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My mom always makes us a bunch of shutterfly free gift stuff with pictures of our kids. The Christmas ornaments are nice but I don’t really need a beer opener with my sons face on it. And it makes it hard to throw out or donate...

Lotion/body spray/perfume sets, like the Victoria secret or pink ones. I like that stuff and all, but some of the smells are not my thing at all, and I have enough to last me a life time probably.

Germs and loud obnoxious plastic toys for my kids!

Dollar store stuff. My mom is under the impression that quantity is better than quality in stockings, and it’s always stuffed full of crap that I do not need and will never use and throw out as soon as I get home. My husband gets a $15 gift card and I get dollar store pantyhose and egg timers and pads of paper with kittens on them.

Bracelets or any jewelry really, I only wear 3 things daily, my wedding rings, my diamond necklace and diamond studs. I am past the days of changing to match outfits or look cute.

Dollar store stuff... like@erinbaderin: my family tends to think quantity over quality and I'd just rather not have junk

Perfume.. I don't wear it, gives me a headache.. and no your brand isn't better than all the rest and no I won't like it.. sorry.

Something that i don't know what it is when i open it... I feel self conscious opening gifts and especially when I don't know what it is and then you have to explain it to me... (my own personal nightmare)

@Ajsmommy: omg that feeling of not knowing what a gift is. I cringed just reading that. It’s the primary reason why I hate showers. I got so anxious about not knowing what a gift was while an entire room of people stared at me.

@crazydoglady: "oh wow, thanks" as my face says "literally WTH?!?"

LOL

@Becky: YES! And I know how much it sucks to miss out on holidays because we’ve missed two due to stomach bugs (a Christmas and a Thanksgiving). It’s a huge bummer, BUT I don’t want to be the person getting everyone else sick. Whenever I show up and find out someone else has been sick it just puts a damper on everything as I’m just waiting for it to hit us. Yuck.

agreed on the no lotion/candles/fancy soap. My MIL loves fancy artisinal soap and I can't stand it, I use ivory soap but every year I throw out 2-3 bars of soap I hate and will not ever use. I also hate gifts themed around hobbies or things I like, the the socks covered in the word read in multiple languages, like yea I love reading, no my socks don't need to share that.
@catgirl: I am the same I hate getting a gift that I don't want and will not use

@LadyDi: I feel like this happens so much.

We live in a university town and DH has been a fan for life (alumni parents, himself, sister, and he worked there a while) so for a long LONG time it was always gifts relating to this sports team. I am a scientist - and so now I have microscope charm earrings, and coasters, and "artwork" and so much of that stuff that I have also donated over the years.

I wish people would stop getting us gift cards to the movies. We go to the movies maybe once a year to take DD1 to a new release. This is not and has never been our idea of a date night. We often end up re-gifting these to friends of ours who DO love going to the movies though so it kind of works out.

We always get gifts for DD that are clothes at least 2-3 sizes too big. The kicker is that the gifter is so careful to also send the receipt along with the tags that have been CUT OFF. It doesn't work that way

I love all these people dearly, but I'd rather have a sweet card and message than more stuff to put in my house.

My husband's family is gift crazy. I just want less crappy gifts and higher quality gifts. I also really don't like clothing gifts. You don't know my taste and what if it doesn't fit right?!

Also, don't give my kids toys that need batteries or make noise please. Or huge stuffed animals. What a waste of space.

@muffinsmuffins: I just died laughing. The same shirt in two colors as if you were sisters had me snorting out my beer. If anyone tried to do that with DW and me I cannot even imagine her face.

@crazydoglady: ooo I'd take the board games.
I love most tea except green tea. I specified that on my Christmas list for a few years but my grandmother kept just getting me green tea, so I had to stop asking for tea.

I totally forgot the crappy polyester pajamas for my son and all the tchotchke shit my uncle's wife buys my sisters and me. Like we get matching stuff and we're all in our 30s or almost there; I liked it better when he was single and gave us cash.

My MIL loves to shop at Kohls but there isn’t one near us so it’s such a pain to make returns. And several family members fill out gifts with dollar store crap.

Y'all. I was going to post in this thread, but never got around to it. DH is not a good gift giver, and I was going to say that I never need another set of Sharpies in this lifetime. I am a teacher, and he just seems to go to the office supply aisle and pick the first five things he sees (which always includes the big pack of Sharpies - dude, how often do you think those need replacing?). Even if I didn't stock up on anything I need during back-to-school sales, can he not remember buying Post-its last year, and the year before . . . ?

Anyway, I found DH's bag of presents yesterday. (Side rant: when he said "I put the stuff I bought in a bag behind the couch," I thought he was telling me where the things he bought DD were so I could wrap them, not where the things he bought me were so I wouldn't peek. And the things he bought DD were there, too, so I don't know what he was expecting.) Anyway, I am totally getting a big set of Sharpies for Christmas, plus a big set of various sized Post-its, and a dry-erase calendar that I have explicitly rejected in the past. I can deal with the fact that DH is bad at this, but I just wish that he would skip getting me anything! It is such a waste of time and money, and everything he buys displays absolutely no forethought. He just panics and wants people to have lots of things to open. He does the same thing with thoughtless or repetitive gifts for DD, and it just leads to so much returning!

@crazydoglady: I do know that his heart is in the right place, but it just feels so lazy when I get the same exact gift for consecutive birthdays/Christmases. I don't really want something more personal, as I am super picky and unsentimental about gifts (i.e. would never wear something just because it was a gift), and I would just hate for him to waste the money on something I can't return. I did mention a few weeks ago that my pot holders were kind of dingy, and he showed me a few options shortly thereafter. I pointed out that the grey ones he found didn't go with our kitchen, and mentioned a few stores where he might look (Anthro, Williams Sonoma). Found pot holders in the bag yesterday - grey and black from Ikea.

I think we just have incompatible gift-giving styles. I LOVE finding just the right present for someone, but if I don't, I'll just give a card rather than a generic gift. DH comes from a family where his mother carefully makes sure everyone gets the same value of presents (we each usually get an Amazon gift card to make things even), and they give many more, and higher value, presents than I am used to. In any event, I am grateful to know in advance so I can feel annoyed now, rather than on Christmas morning, and that DH shops at Target, where returns are easy.