If I get one more...

[MrsLeclerc]

Lighthearted, I know Christmas will be very different this year but some things never change!

What gift do you get every year without fail that you immediately know will be sent to the attic/charity shop/the pits of hades?

My Nan used to give us a box of Black Magic chocolate every year. We all hated dark chocolate but she never picked anything else. They stopped selling it in the supermarkets in the early 2000s but she’d still conjure it up every year! In the years since she passed away I still look at a box on the shelf in shops and it makes me smile.

My MIL also gifts me candles which I really dislike. Luckily she stumbled across a nice Yankee candle a few years ago so DH steers her towards that to fulfil her candle needs.

I’d love to hear other people’s repeat offenders!

Whatever random item my parents give us. It's always something kitchen related and either something we already have and can't use two of, or just plain something we would never use. Recent examples have been a turkey platter (which was too big for our dining room table and not something we would ever use even if it fitted) and a set of cut crystal glasses (they've given us the same set of glasses on 3 separate occasions and whilst one was just about ok, they are not really practical for everyday use).

We've tried saying "please don't get us anything". We've tried suggesting something specific. Every year we get some random item that just bemuses us.

God imagine how much crap is in the world because people buy other people all this generic unwanted crap and other people pretend to like it to be polite.

Who is buying it all from the charity shops? Are you all being given other people's second hand gift sets?

My DM always gets us a tin of bloody mass produced shortbread at Christmas! 🙄 I’ve asked her countless times not to as neither of us like it but she still gets us one every year 😩 DH has to take it into his work every new year so it gets eaten and not wasted. I love homemade/bakery shortbread but the mass produced stuff is just not the same! 😫

@CorianderQueen

God imagine how much crap is in the world because people buy other people all this generic unwanted crap and other people pretend to like it to be polite.

Who is buying it all from the charity shops? Are you all being given other people's second hand gift sets?

I was just thinking that too after reading this thread! 🤔😂

My mum, for reasons that completely escape me, always gets me some sort of trivia book (like a QI books of facts or something).
Whilst I do love reading, and will sometimes watch QI if it’s on, I have no interest in a book of bullet pointed facts. I’m not going to ever read it, and I’m not sure I’ve ever shown enough interest to make her think I would.

Without fail every year part of my present from my mum would be , I quote "a nice bottle of lambrusco" . I even told her I had gone teatotal one year and she still turned up with a bottle!!!!!!!!!!

For the last two years since we got DDog everyone has insisted on buying me various things with pictures of sausage dogs on - jammies, dinner trays, glasses, books, ornaments, garden decorations, lamps and more!! I have a real one of my own, I don't need to fill my house with sausage dog products!!

@whatthehelldowecare

For the last two years since we got DDog everyone has insisted on buying me various things with pictures of sausage dogs on - jammies, dinner trays, glasses, books, ornaments, garden decorations, lamps and more!! I have a real one of my own, I don't need to fill my house with sausage dog products!!

This is my life, too.

Alcohol. I rarely drink and when I do it's a whiskey, bottles of wine stay in the cupboard until a guest fancies a glass which is very very rare!
Lotions etc. My skin is so sensitive and I'm prone to eczema so they don't get used.
Ornaments too. I don't have ornaments displayed except a few very carefully selected pieces.
Guarantee I'll get at least 2 out of the 3 this year

A scarf. I have more scarves than you can shake a stick at, and I do not want any more. Ditto gloves.

A hardback novel. DH has been known to buy me the same one two years running. He knows nothing about my taste in reading matter either. He either chooses something on the Booker list, or will go for a 'cosy village tale of a woman starting a new life in a cottage by the sea' type book, neither of which are my cup of tea.

Thornton's chocolates. Really don't like them, they are totally over-rated. Can't send them to a charity shop, so I would probably take them to work and leave them in the kitchen. They'll disappear quick enough from there.

I want some Black Magic chocolates now.

I hated hand lotion. Who has time for that I thought. Then I got old and suddenly saw why people use it.

Also hated the moisturiser/ bath foam set ( actually people always get me shower gel and quelle surprise, I only have a bath.
One year I got a Baylis and Harding gift set that was clearly a regifting exercise.. However used it in an emergency bath moment and it smelt bloody fantastic! And of course no one has ever given me one since and I’ve never seen the variety again.

Urgh

I think it's high time to stop buying for siblings and their partners and just do the kids

I have no room for bath bombs, body spray, eye shadow palettes and tat in my life

DMIL noted that I like ducks about 3 months into my relationship with her son. 16 years later I’ve had a duck/goose ornament for probably 14 birthdays 🙈 I don’t like ornaments.

@MrsLeclerc she gifted blue knickers for both reasons, it was something new and blue was supposed to bring good health. I suppose for New year's everyone has some kind of superstition. Personally I didn't really care about my underwear....

Body shop sets (theres a 'Body Shop at home' seller in the family). I only use the shower gel as find the scents too strong to wear as moisturiser or body spritz

I’ve given in and finally told DH I don’t like those types of gift sets you get in Boots/Superdrug with loads of body butter or cheap make up in. I am still expecting them on Christmas Day though! I think I’m fairly easy to buy for and tend to give him a list with exact shop names etc, as he hates being left to go rogue and asks me what I want repeatedly, but then he decides I need some surprises which invariably end up being awful gift sets
My DDad always gets me Ferrero Roche or truffles which I hate. My sister loves them so I tend to give them to her when we are leaving, so maybe she is telling him I like them

Every year my mil and my aunt buy my dd a doll. Always the same type - soft bodied with vinyl head and limbs. I now have another DD so this year will have to find homes for 4 more doll

Not Xmas but mil and sil get me Milky tray every year for my birthday. I don't even like their chocolate.

Dd1 has been a vegan for 2 years now but gets given milk chocolate stuff at Christmas, Easter, birthday, sister's birthday etc by DH's uncle regardless - despite dd being pointedly given a vegan alternative to bday cake at EVERY family bday, in said uncle's presence

I think he's trolling her personally

@TheySeeHerRowling

Dd1 has been a vegan for 2 years now but gets given milk chocolate stuff at Christmas, Easter, birthday, sister's birthday etc by DH's uncle regardless - despite dd being pointedly given a vegan alternative to bday cake at EVERY family bday, in said uncle's presence

I think he's trolling her personally

I hate that sort of thing, especially from someone who has known the person for years.

Is he doing it deliberately? It sounds like it. Perhaps because he doesn't believe in that sort of thing? There is a fair bit of chocolate available that is vegan suitable although you often have to be adept at reading the label and the ingredients because it doesn't always specifically say vegan.

I remember investigating this with my DD3 (now 18) and we did find a surprising number of brands which make vegan vsuitable chocolate so there's no excuse really.

By the way, my DD enjoys the Aldi Moser Roth brand for which we found that the orange & almond, mint and chili flavours were suitable. We had to work it out by scrutinising the labels though. Manufacturers don't always make it easy.

Another one with bath stuff here. I don't like baths. My new house doesn't even have a bath. My MiL bought me bath salts last year when I was opening them she even said "I wasn't sure if you had a bath..." Then kinda trailed off. So that's clearly a regift as why would you buy something if you weren't sure. Also Lynx body sets, I usually use the shower gel but I have so many body creams and body butters. I literally just use Aveeno (because I like the smell).

I also got more body stuff for my birthday, so I think we may be in it for the long haul with the MiL.

Also novelty books, I love to read and people always buy me novelty books. They get sent to the charity shop after a flick through.

My mil (who I get on well with usually, she's lovely) never asks us if we want anything specific. She goes to next and buys us all a £30 top. Always the wrong size (size 10, even when I was a 14 post baby, or now, an 8), always horrible, never like I'd ever wear. It means every year I have to go and traipse into town to exchange it (always a bloody gift reciept) so then have to buy something else from next that I don't really want.... first world problems I know. The irony is, I love gift sets, smellies, candles, stationary etc (all the things that people on these threads usually hate!) and I'm very easy to buy for especially in boots gift sets! If she only asked....

Agree with Boots 3 for 2 stuff. My Mum seems to have become obsessed with it in the past few years. She used to buy such thoughtful gifts and now it seems to be whatever crap she can get in Boots.

The worst part of this is if she got me nice makeup I'd be chuffed because I don't spend money on make up myself. I'd rather a Urban Decay palette than another bloody Joules gift set.

MIL buys me what she calls "useful bits and bobs" last year my stocking from MIL included:

A single pack of pocket tissues, a tin of polish, a pj top and bottoms in seperate wrong sizes and clashing patterns, a soap and glory toiletry set, a box of black magic, bright pink mittens, a bottle of knock off perfume from pound land, a pack of sticky notes, a single biro and a pebble paper weight she crafted herself.

I have no idea, why she buys me and my other SIL such random bits of crap. she has known both of us for over 20 years. The toiletry set went to the charity shop and the rest went in the bin, which is not great for the environment.

This year I have politely said it's fine not buy a gift, but no she says "I have already done your stocking bugaboo"
I know this year both SIL and I have the obligatory soap and glory toiletry set.