Do you enjoy receiving homemade gifts?

[LokiBear]

Disclaimer - Christmas post on the Christmas thread.

I've just been pintresting some Christmas ideas and saw some lovely ideas for home made gifts. Things like peppermint sugar scrubs for feet etc and it got me wondering. I love the idea of giving something homemade but I would hate it to be just another thing that gets shoved in a drawer. Do you like receiving home made stuff, or have you got any tried and tested creations that go down well?

Am :D at LynetteScavo

My SIL made chutney for everybody one year and I was a bit as she's not the best cook but we were fighting for the last scrapings of it with sharpened forks. It was bloody delicious but the chutney-witholding cow has never made another batch since.

Apparently it was more expensive than she thought to make it.

Pistol just out of interest, would your friend's earnings matter if she made you something really lovely or something that took up a lot of her time?

I would NEVER eat any homemade gift, just the thought of poor hygiene standards or cats in the house would give me the shivers. I can refuse to try peoples homemade cakes and bread (and sandwiches )politely becaues I am a vegan anyway.

I'd be ecstatic if I received a homemade version of something that I would use already, eg jam, biscuits or bubble bath, but I would be a bit 'meh' if I got something that I would never consider using, eg foot scrub, alcohol or jewellery.

Totally agree that delicious home made food gifts are always welcome but not random knitted objects.

If you want to save money by giving 'home made' gifts then I wish people would give 'time' ie: a night's babysitting or an hour's ironing would be a great present. .

But in general I now exchange very few presents - I would rather meet up with a friend for a coffee/meal than exchange unwanted tat.

(This thread has made me go & search for cheese, chutney & toast for breakfast ).

Edible stuff is very welcome here, but not decorative items. My mother is into crafty stuff and every christmas she'll give us two or three things that need to be hung on walls. But our walls are full of stuff we chose ourselves that are to our taste, and the top of our wardrobe is stacked high with stuff we've no place for but have no choice but to keep. We feel awful about it, but our taste and hers just don't coincide.

I've been giving food gifts for the last few years. I put a lot of effort, time and money into it, and I only give things that really are tasty. DH and I got tired of always getting presents that we didn't really like but had to find places for, and decided we'd never inflict that on other people again. So we give things that don't last, and people can either eat and enjoy them, or chuck them in the bin - they won't offend us by it because we'll never know!

It's a minefield, this whole thing, isn't it? There's just no right answer.