that if you're getting that stressed over buying a present for someone because you can't think of what to get them, perhaps you're not close enough to be buying them a present at all.

Not everybody has someone to buy them a thoughtful gift though. Lots of people will receive a generic gift like these from a charity. And it might be their only gift. Don't buy them if you don't want to, but they're a decent/practical option for many Indeed
Also every present you buy for someone diesnt have to be 'thoughtful '.I'd spend the whole year thinking about what to get every one! I only do that for the closest around me.

Due to my work Im in a couple of secret Santa's, and I don't mind that, I often get Dove shower sets. They are handy to put in my gym bag.

Me too. I would rather get those than an ornament or a scarf!

Ah , gone are the days when you could buy your aunty a box of bath cubes, or three embroidered hankies, a set of teeny tiny hand soaps from Bronnley lemon soap, or Woods of Windsor lavender ditto, or a little bottle of 4711 and she would be happy.

I used to love bath cubes, especially the ones that came in two halves because then you could just use a half per bath and the box lasted longer.

Whenever I have been involved in things like Secret Santa at workplaces it seems to be you have to get some highly personal, well thought out gift, very specific to that person. I find it incredibly stressful and always feel guilty that I didn't do as good a job as people who are obsessed with finding the 'perfect' gift. I always tell people, please, chocolates and smellies for me. I love chocolates or smelllies, they used to be a Christmas staple but now nobody gets them as they are seen as boring. They're not boring, they're great, particularly bog standard, no what you're getting, tasty chocolates like Cadburys Roses and Quality Street!

Anyone who doesn't want these 'rubbish' presents, send them my way!

I enjoy receiving both and prefer consumables as gifts in general.
I'll have a little gift box of crackers and chutneys please.

I disagree. Some people are time/money poor and simply don't have the resources (time/money) to seek out special "thoughtful" gifts for absolutely everyone they have to buy for. Plus most people I find very difficult to buy for, they have everything already!

I find gift giving between adults annoying anyway, especially giving for the sake of giving ie just because it's Christmas and you feel obligated. It's much more meaningful buying a gift for a personal reason, my friend is near completing her PhD and I'll get her a gift for that but not birthdays or Christmases.

Might be hard for some people to believe but there are people out there for whom a tub of chocolates or even Dove (gasp!!) shower gel is a treat that they wouldn’t be able to justify buying for themselves - and for whom it would feel a thoughtful and thoughtful welcome present. I used to be one of these people and know many who still are. I must be hormonal but this thread has made me particularly sad.

As suggested to other posters, donate them somewhere than can use them?

With kindness I would suggest that if you're getting that stressed over buying a present for someone because you can't think of what to get them, perhaps you're not close enough to be buying them a present at all.
You can be invited to a party of someone you are not paticularly close to! Acquaintances invite people and often that's how friendships develop ( just thinking about how I became close friends with my friends)

The Dove and Lynx 'gift sets' remind of prisons.

Weird as it sounds. Like when you see pics/films of guys in a prison cell, they always have an area for their 'stuff' that they proudly display. So lots of bottles of lynx, lots of dove shower gels, hundreds of boxes of budget ramen, bottles of ketchup etc.

It looks like something you could buy from the prison canteen!?

I would rather have a tub of chocolates. I hate someone buying me a "thoughtful" gift like a personalised photo, household items etc.

I dont really need anything but a treat like chocolate or toiletries or vouchers are very much appreciated.

My family have not sent each other Xmas presents for many years. Why waste time, money and stress?

This is the main point for me - we did the same too years ago.
It's made Christmas so much simpler, presents for the under-21s (we're a big family) and a Secret Santa for the grownups if people really want to have something to open, although we stopped that a while ago too.

It saves so much time and stress, allows people to get themselves a little something in the sales without being overdrawn, and we all love it!

I'd be delighted to receive a tub of Celebrations. Easy to share/re-gift etc. as if! They'd be all mine.

Gift set of smellies would probably go to the food bank - I don't use hand cream, hand wash etc. They tend to be generic gift for a woman (or a man depending on brand).