How to Avoid Getting Rubbish Gardening-Related Christmas Gifts?

[irridium]

Dreading another year's worth of useless presents such as last year's - cheapo whimiscal garden "trug" carved onto the front with "home sweet home" with shixxy fork and trowel set, wildflower seeds impregnated onto the Christmas card, garden all-year-round book and chilli plant pot set. I've tried dropping hints of a seed wish list that I make in the autumn or certain books or gardening vouchers. None of them seem to hear me.

Year on year, it makes me annoyed and want to tell these people don't bother as I'm not doing presents anymore. When I buy for these people, I make sure it's something they would love or is part of their wish list. One good friend always stick to this and I got a Birdies Metal Raised Bed (bought two last year and they're great!)

I’ve just bought myself some loppers on a pole which extends to about 30ft. It’s making me very happy - that’s your telescopic pruner, I presume. I’ve also got a very lightweight set of loppers which looks exactly like a litter picker. I find the trouble with conventional loppers when extended is you cannot get the arms spread enough to get the jaws around the branch. But they’re tough enough to bridge the gap between secateurs and saw, which my litter picker ones aren’t. So when I’m pruning my apples I’m up the step ladder with secateurs, lightweight loppers, heavy duty loppers and pruning saw.

This year I’m asking for pruning saws/new blades.

I’m curious @Apileofballyhoo - is that just for things like jams, chutneys or do you mean you don’t eat friends’ cooked meals?

I eat in friend's homes but often get gifts of baked goods or jars of something or other from acquaintances and I wouldn't eat those. I would from someone I know well. My aunt makes cranberry sauce for all of us at Christmas and my sister often makes me a plum pudding, I eat those! I would have difficulty eating a meal at a friend's or acquaintance's if I saw something like animal hair or a tea towel knocked on the floor and just picked up and used again...

Aah ok. I wonder if many are similar and have concerns about possible poor hygiene practices of the giver.

Reinforces my inclination to reserve my chutneys for myself 😂

I don't give food I've made either, people might not eat it and I make things that I want to eat myself!

Reading AIBU, yes, a lot. There’s regular threads about school fete cake stalls and imaginative suppositions about children wiping their noses then helping with cakes, and there was a thread this week about the horrors of buffets where people contribute a dish.

on the other hand, I’ve never knowingly met someone like this.

I hate gifts - it's a rare day that I'll like one - it's even worse if it's something I need because they will not get me the one I want and I'll have to live with a less liked version. I am quite capable of buying stuff I want - I hold no guilt over spoliing myself. I have asked people to not buy me gifts - my friends insist on birthday gifts - mostly because they want me to buy them something - apparently unwrapping is very exciting for them - it's filled with dread and fake smiling for me. If they must a bottle of good red, or olive oil will do - no flavoured gins, they are mostly revolting. Dh is better behaved and hasn't bought me a gift in 10 years, but does order the odd thing at random times that he thinks I need and he's usually right.