Christmas gifts

[ertyu]

@jacob i have morbid curiosity and i want to see the handcrafted kleenex pouch

[Crusader]

Dear heavens! Burn them, please!

It's nice to feel that I'm not alone in thinking this way!

@jacob i have morbid curiosity and i want to see the handcrafted kleenex pouch

+1

I hate gifts. If I participate in any kind of gift exchange, I always pick "donate to charity" as a gift I want. The only person that I've given up on is my mom. We've had enough fights that I understand that it's not about me, it's about her. (donating to charity is apparently unacceptable, she wants to give me something physical, and like for ertyu, in the past it was something that I "should" want instead of what I actually want - we have made a compromise this year so that she can get me a clothing item that I get to choose)

[Henry]

April 15 and Dec 25. Two times a year I reach for the vaseline while praying I won't have to use it. Unfortunately, it appears God's sovereignty does not extend to my anus.

[ffj]

I've missed you Jason.


And we have our first contender for the Christmas season in our household. While the sentiment behind it was really thoughtful, we will never use this plate. We just wont. So it will sit in our house until we don't feel guilty about moving it along.

[Western Red Cedar]

@ffj - It is called the giving plate, so it seems fit to give it away

[chenda]

I'd keep it on top of the toilet seat. It would confuse and possibly disturb any guests as to the plumbing arrangements.

[Henry]

"This plate shall have no owner."

That's a commie plate.

[mountainFrugal]

@ffj - "Dishes are done man!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn8XFiAwLkM

[ffj]

@all

Thanks for a good laugh. This was a gift for my wife from a friend of 30 plus years. How she doesn't know we aren't "live, laugh, love" people I cannot fathom. We don''t "dance like no one is watching" or "sing like no one can hear" either, haha.

We're thinking one of my sisters may want it, although mountainFrugal has tempted me . . .

[Frita]

@ffj
Bummer that we’re sending my mom something my teen made in his pottery class (Ugh, don’t ask, after four years we have many of his creations scattered around.). This is her style. She loves to mine for free advice to share.

For the last five years, we’ve been getting more grapefruit in a box than three people can eat. This year it finally stopped. I understand that some people might feel hurt or disappointed. Not us, I feel such gratitude in not having to eat it and tote the waste out to the compost pile. Whew!

[DutchGirl]

@ffj, if I read the plate correctly, you put cookies or cake or desert on it and then bring it to a party, and then you DON'T take it home after the party, but the host will keep it and use it to bring something on it to the next party. (Also to get rid of the hot potato as fast as possible).

[Henry]

lol@read the plate correctly.

It looks like a professional kidnapper decided to open an Etsy shop.

[jacob]

I just went through our regifting box.

It's full of generic "I thought you might like this"-stuff bought in the process of recreational shopping. Tags still attached. Items valued around the $5-20 level I think(?!), I'd never buy any of it myself. Each xmas is a struggle of trying to hide how much I don't appreciate the incoming clutter.

We lost at xmas again, meaning we received more than we managed to get rid of, so the re-gifting box is now larger.

I noticed that Walmart has an "generic gift" section close to the checkout lines selling almost exactly the kind of stuff that ends up in our box. The problem with getting rid of this stuff again is that nobody in our ERE-, minimalist-, freecycling-, and BNY- circles wants it for obvious reasons.

A solution might be to try eBaying off our box next season(!) to solve this particular market inefficiency.

[mathiverse]

My family doesn't exchange gifts for any occasion now that we are all adults, but I am going to try to find free stuff they may like over the year for next Christmas because all of them like receiving gifts. I frequently saw items offered on BN/Freecycle that one of my family members would appreciate, so I figure I could add some joy to my family and only add a few extra porch pick ups to my life.

[Henry]

There is no greater Christmas tradition than laughing at FFJ's giving plate every year.

[zbigi]

We lost at xmas again, meaning we received more than we managed to get rid of, so the re-gifting box is now larger.

I noticed that Walmart has an area close to the checkout lines selling almost exactly the kind of stuff that ends up in our box. The problem with getting rid of this stuff again is that nobody in our ERE-, minimalist-, freecycling-, and BNY- circles wants it for obvious reasons.

A solution might be to try eBaying off our box next season(!) to solve this particular market inefficiency.

I've introduced a no-gift "pact" with friends and family a couple years ago. It may be my impression, but they don't seem be unhappy about it. They still occasionally give me small gifts, but they make sense, are cheap and are never wasted (examples - a nice potted plant, or a bottle of alcohol I like). I also give gifts that make sense, i.e. I'll buy my mom a new printer for birthday if she needs one, but I may get her nothing (or token Lidl flowers) otherwise.

[ffj]

A win for me for once!

I told the the person who drew my name for gift exchange last Christmas that I wanted a box of 9mm bullets. And I'll be damned if that isn't what I received. It was so nice receiving something that A. I wanted and B. I would use.

We also implemented a Dirty Santa tradition this year which was a lot of fun even if the gifts weren't great. Stealing someone else's gift is a lot of fun if you know they really want that gift, ha! We were on a roll until my buzz-kill brother-in-law just took the last gift and ended the game prematurely. WTF Dennis?

[theanimal]

After years of nothing, my siblings all independently decided to start giving each other gifts last year. I made the mistake of thinking it was an anomaly and only told them not to get anything for baby animal this time around. But again, they ended up buying things for us. It's a nice gesture and they do try to get things that they think I'd like but I'll be striving for no exchange next year.

[DutchGirl]

In our neighborhood a neighbor has put up a cupboard outside their house for giving things away. I don't know the neighbor, but the cupboard says: "give something or take something" and they made sections for "cleaning stuff", "food", "clothes", "children's toys" et cetera. So this is now my go-to option for things I don't want (anymore) in my household. Of course I also try to only put stuff in there that some people will truly use. The items I put in are always gone the next time I put something in there, so I take that as a good sign.