Dealing with unwanted Christmas gifts

With immediate family we either ask for ideas rather than a wish list . And I always keep the receipts in case things are broken or don’t fit . This year I only got one odd present , from a relative who has a history of odd presents .
My mother was another one who kept unused presents . When she downsized we found a box full of unused presents , all with labels stating the giver and occasions plus dates . What saddened me was that some were from my dc who had saved up their pocket money to buy a present for grandma’s birthday or Christmas. My mother was quite stressed with the move so I didn’t have the heart to mention it to her .
I have a friend who has very different taste to me and over the years has bought me some hideous home items . She’s a regular visitor , so I’ve kept them and get them out when she visits. Thank goodness because she often mentions them .

I leave unwanted items in my car and the next time I need to drive a long distance, I drop them off at a charity shop. That way there is little chance the giver will ever know.

I agree with Martin Lewis - we’ve cut back on adult presents. It was totally unnecessary and it added a lot of stress at Christmastime. I now only buy for my husband, our children/grandchildren, my Mum and our great-nephews/nieces. (Oh, not forgetting chocs for our milkman! My Dad was a milkman and hardly had a day off at Christmas.🙄)
With the money I’ve saved I now buy myself something I really want and I also make donations to charities. It’s a win/win for everyone. 👍🎄🎅🏻⛄️
If I do get unsuitable presents I sell them on eBay/Vinted or donate them, but now that doesn’t happen very often.

What a great idea.

Settled that problem easy this year! My DDiL was given ‘Smellies’ she doesnt use & I was given some I do not use! So thankfully as the giver of the presents wasnt with us we swopped & both got what we would use! Sorted without offending the giver!

I hate the idea of 'wish lists' - so entitled! If someone presented me with a wish list, I'd make a point of NOT getting anything on it. I was brought up to believe that you should be grateful for any gift.

I still have Xmas presents from last year I haven’t used! We asked family this year not to give presents but we give a bag of food goodies that could be enjoyed instead.

The daughter would have been stupid to give the bag to a charity shop in their area...and also, was it a bespoke designer bag, i.e. the only one of the kind to exist in the whole, wide, world? Isn't it nasty for a mother and daughter to gang up on another daughter, though? The word gift is self-explanatory - no strings attached. I rather think that they felt they were being cute. They weren't.

Secret Santa every year. I gift £10 maximum. Next year It will be charity shop gifts… no problem here with unwanted gifts.

Since the 1970s in my family, when buying presents for adults we have all made sure that they could be exchanged and for how long after the date of purchase this service was offered.

When wrapping up the present we either included it in the parcel in a plain envelope and wrote "receipt if you wish to exchange this" on it if we were sending the parcel, or took it with us when we saw the person to give it to.

This way any gift that either was a duplicate, or not quite what one wanted could be returned.

In her latter years my mother tended to buy presents for others either in the equivelent of the pound shop or though ads where you couldn't exchange them. These we had no compunction about handing in to charity shops, on the assumption that someone would be glad of them.

I have sometimes bought something in a charity shop and given it as a present, but only if I was very sure the recipient would want it, and would not be offended when I said that it was bought in one of our local charity shops.

I also have one relative whom always gives me a clothing gift which looks like something she herself is regifting! So i keep and wear a bit but then charity shop after a year.

Only one really unneeded gift this time- towels and I'd only recently bought some but i can see the thought behind it when person said why but as they are done up in a whole bale it seemed churlish to say anything so i kept quiet.might donate later though.

A gift once given is the recipients to do with what they wish. Surely it is not up to the giver to decide where the gift ends up. The mother and daughter may have fared better if they had ensured the handbag was wanted by her in the first place. A handbag is a very personal choice. I don't agree with their actions at all.

My dad’s birthday was four days after Christmas and his gifts were often unwanted Christmas presents. He always said he was fine with that as long as the giver took the effort to re wrap them. His sister didn’t - she’d just re-sellotape the Christmas paper.

I bank transferred some money (not a lot) to my nephews mate who always visits him over xmas. The lad has done a few jobs for me in the past.

He asked nephew what to get me as a gift in return but there is nothing I want or need that is within his budget. Young man has an 8 year old daughter whom he sees once every 2 weeks and they both love games. I told nephew to say I appreciate the thought but would rather he spend the money on something for the child or a game they could both enjoy.

I retired recently and was given two handbags as a presents, one by an individual and the other with a matching purse and scarf. I really wanted a silver bracelet, which the person who bought the presents was told by a friend of mine. They are lovely handbags but I will hardly use them as I prefer bags that would be hard to pick pocket. I couldn't give them away though

When we were clearing out MiLs house after she'd died we found a cupboard full of presents we'd given her. We were so sad. Will never know if they were put away because she didn't like them or because she treasured them and wanted to keep them safe.
Even sadder, we found all sorts of things she'd put away to keep for a 'best' that never came. Beautiful towels and bed linen still in their packaging etc.

We have friends who organise concerts for charity twice a year in our local hall. Their raffle, which raises a good amount of money, is usually full of unwanted gifts of all kinds. Helpers have to check the sell by dates on the chocolates etc!

It's so awkward , isn't it ?
It's the same every Christmas .
I've tried to suggest that it's not necessary to give gifts at Christmas , but my friends are insistent .

This year , I've received yet another make up palette which I know was a free sample from my friend's daughter .
The colours are totally wrong for me - far too dark . My skin is really fair .
Last year , the giver had a major mood over my gift .
I trailed round the shops trying to choose the right gift this year .
And I also received a brooch from another friend .
I don't like brooches and never wear them .

Ditto.I was thinking same thing.🤣

When my lovely (but low income) gran died , we found a little notebook listing every gift she'd ever been given , with a note beside each gift , with date , name and who she'd re-gifted it to. ...Not 'getting rid ' , but thriftiness and necessity, even if they were gifts she loved and could have used . It made us love her even more <3

My mother used to open a present, say “thank you, darling”, then immediately turn to someone else and say, “I don’t want/need/like this. Do you want it?”in front of the donor. I learned very quickly to give her something like chocolates, which she liked!

If someone takes the time and effortbto buy me a gift, even if it is not something i would get for myself then I smile say thank you and appreciate their effort. Never would I give it away or sell it or exchange it. To me that is just rude

We had an unwanted gift this year. I will hand onto it for a while and then quietly donate it to a charity shop. I would not deliberately cause offence to the giver.

I usually keep unwanted gifts bc I would feel awful if I gave something away that someone had bought me. However, I once received a gift from someone who went on to treat me badly. It was a beautiful gift but I couldn't bear to keep it. I wrapped it in Christmas paper and sent it to the church, who were collecting Christmas presents to give to the homeless at the church's Christmas lunch. Someone would have received a wonderful surprise 😊