Anybody else hate receiving presents?))

[BarrowInFurnessRailwayStation]

I cannot stand receiving presents. It goes right through me and I feel like running away.

I don't celebrate my birthday and I tell dh and the dcs I don't want christmas presents.

Anybody else like this?

I feel the same way, I love to give presents but find it really difficult to receive them and I get really tongue tied and embarrassed

I hate presents but it’s because people invariably buy stuff I don’t want, which is a waste of money and a waste of the planet’s resources because I just put it in the bin.

Yes! Luckily cutting down on waste for environmental reasons seems to be a more acceptable way of saying stop giving me presents. Except for a certain kind of person who genuinely seems to give presents as a form of control.

I agree. I also dislike giving presents, I get fear about whether I’ve overstepped the mark and misread the situation.

Yeah, I don't like the waste either.

If someone gives me something it makes me feel obligated towards the person giving the gift. Like they've forced a connection on me. I don't like the dynamics at all.

Yep, I hate presents. It's not that I hate the actual gift item, it's the expectation of a certain behaviour.
I refuse to be watched opening presents, I open them on my own.

I have this. I don't like clutter or having too many 'things', and equally I really dislike waste. So I like to chose items very carefully and if people buy something that isn't what I'd chose I feel they've prevented me getting a thing I'd really like (poor DH once bought me a set of saucepans because I'd said I was going to buy some, but I'd have preferred to spend several weeks/months considering different ones and then make a choice). DH is good at getting me what I choose nowadays, and DMIL is amazing at picking things, she has a sixth sense. I like gifts like flowers because they're not expected to be permanent and I'm not committed to them.

I also get very awkward, I can be really pleased with a gift but know that I look very unimpressed (extreme RBF) and then I gush a bit and worry it looks really insincere.

At Christmas, DH’s family do it where one present is opened at a time while everyone watches (in my family we just opened them more casually, with no specific attention focused on each present being opened). I hate it so much, but I can hardly take my presents off to a different room. I just never know how to be genuine, and overthink how my genuinely pleased face would look, so even if I love the present all I’m thinking is “do I look like I love it, or is this too much, does it look fake, better tone down my smile, oh crap, what if now I look disappointed???” And because I’m a big reader I get a lot of books, I love books, but effusive gratitude is hard when you’ve not read it - “ooh this look interesting, thanks!” But then I’ve got 5 more to open and can’t re-use that phrase every time.

Argh I find the whole thing exhausting. But I don’t mind the gifts themselves, although I do hate the waste, and the clutter that comes from DD’s endless toys from very generous grandparents/great grandparents.

I hate the performative aspect of if it.

Me too. I have very specific tastes and hate random clutter/ waste. I also find surprises very stressful. But then on the other hand, I don’t want to just know exactly what I am getting in advance 😆 I am a nightmare to buy for though always polite and grateful. Most of my gifts end up at the charity shop soon afterwards.