The perfect Christmas present........NOT

Julius said:

Yes, you are right, Candycane. The way my manager reacted you'd have thought I'd done something really awful! I thought I was being direct, yet tactful. I was really surprised when I was expected to justify my decision. I hate Secret Santa. It's always suggested by some awful person who thinks it will be "fun" and they are more than likely just trying to raise their profile within the business. Secret Santa is awful. I'm so glad I had the strength to resist it this year!

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Rejecting participation in Secret Santa is, in some people's eyes, akin to telling everyone you're a serial killer.

Brissles said:

At our local village Xmas fair, the local church sell mystery gift bags at £1 each. Each one contains unwanted unopened gifts, and people buy up to 10 at a time ! It's a popular stall - they make a lot money for the church and people love a surprise. I'm told people get them instead of crackers for the dinner table. I've got 5 to open on Xmas morning as I live alone - if I get rubbish that's OK it's all the luck of the draw. One year I had a box of new Molton Brown handcream for a £1. Everyone saves their gift bags/shop carriers throughout the year for the church to use. So if possible don't bin that awful present, someone may love it !

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That's a great idea.

Today I saw a couple of the SS presents, one lady quite obviously has been given a small pack of Celebrations chocolates or similar going by the shape of the package whilst somebody else has been given not one but 2 bottles of decent Fizz! It's a blinking lottery. I'm actually quite surprised that it went ahead this year considering we have so many new people working there right now so nobody really knows anybody that well, so I'm reckoning on a lot of easy options....though I'd be more than happy to receive the 2 bottles of fizz!

merryone said:

Today I saw a couple of the SS presents, one lady quite obviously has been given a small pack of Celebrations chocolates or similar going by the shape of the package whilst somebody else has been given not one but 2 bottles of decent Fizz! It's a blinking lottery. I'm actually quite surprised that it went ahead this year considering we have so many new people working there right now so nobody really knows anybody that well, so I'm reckoning on a lot of easy options....though I'd be more than happy to receive the 2 bottles of fizz!

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Merry, there's fizz and there's fizz!! Could be two bottles of that disgusting cheap bucks fizz!! The £1.99 a bottle stuff

Cashers said:

Merry, there's fizz and there's fizz!! Could be two bottles of that disgusting cheap bucks fizz!! The £1.99 a bottle stuff

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It was none of that crap I can tell you! They’d have both been round the £8- £10 mark and normally dearer as on promotion at the moment and with added staff discount- a winner of a present!

Cashers said:

Merry, there's fizz and there's fizz!! Could be two bottles of that disgusting cheap bucks fizz!! The £1.99 a bottle stuff

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Yes, I got that from my nephew one year and (not wanting to be ungrateful but) I was a bit disappointed seeing as I buy him the best of everything and always have done. I know you don't give to receive but he's working and lives at home so can't say he's got no money. More like couldn't be bothered? Make an effort or don't buy anything.

CC

candycane said:

Yes, I got that from my nephew one year and (not wanting to be ungrateful but) I was a bit disappointed seeing as I buy him the best of everything and always have done. I know you don't give to receive but he's working and lives at home so can't say he's got no money. More like couldn't be bothered? Make an effort or don't buy anything.

CC

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One year we received A wooden. cheese. board. Possibly with a cutty thing, but it was **** nonetheless. What made it even more **** was that it was bought in the previous years Lakeland January Sale. Adding to the **** factor (is that possible?) was that he gifters had inherited (circa) 1.5 million the previous year, one of whom is Mr B's brother - AKA the Patron Saint of Arseholes.

You should have seen my thankyou letter (Mommy dragged me up proper). Something like 'Just what we wanted'. The word 'splendid' also featured at least once . It was some of my best work.

SisterBliss said:

One year we received A wooden. cheese. board. Possibly with a cutty thing, but it was **** nonetheless. What made it even more **** was that it was bought in the previous years Lakeland January Sale. Adding to the **** factor (is that possible?) was that he gifters had inherited (circa) 1.5 million the previous year, one of whom is Mr B's brother - AKA the Patron Saint of Arseholes.

You should have seen my thankyou letter (Mommy dragged me up proper). Something like 'Just what we wanted'. The word 'splendid' also featured at least once . It was some of my best work.

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Yes, it's one of those things that get gifted year on year and let's face it anyone who feels that they need a cheeseboard with a cheese wire or special knives would've bought one for themselves. If you do receive one chances are it'll come out once a year if you've got guests round for Christmas or it'll go straight in the charity shop donation bag. My ex husband had a cheese cutter thing it had a small marble base and a wire attached, he said it had been given to him as a gift but he never used it and was just out on the work surface for decorative purposes. I used it a couple of times when I moved in with him and I decided I didn't really need to slice cheese like a pro and then the wire snapped and back in pre-Amazon days that was that, unless you were prepared to put in a lot of legwork and I wasn't! It went in the bin. Me too with the thank you letters - "Thank you for the cheese wire, it's the best thing since sliced bread, well sliced cheese, I shall use it every day and think of you when I'm cutting my cheddar".
Back to the subject of my workplace SS - I told this woman today that your present has been left behind the counter and she said "Christ, I still have to buy mine"! I asked her, "who have you got"? She said I don't know 'cause when I went to pick a name the box with all the names in it had been lost!!! She said I'm gonna just have to buy something gender neutral like a bottle of wine and stick it behind one of the counters addressed to the person who didn't get a present. The chances are, more than one person won't get a gift - What a bliddy shambles eh?! I'm well out of it!

SisterBliss said:

One year we received A wooden. cheese. board. Possibly with a cutty thing, but it was **** nonetheless. What made it even more **** was that it was bought in the previous years Lakeland January Sale. Adding to the **** factor (is that possible?) was that he gifters had inherited (circa) 1.5 million the previous year, one of whom is Mr B's brother - AKA the Patron Saint of Arseholes.

You should have seen my thankyou letter (Mommy dragged me up proper). Something like 'Just what we wanted'. The word 'splendid' also featured at least once . It was some of my best work.

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"Dying fly emoji 20 x over". I thought that was just my family Sister.

They never had SS in any of the places I worked!

stratobuddy said:

They never had SS in any of the places I worked!

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Lucky you Strato

candycane said:

Lucky you Strato

candycane said:

"Dying fly emoji 20 x over". I thought that was just my family Sister.

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I'm still mourning the loss of the Dying Fly Emoji (DFE)

Incidentally, you can buy these amusing looking jelly baby type sweeties in replica medicine packaging. The label says C**tibiotics.

merryone said:

This has given me an idea - Be your own secret Santa! Instead of taking a chance upon receiving something you really want just treat yourself to something lovely to the tune of a tenner, £15 or what have you! You can have fun finding the perfect gift for yourself without the stress, the time constraint or the having to wrap it. I’m sure at this time of year we forget to treat ourselves to something nice. Let’s face it - we deserve it!

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Well I've taken my own advice and I've done it! Even though there's actually nothing I need, I thought to myself "what would I really like?" Now I really love a brooch so I thought why not look around for a nice vintage one and as I only wanted to spend secret santa money I went onto Ebay and for £15 and a couple of quid in postage I bagged myself a collection of 10 (perfect condition) of which there's only 2 I wasn't that keen on and they'll go into the charity donation bag, but the rest are gorgeous! Any one of the nice ones popped in a little pouch would make an ideal secret santa present for the right recipient, and the rest you can keep for yourself or put in the present drawer, so you haven't spent over the top. It took little or no effort so that why it grates on me so much that people agree to take part in a SS when they're not prepared to put any thought into it or will spend way under the suggested spend amount.

An article in a newspaper quoted statistics about the least appreciated Christmas presents. Almost 50 percent were bath products and candles. People either donate them or recycle them to other people. Surprising results, I thought.

Grizelda said:

An article in a newspaper quoted statistics about the least appreciated Christmas presents. Almost 50 percent were bath products and candles. People either donate them or recycle them to other people. Surprising results, I thought.

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It depends upon the quality, I'd be happy to receive luxury bath products or a yankee jar, but a gift set from Tesco or a low end retailer like Home Bargains yes they'd be donated straight away. I think if you're gonna buy someone a xmas gift, then make it something a bit more special. I'd be happy to receive a box of fudge for feeding somebody's cat whilst they're away but not for Christmas. I would say that mugs are the most undesirable thing, everybody's got loads of them!

SisterBliss said:

One year we received A wooden. cheese. board. Possibly with a cutty thing, but it was **** nonetheless. What made it even more **** was that it was bought in the previous years Lakeland January Sale. Adding to the **** factor (is that possible?) was that he gifters had inherited (circa) 1.5 million the previous year, one of whom is Mr B's brother - AKA the Patron Saint of Arseholes.

You should have seen my thankyou letter (Mommy dragged me up proper). Something like 'Just what we wanted'. The word 'splendid' also featured at least once . It was some of my best work.

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Good for you, SB - I hope they got the message (but I doubt it, people like this are often too thick or just can't be bothered). We laugh about it now, but a good friend was given three identical boxes of the same supermarket chocolate mints by a nephew and his wife (she'd definitely not specified that they were her favourites, she doesn't even like chocolate mints). This was after they'd given her a list two months before Christmas, specifying exactly what people were 'permitted' to buy for their small child (they only wanted gifts from certain named brands). This year she's bought nothing for any of them ('see them in the very hot place before I ever buy them anything' was the phrase she used).

Personally I'd have also been tempted to tell them where to stick their list, but I do like to speak my mind...

merryone said:

Well I've taken my own advice and I've done it! Even though there's actually nothing I need, I thought to myself "what would I really like?" Now I really love a brooch so I thought why not look around for a nice vintage one and as I only wanted to spend secret santa money I went onto Ebay and for £15 and a couple of quid in postage I bagged myself a collection of 10 (perfect condition) of which there's only 2 I wasn't that keen on and they'll go into the charity donation bag, but the rest are gorgeous! Any one of the nice ones popped in a little pouch would make an ideal secret santa present for the right recipient, and the rest you can keep for yourself or put in the present drawer, so you haven't spent over the top. It took little or no effort so that why it grates on me so much that people agree to take part in a SS when they're not prepared to put any thought into it or will spend way under the suggested spend amount.

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Well done you, merryone - what a great result, those vintage brooches sound lovely - and with the charity bag donation too it's a win-win. I love vintage brooches, especially the little flower basket type ones, with coloured paste stones.

My family and me are all senior citizens and made the decision about 7 ago not to buy each other presents. None of us needed anything. The few years before that we used to ask each other what we wanted. Sister - garden vouchers, Brother-in-law - wine vouchers, me - Wool warehouse vouchers! We decided we’d just have a meal out together in January.

merryone said:

Yes, it's one of those things that get gifted year on year and let's face it anyone who feels that they need a cheeseboard with a cheese wire or special knives would've bought one for themselves. If you do receive one chances are it'll come out once a year if you've got guests round for Christmas or it'll go straight in the charity shop donation bag. My ex husband had a cheese cutter thing it had a small marble base and a wire attached, he said it had been given to him as a gift but he never used it and was just out on the work surface for decorative purposes. I used it a couple of times when I moved in with him and I decided I didn't really need to slice cheese like a pro and then the wire snapped and back in pre-Amazon days that was that, unless you were prepared to put in a lot of legwork and I wasn't! It went in the bin. Me too with the thank you letters - "Thank you for the cheese wire, it's the best thing since sliced bread, well sliced cheese, I shall use it every day and think of you when I'm cutting my cheddar".

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I have one of those cheesboards with wire and its still in its cellophane.

I do like cheese, but living alone I don't really need to put the cheese and crackers on the table.

My family know what to get me for birthdays and Xmas - TKMaxx vouchers. I always find something I want (though rarely need)

A friend had a friend, well yes I did know her. And every year my friend got bath salt cubes from the other friend. Now, they had been friends for years and my friend never had a bath, only a shower in her house.