Is there anything you're hoping not to get this year?

[helpmytitsareinatangle]

I know how awfully ungrateful it can sound, but is there anything you're hoping you don't open?

I think for me it's another ladies Lynx set. Really not a fan of it and it always inevitably gets shoved to the back of the cupboard and forgotten about until the next year when more get added to the collection 🙃

It doesn't sound like it, but I am grateful people are thinking of me, but I'd rather just get a nice handwritten card instead 😕

Jo Malone perfume, im still trying to get through the 5 bottles my OH got me for the last 5 xmass'

Unfortunately we're the only ones with DC on my husband's side so can't get away with only buying for the kids 😩
Even if we were to do that, MIL would still insist on buying 'a little something'. In the form of, you guessed it, Lynx.
Honestly I'd rather she just never bothered. I hate hate hate opening gifts in front of people too, I just find it SO awkward and there's only so many times you can fake happy at this type of gift

Maybe I'll just try to spend the next couple of weeks dropping hints 🙃

Oh my God TELL HIM. It shouldn't have reached 5 years! Don't make it 6...

Anything I didn’t choose myself. I’m incredibly picky about everything and dread opening gifts from extended family as it’s 99% likely to be something I won’t use.

My youngest ds has a habit of buying everyone funny character t-shirts. This is very definitely not our thing and is such a waste of money.

My DM keeps threatening to buy me a Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser because I drink hot chocolate a few times a week. I have made it very clear I don't want one, I don't want to have to store it and look after it when I can just melt some milk and chocolate in a pan or the microwave.

I keep telling people to buy me chocolate but honestly I was overwhelmed last year. I'm going to have to ask for some specific things this year.

The annual Amarylis bulb in pot from MIL. I really don't like them, and know she buys them to bulk out presents. Luckily, she otherwise asks if we would like anything special, we get it, she gives us some cash and wraps it. Bit transactional, but if didn't do this we do end up with stuff we don't want/ need/ wouldn't use / not to our taste. So I think I won't hurt her feeling by mentioning the plant.
We tried secret santa amongst the adults last year, and she went and bought loads of extra bits for everyone anyway (don't think she got the idea!).

Alcohol, DH buys me alcohol and then berates me for drinking it !

Hand fucking cream
Wrist warmers
Toiletries, especially soap
Chocolate* and crisps

The above are the shittiest laziest gifts known to man.**

*unless it's ones you really love and enjoy

**hyperbole, obvz

Berate him for buying it! How has he not cottoned on after the first couple of years?

Fat.

Covid

The first thing my daughter bought me herself was Toffeefee (sp?). I did such a good job of fake liking them because it was her first ever gift, that I now get them every single year 😭

Norovirus or anything similar tbh 😂

Hand them over! I love these!

I’ve received some really thoughtless gifts in the last couple of years, the kind that make you wonder if there’s been a mix up and you’ve received one meant for someone else. So hopefully nothing more like that! I don’t mind if it’s something I don’t like/use if the buyer thought I would.

I must be easy to please. I'd love nearly all of these presents. Not Lynx - evil stuff, or Sanctuary, as it brings me out in a really bad rash. Or body lotion as I rarely use it, but pot plants, wrist warmers, notebooks, Jo Malone perfume, pillow spray, novels, candles, scarves, red Lindt balls - I love all these.

My pet hate is novelty gifts. DH buys some every year. Things like - really cheap nylon socks wrapped up to look like sushi rolls !!!! Hey what fun!! Nope. Shit socks that never get opened. Or Cake in a mug!!!! That's a shit mug with some horrible UPF powders that will make a shit cake. I will make a nice cake and I'd love a pretty mug. I don't want an inflatable Munch Scream or any other dust gathering tat. But things you can actually use I love.

Beauty products I won't use. I only use a few very specific bits of make up so it's a waste of money. Clothes from primark or similar that are rubbish quality so not flattering. Jackets that my sisters would like but I don't like.

My mum buys me lots of things so I have lots to open but a lot of it is tat I really don't want. She means well but I would really rather she kept her money. It's not optional and she will keep doing it whatever I say so now I list some things I would like eg a face cream I would use so I will get them but also other things I hate waste and I wish she would just spend the money on herself.

Raffaello chocolates. Bits of desiccated coconut fly off the outside and get everywhere and the interior is sickly sweet . No thanks - not again!

I'm intrigued why getting a pot plant makes you think people see you as old. I've loved getting pot plants since I was in my twenties. One of my favourite things in new year is to clear away all the Christmas decorations and fill the house with pots of white cyclamen and blue hyacinths and yellow narcissi and massive amaryllis - it makes me feel like spring is on the way.

I buy my teen dd pot plants. She bloody loves them.

I had the best Christmas the year I gave my friends a list of things I don't like, rather than a list of things I wanted. But it slightly backfired when I got a gift from a friend I hadn't thought would get me anything, and all our other friends secretly knew I did not want a large coffee mug with 'mmmmmm coffee' written all over it. Obvs thanked her nicely and she never found out, but still felt a bit awkward.

Toiletries. Everybody in my family knows I have sensitive skin and eczema and anything with a fragrance is a no-go BUT I still get “smellies” every year. It is pointless and they get chucked in the bin with the wrapping paper now.

For years I tried to use them out of politeness but I’m not putting up with itchy burning skin anymore.

I don't like those scented stick things in s bottle. But I have made it clear now no more. Admittedly this was considered suitable for Mother's day or Valentines. I remember my mum used to get an Olay gift set from my aunt, her sister in law and my nan when she passed had a suitcase full of Avon toiletries.

Last year a friend shared with me a message she’d sent in her family and friends group chats. It went along the lines of;

No thank you…
No mugs, thank you - my cupboard is full
No books - I have specific tastes and prefer to choose my own
No clothing - see ‘books’
No smellies - my skin will not comply
No ornaments - I prefer to be clutter-free
No seasonal knick knacks - once Christmas Day is done, it’s DONE.

I admired her chutzpah at the time, and am sorely tempted to send it round my message groups this year!

The Flu

Donate them to charity/tombolas? How wasteful to put them in the bin.