Some people at xmas make me mad!!!

gelato_cat

Blimey, she sounds very immature. Fancy having nothing better to do than ring your DIL every week asking what's for Christmas!

As for her being materialistic, I bet she wouldn't like it if you bought her present in the sales like she does for you!

If she doesn't like the hamper, just be glad that you're not as small-minded and petty as she is. One day she'll realise life's too short...

Suze

dlb wrote:

This year i have been making home-made hampers for the people i buy for thanks to all the great ideas you have all given me. But i am so worried about the one for my FIL + MIL, It looks beautiful and is the most expensive one i have made, it has lots of food items, pickles, expensive t-bags,biscuits ect and 2 books and a scarf for MIL.

The thing is she the MIL is so materialistic, she normal TELLS US in august what she wants for xmas and it is never cheap!! So beat her to it this year and told them before they told me that we had sorted out their xmas pressie.

She has phoned me every week asking what it is, i havent told her told her it is a surprise, but she keeps asking.:mad:
She bought us a slow cooker in Feb for this xmas!! We always get our gift very early they get them in the sales which is great but i wish they would wait until dec to give them to us!!!

Now i am so worried as i know she isnt going to be impressed with the hamper as it wouldnt be what she picked herself. She keeps dropping hints about how much they have spent on us in past years.:mad: :mad:

Does anyone else have relatives like this???

culpepper

Well I certainly wouldn't tell anyone what I had spent on them at Christmas!
It's none of their business!
You could always label the hamper 'the pamper hamper' or some such thing.Printing out the label and wrapping the whole lot in selophane.
She wont know where it came from or how much it cost.
Fancy weighing everyones present value like that. It must be awful having to listen to all that.
Im afraid if it was me ,I would be inclined to forgo the kids holidays as I would hate to feel beholden to them.

gelato_cat

Is it just your MIL or is your FIL the same?

If she says something like this again, I'd be inclined to say "oh, I'm sure she won't mind - just the knowledge that you love her so much is gift enough" and watch her face :rotfl:

Suze

dlb wrote:

Our main worry was they can be very spiteful, last year they told me sil only spent x amount of pounds on us so thats all we will be spending on her next year!!

MissBehaving

fishface-69 wrote:

You dont demand presents & if she cant see the love in it I go with giving her a £10 gift voucher next year - that'll shut her up!

£10???????? I would have thought that was way to generous.:eek:

We dont give anything to our parents anymore... any present that they get comes from DD. ... And they would breathe their last breath if they pulled up their noses at that.

Personally I think these hampers are wonderful. I am seriously reconsidering my idea of gifts!!!!!! :idea:

nearlyrich

What a witch I hope I never turn into a MIL like that when my two get hitched. I think it's really difficult to find a present to please someone so materialistic and the fact that you have put so much effort into this years present should count for some brownie points. Don't worry about it for the next few weeks till Christmas, if she doesn't appreciate it more fool her.

Redbedhead

Your pressie idea sounds lovely and you appear to have put a lot of thought, time and effort in to it. Anyone should be pleased to receive it.

Unfortunately you will never make some people happy and it sounds like your mil is one of them (I know, I also have a mil like that!!). Last year mine sent Hubbie a list of what she wanted for them. Now I don't mind a list, if we had asked for one, but we hadn't. Everything on their list was quite expensive and was specific, i.e. not a fleece, size 12, but this make of fleece in this colour etc.

It was made worse by hubbies birthday being just before Christmas and the fact they had spent no money (normally wouldn't matter but they had just come in to a lot of money, have no mortgage etc) and put no thought
in to it (which bothered me the most) into his birthday pressie, then provided us with this list a week or so later. Needless to say they got things we had thought of that were in our price range.

Don't let what she thinks bother you - her reaction to the pressie says much more about her than it does about you.

rebl43

If I were you, depending on her reaction to the hamper of course, I would wait until after Christmas and suggest to her that you should both stop buying presents for each other, and just get something extra for the kids. I would probably mention something about unwanted gifts too but thats just me...........

MrsTinks

My OHs mother is a bit like this... although don't get me wrong she'd be nice about whatever we got them I am sure! But before I moved in he went up to visit them and buy her and his sister a birthday pressie... several hundred pounds on his cards later... I was gobsmacked! He'd never spend that on himself and they would certainly never spend it on him! Yes he has a good job but he has debt of his own, a house with bills and so on and it really really grated me how much they took for granted he would spend!
I never expect a present from them (his sister can't afford to in all honesty so that's more than fair enough, we will still send pressies for his niece tho).

In laws - who'd have 'em huh? :rotfl:

dlb

LOL some off your post have made me smile, how i would love just to hand her a lump of coal!!!!

Every year she tells us they are only going to buy for the kids next xmas, and then around Feb they turn up with our pressie for next xmas!!! Then around aug she starts hinting that she will get us abit of something else as we have already had our present, this is her lead up to "because would you please get me a really expensive pressie!!!!"

I think i will this year tell them, that all our gifts will be surprises from now on.And that most will be homemade, if this means the kids get less ( which it will) then i dont mind as they get pleny from Santa.

Thanks all of you for making me feel better!!
Donna
xx

jockettuk

tine wrote:

My OHs mother is a bit like this... although don't get me wrong she'd be nice about whatever we got them I am sure! But before I moved in he went up to visit them and buy her and his sister a birthday pressie... several hundred pounds on his cards later... I was gobsmacked! He'd never spend that on himself and they would certainly never spend it on him! Yes he has a good job but he has debt of his own, a house with bills and so on and it really really grated me how much they took for granted he would spend!
I never expect a present from them (his sister can't afford to in all honesty so that's more than fair enough, we will still send pressies for his niece tho).

In laws - who'd have 'em huh? :rotfl:

oh how this sounds like my life lol.. ive had to restrain my other halfs spending on his family as the more he gave the more they wanted and the less he got..