The Christmas Non Wish List

[MissTaken]

Yep! Your all time worst Christmas gifts....

Did you ever get a gift that you actually returned to the store so you could purchase something you might actually enjoy?

You know, what gift was it that you rolled your eyes at or said "Thank you" through clenched teeth.

What gifts ended up in your yard sale, unopened?

Let's make a non wish list so that other litsters won't make the same mistakes for their friends and loved ones!

 

[Cerberus666]

luckily my friends and family are fairly practical. If they don't know what to get they usually send along some money. Those who know me know what to get.

 

[penguindance]

 

[Ice Cold]

I'm quite detailed about my list, becuase my family knows that I have & will take anything back to the store and exchange it.

 

[MissTaken]

The last gift my long distance brother ever got me was a foot water massager thingamabob.

It looked sort of like a bedpan with an electrical chord.

Ack!

Now, it is strictly gift cards to JC Penny's!

 

[MissTaken]

I'm quite detailed about my list, becuase my family knows that I have & will take anything back to the store and exchange it.

I like some element of surprise, but did learn with my ex, that surprises weren't good things.

The detailed list is a good idea, depending on how you handle those little surprises.

 

[Ice Cold]

I usually give them several options so there is some element of surprise. The idea seemed good after someone gave my sister a gift she didn't like. She opened it up and burst right into tears in front of it becuase she thought it was horrendous.

But somethings, like parents you can't account for, try to go one step beyond. That would explain the denim skull jacket with the fringes on the sleeve that has never been worn and has not left the confines of the closet in the years since.

 

[MissTaken]

I have a picture of me when I was about seven. It's Christmas, and I have just opened a pair of he-man pajamas. My aunt got matching pairs for me and my brothers. If that's not a look of disgust, I don't know what is!

My grandmother used to get my brother and I matching sets.

A pair of pants and shirt for him and a jumper for me of the same fabric.

Ummm but who likes their brother in grade school?
I certainly didn't want to have to admit he was mine

 

[Ladyhawke]

I once made my guy return a sweater he got me because it was so bad. Then I took the money and bought one I liked. It was heartless but even my grandmother wouldn't have worn it.

 

[freakygirl]

The last gift my long distance brother ever got me was a foot water massager thingamabob.

It looked sort of like a bedpan with an electrical chord.

Ack!

Now, it is strictly gift cards to JC Penny's!

Oh.. You should have kept it and used it. It is great for tired feeties.

I have one and love it. Mine has heat and message on it.

It's heaven!

 

[MissTaken]

I think I took it back and got a bread maker.


Yummy!

 

[Cheyenne]

The last gift my long distance brother ever got me was a foot water massager thingamabob.

It looked sort of like a bedpan with an electrical chord.

Ack!

Now, it is strictly gift cards to JC Penny's!

I got one of those a few years ago! I actually used it once. When I cleaned out my closet earlier this year, I put the foot soak/massage thing on the curb with a note saying it was "free" and only used once. No one took it! Most times, stuff on the curb disappears overnight. This time the thing got thrown into the garbage truck the next day when it came for the weekly pick up.

 

[morninggirl5]

Five years in a row, my aunt gave me a photo album. I never take pictures and i have no idea what i did with all of those photo albums.

I'm very hard to shop for. Unless it's something i've specifically said, "i want that" the best present for me is a gift certificate to a book store. Anything else and i'm always disappointed. I think my family has finally learned this lesson. I hope they have, anyway.

 

[Agent99]

I once got a used (hand-me-down) Monopoly® game. It only had 2 tokens (the car and the shoe I believe) and half the money was missing.

There went the dream of becoming a real estate mogul or banker.

 

[batter]

my ex always bought me long sleeve shirts. she knew i couldnt wear them because they wouldnt fit lenght wise. i always had to get them returned. when i was back to work, and she would usually get the money back and buy lunch for her and the kids and something for the kids.

i wound up with no relplacement gifts.

 

[Cherry]

Money ... I hate getting money as a present.

It makes me feel like it's an obligatory present that someone didn't care enough to shop for.

 

[Mischka]

My mother always saved the "big" gifts for last on Christmas morning, and made my younger brother and I alternate opening our presents. When I was a college sophomore, it was my turn to open last. Our final boxes were the same size, and wrapped in the same paper. My brother opened his, and it was a 27" inch TV.

I enthusiastically ripped my present open, to discover the same TV box inside. However, it felt considerably lighter. Upon opening the box, I discovered a lifetime supply of tampons and pads inside. My mother thought it was a nice touch that my brother and I had the same size gifts to open, and even asked the electronics store for an extra TV box. I really love my mom, but she is simply the worst gift giver sometimes.

 

[Cheyenne]

Upon opening the box, I discovered a lifetime supply of tampons and pads inside.

You win!

 

[Freya]

My grandma is famous for giving recycled gifts. My cousins in the States get presents they don't want, send them up to Canada with her to distribute - she saves them and gives them out as presents the next Christmas. She also used to buy my daughter and my young cousin exactly the same clothes for Christmas every year - my daughter is at least 4 yrs older, and a tomboy where this kid was a girly girl. She gives my sister-in-law and I charity bags each year - with cleaning supplies, shampoo, tea towels etc. We like them but she, I think, only shops at the dollar store or in her own cupboards for stuff. One year mine included a package of J cloths, opened, with one taken out. The same year, I got a little Clinique box from her - filled with hotel soaps, shampoos and the free gifts that Clinique gives out when you buy enough stuff - like makeup remover samples and stuff. Needless to say, it's always interesting trying to figure out where she got our free Christmas gifts from every year.

 

[ksmybuttons]

My husband would take my stepson shopping for me. I always ended with something kitch. The best was a round fish bowl with a comical guy and a fish made of wax attached. It wasn't even a candle that I could politely burn and throw away.

I hate cutsie stuff.

After that one, I gave strict instructions, the gift must be expendable, like candles, candy, incense, and paper. My husband knows that jewelry is always appropriate and it had better not come from the Monet counter at the local May's owned subsiduary.

 

[ExLimey]

I put the foot soak/massage thing on the curb with a note saying it was "free" and only used once. No one took it! Most times, stuff on the curb disappears overnight.

Chey, the trick to getting things taken from the curb is to put up a sign that says "$50". Then someone will steal it because they think it's worth something to you. If you just say "free", they'll know it's ultimately garbage!

I once got a plug in, heated windshield ice-scraper. This was give by a friend who's probably never seen snow in their life, so I kind of understood how they thought it would be useful. I've never used it (I do still have it somewhere.)

For those is warm climates, ice is very easy to scrape of the windshield. Heating it would make it melt and make it more difficult and could also crack your windshield.

Even though I once was a Limey, I do not refer to them as "windscreens"

 

[Mischka]

You win!

My battery operated Hulk Hogan Thunder Mixer - complete with decals of Hulk Hogan and lightening bolts - might garner a second prize. It was supposed to make smoothies, but the blades barely moved. My mother has no idea who Hulk Hogan is; she just thought it made the device look powerful. I wish I'd kept that one for a white elephant gift exchange.

 

[ExLimey]

I wish I'd kept that one for a white elephant gift exchange.

Hey that reminds me I have a White Elephant party in a couple of weeks. I must remember what I did with the "gift" I selected to take!?

It's bad, even for me. So bad I'd rather not disclose what it is here, for fear people with think even less of me.

 

[bknight2602]

Damn I don't want to try and remember all those bad things!