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!

My MIL is the sweetest person ever. I could not say a bad word about her. But every Christmas and birthday she gets me fluffy socks. Been with dh for 13 years and so I now have 26 pairs..

Bathsalts, enough body lotion to fill a lake and Dairy Milk chocolates ARGHHHHHH!!!

Topseyt It's really hard to read him, because 99% of the time he's thoughtful and generous, if mildly eccentric, but every now and again he'll say or do something that stings! I suspect he may well think veganism is rubbish, but he may just genuinely be oblivious

Either way I hope we don't have another Christmas of dd1 unwrapping a Cadbury's selection box and having to mutter thanks - followed by a big discussion of what she's having for Christmas lunch AND WHY

It's just getting really old now (I buy the choc off her, so she doesn't lose out in the end)

My mum definitely falls in the category of buying something discounted so it looks like you're getting more for less, but actually, it's just something that's not quite right (but we tend to stick to a £10 per head limit, so at least it's not too much of a waste). They always try to get something different for DH - 1 decent bottle of wine would be perfect, but no, whisky tasting set (doesn't drink whisky) or something along those lines.

I feel quite sorry for DD. PIL have 3 granddaughters and a grandson. They assume the granddaughters all like the same things, so will buy stocking fillers along the same lines - cute bobble hats, or special hair drying towels or something. My nieces are quite 'girly', interested in hair, make-up and clothes. My DD is complete opposite, doesn't do anything with her hair (including brushing it as it's curly and nieces are straight), won't wear make-up, and is quite alternative in clothes style. But she gets the same things, and they never leave the gift bags until I find them and send them to recycling.

@Lyricallie oh novelty books! I had ‘Book to read on the loo‘ (that was the actual title!) last year .

All these comments bring back so many memories. MIL used to buy us big bags of random presents when we were first going out. There’d be candles, hand warmers, a horoscope diary (Every day has a ‘prediction’), keyrings.

Boots 3 for 2 are the last resort of the tired, frazzled and desperate. You know you’ve hit a shopping wall if you’re staring blankly at a soap and glory shower puff set. Unless they’ve been specifically requested of course. (I asked for a little Clinique set from there this year!)

When I was in my teens various rellies would always get me gifts such as hankie sets and pocket diaries - they must have thought I was about 80! Later on, word got around that I like cats - cue mugs, fridge magnets, brooches, earrings....all emblazoned with images of cats! I never had the heart to say I like the animal but don’t especially want to wear them.

@SockDrawer

Ooo I really fancy a box of Black Magic now.

So do I!

Terry’s chocolate orange. My ex used to buy me the 3 for 2 deal at Tesco’s and that was it every single year.

Baylis & Harding, Heathcote & Ivory, Ted Baker. Lots of that stuff, heavily packaged, never use all the bits so just send to he charity shop. Martin Lewis has some good things to say about pointless gifting between adults.... But it rumbles on. Some of the worst crap seems to be in the 'gift' sections (hot choc set, spa set, 'bloke' gifts). The charity shops must be awash in January...

A hamper containing homemade cake (that's the good bit), a jar of instant coffee and a bottle of supermarket shampoo. Many years ago when DH and I were students in our first flat together DH's gran sent us a care package, containing loads of household basics (not that gifty, but we were pretty skint, so it was useful). In a phone call to his gran he thanked her and said he was currently drinking the coffee, he also mentioned that we'd run out of shampoo on boxing day, so it was actually quite handy she's sent some as the shops were closed (just small talk, trying to sound appreciative of the slightly bizarre gift).

It's now 15 years later, we're no longer poor students, we own our own home and DH has a successful business but his gran still feels she's helping us out with a £1 bottle of wash and go. It does come from a good place though, she lived through the rationing so still thinks of coffee and toiletries as luxuries, even basic ones. And the cake is delicious.

Bath foamy things. I have a bath maybe once a year.

Oil and vinegar set. Never use them, off they go to xmas fayre every year. Only this year there isn't one

@Batleytownswomensguild Those bath net things - I get one every year - I genuinely don't know what they're for. Cleaning the bath? They seem a bit scratchy.
Wishing you all a bubble-free Christmas! (I'm fervently hoping that if COVID prevents us from visiting, the sodding bubble bath sets will be too heavy to post.)

@katy1213 the body puff things? They are for exfoliating your body.

Well, now I know! Thank you. Just as well I didn't re-gift with a bottle of Jif!

Bath fizzer’s every year without fail. Love the smell but hate the time it takes to clean the bath afterwards

@katy1213 have never actually tried to clean with them but the Exfoliating gloves work marvellously to clean tiles and around the taps

I love the plastic body puff thingies. Tiny bit of shower cream and they lather up beautifully. I use them all the time. Quite happy to swop with anybody and you can have my “nice bottle of Lambrusco” my mum always buys !

Yes I too am happy with a puff! Could use a new one actually... and I agree that exfoliation mits or gloves clean really well.

It's so funny how one woman's shit gift is another's appreciated basic- we are all so different!

@theyseeherrowling similar to me, ive been dairy and wheat free due to intolerances since me and dh have been together (13 and a half years) mil buys everyone a fancy pudding from m&s like ice cream or trifle and goes all out on a buffet. She offers me some pudding every year or time we go over. Last year my response was "I would love to but unfortunately if I ate that I would shit myself" now I bring my own food in tuperware rather than just eating some cold new potatoes and leftover meat. She buys everyone a selection box giving them in front of me just not bothering with an alternative for me.

Ugh nocutsnobuttsnococonuts why are some people such dicks! Love your response last year though

FGS it’s not being picky or a lifestyle choice . You have intolerances ! I just don’t get some people’s thoughtlessness. I think I would be inclined to buy myself a suitable wheat and dairy free selection box and take it out of my bag when everyone else gets theirs and pointedly say “ I thought I would treat myself to a selection box this year as the dairy and wheat free are so widely available. Sorry I can’t offer you some” Some might think that petty but might make your mean MIL a bit embarrassed about her thoughtlessness

@TheDaydreamBelievers

Yes I too am happy with a puff! Could use a new one actually... and I agree that exfoliation mits or gloves clean really well.

It's so funny how one woman's shit gift is another's appreciated basic- we are all so different!

I don't like puffs, because they wriggle about too much when I'm trying to use them; but I've got a loofah mitt which I love. It's amazing how much dead skin comes off.

@user1493413286

Candles or moisturiser; I don’t use either and normally end up regifting both. I love a luxurious shower gel but they also seem to come with a moisturiser that I won’t use

Agreed. So many people seem to use the shower gel or bubble bath in these sets but not the moisturiser. Why can't they just sell a duo of the former? 🙄

@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

That's a bit mean. I have been vegan for 16yrs and the amount of choice there is now compared to 16yrs ago is incredible. Have you written down a list of suitable ones? If you do and he still buys non vegan then you know he is being an a-hole.