Disappointing/weird/inappropriate christmas gifts

NinjaSavingKat

This year I am single so no weird boyfriend presents to contend with and the family all decided not to do any presents - however a few years ago my current boyfriend new I was going to hit the gym after the NY as you do as I had put on about a stone and was not happy about it but from a fitness background I knew how to go about dealing with it and he knew this.

I offered three choices as did he for gifts... 1 gift as it was expensive - a Micheal Kors watch @ £200. Or a donation towards one..... OR a bottle of my favourite expensive perfume OR a pen (yes I write a lot) that was very special to me that I still want.... Or a donation towards any of them to prevent him over-spending as he did not give me a budget...

What did I get...??

A reebok step, a bosu ball, two club-bells, elastic stretch bands , 2 books on exercise, AND a book on photoshop, a random cd for photoshop ( very expensive) despite me not being in the faintest bit interested in editing photos??.....Microsoft Office for £100 ( that I get at a massively disounted rate of £8.95 at work which he KNEW because we worked for the same company) with the only girly thing I got was a sample set of NEOM bath oils...

Now that epic amount of gifts must have reached at least £300-£350. Very generous. But he didn't listen to me AT all. And not one gift I actually wanted.

So not all gifts are rubbish - some are just thoughtless....come on now...exercise equipment??? Ugh!

dibuzz

Ex MIL worked on the market.
She always bought me clothes, none of which I would have picked myself but one year she gave me a lovely coat. Unfortunately it was the worng size but when I told her she said she couldn't take it back as it had been her Christmas present from one off the stall holders, I then realised where all my presents came from!
She used to get my kids a tin of roses each and the boys a Lynx Africa set. One of them can't use Lynx and has told her many times and his brother ends up with 2 so is sick of it especially as its the fragrance he least likes.
As my birthday is not long after Christmas I always end up with my mum's cast off Christmas presents from her pupils. She nearly always gives me a bottle of white wine (she knows I only drink red) then tells me who she gave the red to.
She also drops hints as to what she would like for Christmas then turns up wearing/using it 2 weeks before having "treated herself" :mad:

Georgiegirl256

NinjaSavingKat wrote: »

however a few years ago my current boyfriend new I was going to hit the gym after the NY as you do as I had put on about a stone and was not happy about it but from a fitness background I knew how to go about dealing with it and he knew this.

Hence why you got loads of exercise equipment, he probably thought he was being thoughtful! Bit daft him getting the Windows for £100 though when he knew he could get it for £8.95!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

By the way, in case nobody realised, some of us didn't get any presents at all this year - like every other year.

And sometimes, it would be nice to have something, no matter how awful or cheap, to open on Christmas Day.

NinjaSavingKat

Georgiegirl256 wrote: »

Hence why you got loads of exercise equipment, he probably thought he was being thoughtful! Bit daft him getting the Windows for £100 though when he knew he could get it for £8.95!

We have a free fully loaded gym with weights at work as well. THAT was my way of dealing with it not stepping to a dvd in my front room... but yes I think he just wanted to help. Just shocked that he asked then ignored my suggestions so blatantly...

However it wasn't the demented kitties or a very special vase of plastic flowers.......:rotfl:

warehouse

TopQuark wrote: »

My sister bought me one of those little hand warmers that work by exothermic reaction when you flip a small disk inside. I've had loads of these things and they always end up as junk after a few uses, something I've mentioned to her before. I know this one will be no different, but she probably thought she was doing me a favour by getting me a new one. She knows my hands get cold skiing, so she was trying to be thoughtful.

Little Hotties, can be purchased for as little as 30p each on ebay. Absolutely fantastic for cold hand sufferers. Those clicky things are useless.

pleasedelete

TopQuark wrote: »

I know this thread is meant to be a bit of a light-hearted laugh and all that, but I can't help feeling a teensy bit uncomfortable with some of the content and intent all the same.

If someone has bothered to spend their time and possibly also money acquiring, wrapping and delivering a gift, no matter how seemingly bizzare, I personally feel it's in bad taste to mock and criticise it.

How would you feel if one of your well-intentioned* gifts was derided and laughed at on the internet? Or perhaps some people believe their own taste and judgement to be so impeccable that any gift they select for another couldn't possibly be met with anything other than squeals of delight and joy?!



Maybe people should take a step back and be a little more grateful that they received anything at all? Getting cool/expensive/matched-to-your-own-personal-style gifts at Christmas is not a right after all.

*I make an exception for gifts that are not well-intentioned and are deliberately offensive or rude to the receiver, as these are obviously not in the spirit of giving.

But they havent spent time have they? Most of these gifts described are the lets buy something just because it is cheap in a sale and pass it off to an unnamed person in the future (aka the reduced Boots christmas set gift). i was in Boots yesterday with people clearing the shelves to buy 'stuff' because it was cheap- one family were discussing how it would make a great gift for 'someone' ....hmm I bet that gets re-gifted or sent to charity .

Or the re-gifted item- we get so much carp and then we recycle it. If I didn't want it then usually no-one else would either. I did a tombola at a school and had over 100 Boots Christmas items donated including the large Gok Wan bags. These were generic gifts bought without thought and so the receiver just gave them away- £000s of pounds worth of wasted money.

We have got into a cycle where it isnt enough to buy 1 small bespoke gift for someone- we have to give lots at Christmas- we cant afford to give lots of nice bespoke items and so we bulk out presents with cheap 'lets buy this just in case' stuff.

The best thing I ever did was to get rid of my present cupboard- it was just full of stuff that i then tried to match to someone later on. I now buy smaller and more bespoke gifts (I also give to a lot less people). I dont really think I saved money overall as bulk buying and storing was a waste (plus if you have debt then a £10 present kept for 2 years might become a £16 present with interest and so its it worth it then?)

I did see in boots yesterday a woman try and take a whole load of stuff back- some they took but a lot was last years and the staff said some of the stuff was so old they couldnt even remember it.

I know that lots of people wont agree and some will say that is the only way they can afford to give. I just ask - does the receiver really need a big gift when a small one chosen for them would be better and do we really need to give at all- as adults do we really need all the presents and stuff that we get.

I can see a point in a gift stash for childrens parties where you probably dont know a child well.

Georgiegirl256

TopQuark wrote: »

I know this thread is meant to be a bit of a light-hearted laugh and all that, but I can't help feeling a teensy bit uncomfortable with some of the content and intent all the same.

If someone has bothered to spend their time and possibly also money acquiring, wrapping and delivering a gift, no matter how seemingly bizzare, I personally feel it's in bad taste to mock and criticise it.

How would you feel if one of your well-intentioned* gifts was derided and laughed at on the internet? Or perhaps some people believe their own taste and judgement to be so impeccable that any gift they select for another couldn't possibly be met with anything other than squeals of delight and joy?!

As an example, my [our] house is decorated with various rugs, pictures, furniture etc from our time spent living in Asia. We have a lot of dark wood and brightly-coloured pieces. I would never dream of having anything beige/duck egg/sage/shabby chic etc as it's not my style. If someone gave me a gift in this style, I probably wouldn't display it prominently, but I would be thankful of it all the same.

My sister bought me one of those little hand warmers that work by exothermic reaction when you flip a small disk inside. I've had loads of these things and they always end up as junk after a few uses, something I've mentioned to her before. I know this one will be no different, but she probably thought she was doing me a favour by getting me a new one. She knows my hands get cold skiing, so she was trying to be thoughtful.

Maybe people should take a step back and be a little more grateful that they received anything at all? Getting cool/expensive/matched-to-your-own-personal-style gifts at Christmas is not a right after all.

*I make an exception for gifts that are not well-intentioned and are deliberately offensive or rude to the receiver, as these are obviously not in the spirit of giving.

I wondered how long it would be before a post like this appeared! :rotfl:

What you are saying is very true, I totally agree, as I've always been brought up to be (try to be!) grateful for whatever I receive, and there does appear to be a lot of ungrateful people on this thread, myself included.

With some gifts, you can see the line of thought behind it, and even if you don't like it, you can see where the giver was coming from and are therefore grateful as the thought was there, but with other gifts, it seriously does make you think wether the giver has put any thought into the gift at all.

In my own particular situation regarding a top off my BIL and SIL, I mean, I know we hardly see them from one year to the next, but she knows how I dress, the kind of accessories I like etc, and the top I got, well even my 78 year old MIL wouldn't wear it! It's like she just went 'oh that'll do, I'd wear that, so she would too', there's nearly 20 years between us!

Georgiegirl256

NinjaSavingKat wrote: »

We have a free fully loaded gym with weights at work as well. THAT was my way of dealing with it not stepping to a dvd in my front room... but yes I think he just wanted to help. Just shocked that he asked then ignored my suggestions so blatantly...

However it wasn't the demented kitties or a very special vase of plastic flowers.......:rotfl:

Well in that case, maybe the guy was just clueless lol! Did you say he was an ex?!

NinjaSavingKat

Georgiegirl256 wrote: »

Well in that case, maybe the guy was just clueless lol! Did you say he was an ex?!

YUP! Not specifically for that reason lthough he got pretty close to it that Christmas Day...:rotfl: