This post is sponsored by Westfield
One of the fun traditions of Christmas is the exchanging of cards and gifts on Christmas Day. Put aside the pressure of choosing the right gift, what I love most is giving gifts. When we open presents on Christmas Day I like each person to open their gifts one by one so we can see the reaction on their face of what they received, the laughter, the tears of happiness, screams of excitement. To me this is the joy in gifting.
I’m joining Westfield to share with you the joy of gifting this Christmas. With my tips on how to find the perfect gift to how to give the joyful reaction to the gift you may not necessarily enjoy receiving.
Trying to find the perfect gift
Buying the perfect gift can become a monumental task, for many may be added pressure on what is already a very busy season.
MY 5 STEPS TO THE PERFECT GIFT
- Write a list of everyone you need to buy a gift
- Make a budget for each person on your list, don’t feel you have to buy expensive gifts. It’s the gesture of giving that should be appreciated more than the gift.
- Next to their names write an idea of what type of gift you would like to give them.
- Most stores have a table filled with their most popular or trending items in store, this may help you to choose the gift for your recipient.
- Beautifully decorate the gift, so they are smiling before they open it.
Hard to buy for
For those that have everything and need nothing but you want to give them something.
- gifts don’t need to be practical, get a funny gift to match their sense of humor or personality. You can both enjoy a good laugh together.
- ask if there is something particular they would like. Kids usually have loads on their wish list or a family member maybe eye off some homewares.
- think about the memories you have shared with this person and give them something to remember this time.
- give a gift based on their hobby
- indulge in luxury – for those that don’t spend extra pennies for luxurious items for themselves, consider purchasing something extra special and indulgent like crystal glasses, luxurious candle, stunning jewellery or a unique liquor.
- Great list of gift ideas here
Re-gifting
I confess I am a re-gifter, however after a past experience I am now more cautious…..
Many many years ago (10 or more), I forgot to buy a very important family member a Christmas gift, yes organised me somehow forgot. It was late Christmas Eve that I realised, so I went to my ‘gifts received but I don’t want and will re-gift basket’ yes we all have one of these. And I wrapped up some lotions that I received last Christmas (I wasn’t too fond of the smell but knew it’s the type of smell she would love). The moment she opened them that it hit me she gave them to me last Christmas. Ooh the horror, I don’t know if she saw it in my face, but I certainly saw it in hers, she closed up the gift, said thank you and not a further word exchanged about it. I was so embarrassed and still remember the moment so clearly.
I don’t re-gift as often anymore but if there is a gift that does go in my basket I place a post it note on the gift to know who it was recevied from so I never see myself in that situation again.
Forgotten someone on your list
I’ve learnt from the experience above to always have back up presents for the person you forgot, or for somebody that has given you an unexpected gift. Have them wrapped under the tree, with a little tag simply saying Merry Christmas. If the gifts aren’t used you can give them as birthday gifts throughout the year.
Faking your joyful reaction
This sounds so awful, but sometimes needs to be done.
When I was a child, still in primary school, all the girls in my class wore lycra bikepants under their dresses, black with fluro sripes up the side, they were ‘the in thing’. All I wanted for Christmas that year was some fluro striped bikepants. I received a new bike, my Nan made me a beautiful handmade bag and when I was opening the last gift I was beside myself with excitement, it felt like bikepants…. but it was demin shorts with bright coloured pattern all over, it was hideous. Well… I stormed off crying, I ran outside thinking it was a joke and that Santa perhaps left me bikepants and he hid them around the house. Poor mum thought that denim shorts and bike pants were the same thing, she couldn’t understand why I was so upset not realising she got it completely wrong. I listened to her explaining the gift, I stopped sulking (was devastated on the inside) and put on a fake smile. Ooh I was a diva and felt awful after realising how mum was confused and did try to get the present I was really wanting. and… hmmm I got a new bike!!!
Despite gifts not being what we hope for, perhaps not practical, not suited to your style, don’t like the smell or simply you just don’t like it. Be thankful for receiving a gift, put on a smile and thank them for their gift, after all it’s the reaction to the gift that the recipient is waiting for, the joy in gifting.
#ThisisChristmas
This Christmas, Westfield has teamed up with the ever so funny Julia Morris. Julia reminds us that Christmas doesn’t have to go exactly to plan to be extraordinary, it can be chaos, no matter how much we plan otherwise, but that’s the great thing about it. Special thanks to Westfield I am giving away a $250 Westfield Gift Card for sharing your special #ThisisChristmas moment, see full details below.
My favourite moment of Christmas is laying in bed listening to the kids finding all their gifts under the Christmas tree and opening the presents together at ridiculous o’clock Christmas morning.
Win a $250 Westfield Gift Card
Two entry options, only one is required, two will give you an additional entry.
- Share with me in the comments below your story of when you have been caught regifting or had to faked a joyful reaction at Christmas, including the hashtag #ThisisChristmas; and/or
- Share a photo of a special Christmas moment on Instagram, including the hashtag #ThisisChristmas, tag @WestfieldAU and @theorganisedhousewife.
View giveaway’s full terms and conditions. Giveaway closes on 7th December. This post was coordinated by The Remarkables Group and run in accordance with my disclosure policy.
210 comments
My husband wanted to surprise me one year. For the six weeks leading up to Christmas, he spent every weekend out in his shed, and I was under strict instructions not to enter. He’d pop into the house for lunch, but then excitedly dash out to the shed again when he was done. His giddy-ness was contagious and I just could not wait to open my gift Christmas morning! Imagine my surprise when I opened the box and saw an old vacuum cleaner he had purchased and spent 6 weeks reconditioning! I don’t think I’ve ever tried so hard to keep a smile plastered on my face on Christmas Day! I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, but that was NOT what I had expected!! Ever since then we’ve had a rule: no appliances for Christmas! #ThisisChristmas
ooh no Emmy, I thought you were going to say he built something for you, a restored vacuum, lucky you. Does it work well?
It worked for a long time but has been replaced now. With a new one. That wasn’t a gift! ?
#ThisisChristmas when I was a little girl all I wanted in the world was a trampoline. One Christmas I had dropped so many hints I was sure I was getting one, and then I had to fake being happy when I got clothes instead.
your parents weren’t listening to you!! I try to mess with my kids, pretend I don’t hear them and surprise them when they least expect it!
Hubby and I have totally different taste in just about everything so I always put alot of thought into his gifts, one year I bought him an italian cook book as he absolutely loves pasta. The look on his face was priceless! He isn’t good at hiding his emotions, his face gives it away everytime, long story short… Gee thanks was the response I received. I had to laugh out loud because inside was a gift voucher for a pasta making class in the vineyards for us both. Turns out he loved it…. Wish I could say the same for me! The same Christmas morning my beautiful thoughtful hubby bought me the UGLIEST gold expensive necklace and pendant, lucky im better at faking then him and to this very day years later, I wear it with pride everyday! He still thinks its the best thing he has ever bought me.
#thisischristmas
My husband is the worst Christmas present buyer ever and after 18 years off knowing this I have finally resolved myself to the fact that its never going to change… so… 18 years ago. Our First Christmas together, you know the one that will set the tone for the rest off your gift giving relationship… the one where you are showing that person just how much they mean to you and whether you have actually been paying attention to their likes and dislikes…. well I saved up putting money away each pay from September onwards. I meticulously picked out a kit off tool, plus some expensive boxer shorts (they were for my benefit)and some nice aftershave. I was quite pleased with myself. The excitement was building for him to unwrap what I had gotten him and he was pleased when he did. I got him to open his first. He then handed me a box… my heart was beating fast… I figured it was a bit big for jewelry… So I unwrap the gift to find…. a very “special” looking floral arrangement fiber optic lamp. Seriously it was hideous and who in the world ever thought it was a good idea is beyond me, let alone my future husband. I was a tad disappointed to say the least. What then made it worse was he made me set it up beside the bed on the bedside table… lets just say I was not that upset when it accidently fell off one day and broke. He has been encouraged to stick to gift cards.
yes your right, there are some people that just aren’t good gift givers, loved that you have suggested to your hubby gift cards. Maybe one day, I hope he surprises you 🙂
I was in Grade 10 when that song “Starlight” (not sure who sing it) came out, you know the one with the squirrel in the spaceship. Anyway. My mum had purchased the cd for me. She thought I loved that song, but had mixed me up with my sister. When I opened it I looked at her and she had such a huge smile on her face that I didn’t have the heart to tell her how much I despised the song…
I still have the cd. ? #ThisIsChristmas.
LOL, I don’t know that song, but squirrel in spaceship says it all!
ooh no Emmy, I thought you were going to say he built something for you, a restored vacuum, lucky you. Does it work well?
I was the subject of a re-gift! A photo frame from a colleague at work…when I went to use it, I had to remove a photo of said colleague with another friend that had been turned around in the back of the photo frame. My Husband said I should’ve returned the photo to her, I could never! How embarrassing. That year she gave another colleague a jar of spiced pears from Aldi. I left well enough alone.
#ThisisChristmas
LOL depends on her sense of humor, could have been funny returning it, but lovely of you to think of her. Can be so hard buying colleagues gifts.
Same situation as you; realised at around 8pm on Christmas Eve that I’d forgotten an aunt who was coming around for turkey dinner! Panicking I ran around the house looking for a nice ornament to give her (she loves little statues and trinkets), found one that had been banished to the back room for years and wrapped it up. It was literally the moment she opened it that I remembered, it had been my grannys and my aunt had given it to me when she passed away :O Embarrassed is not the word…
#ThisisChristmas
Ooh no, it’s in that moment the memories come back… hopefully she thought you were being so lovely giving it to her 🙂
I regifted things when I was a kid. I loved giving presents, but had no money – 7 year old me didn’t save very well. 🙂 So my mum and dad would get a gift each year from my room. Something I thought they would like of mine. Examples include a scented candle, a doll (??) and a glass ornament. I am much better at presents now, but I still remember passing over what I thought were treasures to the very people who had given them to me. 🙂
that’s sweet at 7 years old!!
As a child it was very rare to stay in a hotel, but when we did I was always excited by the big fluffy towels & would wrap myself up in them! One particular Christmas all I wanted was a cassette player (yes I am showing my age now), as soon as I saw the shape of the gift I knew I was getting something else…yes a pink fluffy towel-what child gets excited by a towel when their heart was set on music!!! Not this one, I politely said it was great & spent the day wondering how I would tell my friends what I got-a few years later my mum did buy that cassette player for me 🙂
she was thinking outside the box with that one!
By the final year of high school, my friends and I had decided that Christmas time was too expensive to get everyone (about 10 of us) a thoughtful gift each and so we did a Kris Kringle. Each of us chose a name out of a hat and bought one gift. We conspired between ourselves to get ideas and I spent weeks putting together the ‘perfect’ thoughtful gift for my friend who was into candles and perfumes. I spent every bit of money I had on buying multiple bits to put into the present and went everywhere in town to get the best pieces so I would be sure that the ONE present she got from all her friends showed her how much she meant to all of us…. I was pretty excited too, when I realised that she’d gotten me as her Kris Kringle too!
Faking that I appreciated the picture of Tweety bird that she’d clearly re-gifted (her parents would refer to her as Tweety bird etc) to me as my Kris Kringle was a little extra difficult I have to admit. #ThisIsChristmas
I love homemade gifts, they are that little bit more special with the extra thought put into them.
My mother was the subject of a re-gift from my mother-in-law. The year before my mum brought my in-laws a hamper basket from Kmart that has foods biscuits teas etc in it. Imagine her surprise getting it back a year later from my mother-in-law … ALL OUT OF DATE!
Safe to say my parents & in-laws won’t be exchanging gifts anymore! #ThisIsChristmas
Ooh no, no mum in law don’t regift food!!
About 6 years into my relationship with my (now husband), boyfriend, I was secretly and not so secretly hoping for an engagement ring. His excitement indicated that Christmas morning was going to be one to remember forever!
I woke up before the sun like a little kid and woke up the boy jumping around with anticipation. Only to find that instead of buying me a ring, he’d splurged on an electric toothbrush! Not only did I not get engaged, but he’d basicallg told me I have bad breath instead! As a side note, his mother bought me a book on how to clean that year. I’m slovenly as well as stinky! #thisischristmas
Ooh no…. an electric toothbrush I can just imagine your disappointment. How long after did you get the ring? A friend of mine one year received the dr phil book about losing weight from her mother in law, love those gifts that have hidden meaning.
My bestie and I have a running joke at Christmas…when we first became friends we each gave the other a bra and g-strings for Christmas…many years ago…Then the following year we both decided to regift the lingerie…forgetting who gave it to us…so each year now we regift that same present…hahaha #ThisisChristmas always for us…and gives us a fantastic laugh even though the family just dont get it 🙂
I have heard of people regifting year after year, would be fun!
I had to fake the joyful reaction last year when my mother in law, yet again, bought my husband a beautiful new ensemble from the surf shop. The kids opened up ninja turtle toys and beautiful barbie doll cars and dolls. My present contained a jar of home made pickles from the local hospital fete. I plastered a smile on my face and told her how much we love pickles on our xmas ham sandwiches. After all, the joy on xmas day is watching the excitement on the kids faces as they rip open another present. Well that is what I keep telling myself! #ThisIsChristmas
a gift to share with all 🙂
When I was pregnant with my youngest I received 6 different perfume / lotion / powder packs for Christmas from various relatives. All were different scents, none were close to what I normally wear and all of them made my pregnant body want to heave. All of them went back in their boxes and were donated to charity. Hopefully someone else was able to enjoy them! #ThisIsChristmas
That’s a good idea donating to charity, must admit now that I am packing the house up I have donated a few things when nobody is looking.
#ThisisChristmas For the past 20 years I’ve had to fake a joyful reaction at Christmas and you can bet your bottom dollar this year will be no different! My grandma gives me crocheted coat hangers with camphor balls hanging off them! Thanks Nan….NOT! Lol!
20 years of coathangers in the cupboard, love it. I still treasure the lavendar scents my Nan made.
I have had a few overseas penpals for many years, after advertising in a quilters magazine… There were only a few with which I exchanged gifts and one lady, who had sent me some truly lovely gifts that I will always treasure, sent me a pair of special gloves to use after gardening.. they were gel filled and you needed to put cream on your hands first then put the gloves on to work their “magic”.. However I found a personal note from her neighbour inside one of the gloves, telling her she hoped these would help her poor gardening hands….I have never told her, the thought was still there and she was my friend, she knew I gardened too so she regifted something she thought I would really like. We are still in contact but she is not on the “net now so it is back to snail mail and we agreed a while back to just exchange cards as the postage was getting a bit “over the top” but she is still a very valued friend.
those gloves sound amazing, sneaky friend adding in a note for her to find later, how sweet.
In my late teens, Christmas at my then boyfriends house and his beautiful Grannie gifted me a tiny bottle of sweets. It was blatantly obvious she’d eaten the original contents and filled it with an inferior, and completely different type of lolly than what was on the label! If this wasn’t bad enough, it was accompanied by a small coin purse, the inside lining ripping away and fraying, then her eldest daughter announced that it was indeed Grannie’s own, OLD, coin purse as she’d recently received a new one. It was so hard for me to smile sweetly, and thank her for her generous gifts, remaining gracious the entire time……but I am pleased to say that my parents brought me up right, and I pulled it off to perfection. #ThisisChristmas
LOL, ooh no Grannie, I’m sorry Di, this made me smile, I love stories of the older folk they are so sweet and innocent sometimes.
I am exactly the same, I love to see people’s reactions when they open my gifts becuase I really do put a lot of thought into each and every one of them.
and I can imagine you wrap your presents so well too. I get mad when 2 presents are opened at the same time… my extended family don’t get it, but it’s special to me, it’s not about the item, it’s also the gesture.
MY PARTNERS AUNTY BOUGHT HIM ABOUT $400 WORTH OF GIFTS LAST CHRISTMAS AND FOR ME SHE GIFT WRAPPED 2 FREE COLES MAGS YOU PICK UP OUT THE FRONT,SHE SAID THEY WERE COOK BOOKS,WHILE I SPENT HOURS MAKING HER A CALENDAR WITH MY PARTNERS KIDS ON EACH PAGE.I THEN MADE A RULE THAT ONLY KIDS GET BIG PRESENTS AND THE ADULTS CAN ONLY SPEND $20 ON EACH OTHER,YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN THE LOOK ON THEIR FACES, I THOUGHT THEY WERE GOING TO START CRYING! WHEN CHRISTMAS DAY ARRIVED THEY ALL HAD THE POOPS BUT I WAS PRETTY HAPPY I SAVED HEAPS OF TIME AND MONEY AND THE KIDS WERE HAVING A BLAST.MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL.
Sometimes it makes it easier to just get gifts for the kids, adults usually have all they need 🙂
At a company Kris Kringle, where we specified the amount to be spent and emphasised NO FOOD. I spent ages thinking of a fun and useful gift and I ended up getting two packets of Shapes biscuits. Lame.
Shape biscuits…. was it an inside joke that needed more explaining?
Years ago, before my now husband and I got married my husband gave me a garden trowel (admittedly it’s a nice heavy, good quality one which is still being used 15 years on). The whole day I thought it was a joke and there was a slightly more personal gift hiding somewhere. Sadly there was not…but it’s the though that counts 🙂
Before you got married, he was trying to impress!
Oh yes, I was impressed…at my ability to fake excitement over a garden trowel! #ThisisChristmas
Years ago, before my now husband and I got married my husband gave me a garden trowel (admittedly it’s a nice heavy, good quality one which is still being used 15 years on). The whole day I thought it was a joke and there was a slightly more personal gift hiding somewhere. Sadly there was not…but it’s the thought that counts 🙂
My hubby and i have had 12 Christmases together now – but our very first christmas, i was 17, and i was meeting his grandparents from the country for the 1st time. They were lovely, they adored me, so much so that hubbys grandfather told him (he was 18 at the time) he would be silly not to marry me. So come present time, my greatest fans were so excited to present me my gift – some ‘beautiful ‘ talcum powder. That christmas was by far my best joyful ‘thanks so much’ performance ever 🙂 #ThisIsChristmas
Haha oh Lisa good old talcum powder! You can’t go wrong!.:)
My first Christmas after getting married, I received a hamper of baby items from an Aunt. I wasn’t pregnant at the time, nor did I have any plans to have kids within the near future, but I managed to plaster on a fake smile and say ‘This will be so handy ONE day!’. #ThisisChristmas
That is priceless, Stacey! Obviously they had plans of you having a baby sooner than you thought!
#ThisisChristmas, my husband had to fake excitement when he received a dvd of Bridget jones’ diary from his mum.
Oh no your poor hubby! I could only imagine the look on his face! Did he ever end up watching it?
#ThisisChristmas I was 10 years old, my Dad remarried and his new wife’s mother gave me a smelly, half empty talcum powder for Christmas then to top it off the rest of my Dad’s new wife’s family didn’t know I existed so my brother and the wife’s son received presents and I got none. Then to top it off my Mum’s new boyfriend thought it would be funny to fill a box with a huge pass the parcel and inside was half a packet of chewing gum. It’s fair to say it was the worst Christmas as I cried in front of both families hahaha.
Oh Kelly you poor thing! I hope the Christmas the year after made up for it for you.
#thisischristmas … One year I had to prerend to be excited about receiving shampoo and conditioner, along with a bronzer for ‘medium to dark skin tones’ (I happen to be a shade of glow in the dark white!). the giver is a serial bad gift giver, so I’ve had plenty of time to perfect the fake smile 🙂
Sounds like you are prepared each Christmas for the gift you receive from them. You never know they might surprise you this year, Lena.:)
My sister was once given a present from a relative – an old coffee maker. She didn’t drink much coffee at the time. She unwrapped it, smiled and thanked the relative for the gift. Later when she got home she opened the actual box to find an envelope. Inside that envelope was a birthday card that read, “Dear Jo, Happy 40th Birthday, love Bob”.
The relative Jo who gave this gift was almost 50 at the time! Oops!
It was joked about at the time that she should regift it back and leave the card inside! Of course that never happened but we always had a little laugh to ourselves about it. #ThisIsChristmas
(Note: Names have been changed to protect said relative from embarrassment, as she still isn’t aware we found the 40th card) ?
Oh no! It is great you can all see the funny side of it each Christmas! It did give me a little chuckle reading this.:)
A friend who was coming for Christmas lunch had wrapped me a mango and that was my present which I had to fake being joyful as she honestly thought it was a great present #thisischristmas
Bahaha, i have to ask. Do you even like mangoes? It is a funny gift to wrap but mangoes are delicious!
The worse re-gifted gift I ever received was from my MIL. I was never one of her favorite people but she made an effort to give me a gift. It was a set of 4 mugs 2 with coffee still in them. I plastered a smile on my face and thanked her very much. A funny store was when my youngest daughter was about 5 she bought me plastic fruit as my present and was so excited about it. I did the motherly thing and they decorated my coffee table for 3-4 months until I could safely give them away.
Oh no she didn’t even wash them out after using them! You did well to smile and thank her. I think the shock would have been written all over my face.:)
#ThisisChristmas I was given a new dressing gown but it was satin which I hate the feel of in clothing and kimono style which I also dislike! I had to smile and pretend it was awesome when it was the last thing I would want.
ooh no a double doozie. I don’t like satin dressing gowns either here in QLD I find them hot.
I received a new washing basket, trolley and a packet of pegs once. It was such a huge present and I was so excited…until I opened it! Hahaha! #thisischristmas
Ooh Katrina, I am so sorry but I actually laughed out load…. we have an agreement in our household, no appliances as gifts, but washing basket I would presume is a given. Poor girl.
It was from my mother in law so my reaction had to be super excited and thankful. I totally laughed about it when everyone had left and it still makes me laugh today!
My mum has a generous habit of over-giving. It’s nice to open all these amazingly wrapped presents every birthday and Christmas but sometimes I just don’t love them so I decided rather than hurt her feelings or offend her by giving them back or waste the items, I would put them in a box specifically to regift to my friends and family who I thought might genuinely enjoy them. Well, one day she was helping me and the kids get out to a birthday party and I forget to organise a present for it, so not thinking, I pulled out my “regift” box. To her absolute horror she was presented with all of these birthday presents and Christmas presents that she’d thoughtfully bought and wrapped for me from the last 2 or 3 years. She bundled up the box and took it home with her, asking me to tell her in future if I didn’t like or want something #Opps #WorstDaughterEver #FeltSoUngrateful #ThisIsChristmas #LoveMyMum
Ooh Katie, my heart just skipped a beat for you just a moment of forgetfulness, I feel for both you and your mum xx
I must have been 16 the christmas my acting skills were really put to the test. Mum & Dad had a 2 year old & a 9 month old & me. Mum would have been in charge of all shopping with the 2 little ones tagging along. I don’t remember what else I got but I can’t forget opening one of the little presents & finding a keyring with a strange spongy pink twisty thing hanging off it. I put on my best smile & told her how great it was. I didn’t have a door key because mum was always home when I got home. I have no idea what she thought I would put on it.I think she just walked into Granny Mays which was the shop of the moment & grabbed something before one of the babies did :
Ooh I loved Granny Mays, miss it so much!
I spent a beautiful white Christmas in Canada with friends once and their mum had gone to a huge effort and knitted me a traditional Christmas sweater with a reindeer on the front. It was one of those really daggy jumpers you see in the awkward family Christmas pics that make the rounds on facebook each year and the yarn she used was so synthetic it nearly squeeked! There was so much love and joy in the gifting though, that I didn’t have to fake the appreciation, just the love for the garment! #Thisischristmas
love how you have put that Tania, that you don’t have to fake the appreciation, that’s so lovely xx
I don’t think I even tried to fake it, but I remember at school all the girls had this particular hand held organiser. They could send messages to each other!
I told my parents, and come Christmas I opened the wrapping to find the wrong brand. It wouldn’t be able to connect.
I was devistated.
I never used it and the next year I wrapped it back up to put under a charity gift tree.
So this story covers both and I swear it is true!
giving unwanted gifts to charity is a lovely idea 🙂
My first Christmas with my husband-to-be and his parents, needed a fake grin…I slept in (until 6) and awoke to find only my presents left under the tree and theirs already unwrapped and put away. So it was all eyes on me, as I unwrapped mine, and having to be the centre of attention. I don’t think my hubby-to-be realised how disappointed I was not to be sharing the joy of our first Christmas with him, until I asked where his presents were and what he thought of them…oops!
The worst part of the day was receiving a perfume gift se, from the in-laws, which was not the most pleasant scent at all…it wasn’t re-gifted but was repurposed as”cat repellant” (someone told us to spray cheap horrible perfume around the yard where cats were marking their territory, so we did!).
simply one quesiton… why didn’t they wake you!!!!
#ThisIsChristmas
One Christmas I bought my sister a new book in a series that I knew she liked. However I liked it too and couldn’t resist reading it before I wrapped it up – I was very careful and was pretty sure she wouldn’t notice. On Christmas day I opened her present to me to find she’d given me the exact same book – so of course I pretended it was just what I wanted. When she opened her present she didn’t seem to be so thrilled. It turned out that she had already read the copy she gave me! From that year on we just get each other gift cards.
Bahaha great minds think alike!.:)
I have to fake surprise every year I have to buy and wrap my own present because my husband just does’nt know what to buy. It OK when we were a lot younger and dating he would occasionaly buy me a surprise but after 40 years I will let him off.
Oh Dianne i know exactly what you are saying, i must admit these days my hubby isn’t as bad.:)
I haven’t been caught but this year I might. I’ve fractured my ankle (oh and my right one so i carnt even drive an auto). I’ve got lots of things left over from my sons 1,2&3 birthdays that I’m going to have to re-gift for the nephews oh and as for the husband I got some fancy Lego when I was away on a work trip that I intended to be for Mr3 but will have to do for him (hubby). MIL will get one of the presents I got last year that was not suitable and hubby will have to do the rest so I’m not completely sprung
#thischristmas
(I’m trying to do this on my phone)
Ooh good luck Catherine, i hope you can pull it off.:)
My friends and I have regifted a foot spa so often that it came back to me (it’s been through at least 5 pairs of hands… or feet).
LOL or 5 sets of feet!!
#ThisisChristmas – My mother in law has consistently given me the same gift each year, for at least the twenty years.
– Anti ageing face cream
– Two pairs of knee high stockings
– a Mascara
Needless to say I smile and say thank you – but I do then regift to the local charity for a homeless person.
Oh dear LOL.:) Fantastic that you are regifting to a wonderful charity
I thought I would share a moment from Christmas 2013 (I was 18). It was my first Christmas with my current boyfriend (been together 2 years). It was Christmas and we were exchanging gifts.
I had got him a really nice gift (I spend around $150) and he absolutely loved it! (I can’t really remember exactly what I gave him I think it was expensive cologne). Anyway when it was time for him to give me his gift. He hesitated and tried to make up an excuse to not give it to me. As I was very stubborn I said ‘ don’t be silly’ and reluctantly he gave me the pretty pink box. Evidently, he was so embarrassed about the gift. I looked to see a Barbie, skipping rope and toy necklace. He had meant the gifts as I joke and was devastating to see how seriously my family took Christmas and how many gifts everyone got him (we are massive celebrators and always have been. My parents and sister and grandma also got him a gift and he has always had one as a child from Santa and he was absolutely embarassed he didn’t have anything for anyone else!). I felt terrible not telling him but then again, we had a good laugh about it and when he told me that it was meant as a joke and not seriously I loved the gift. I haven’t used the barbie though. But I’ve kept everything in the same box stashed away and it keeps all our mementos from our relationship in the one place. I smiled and brushed it off as he had tried. We now write ‘Letters to Santa’ and exchange them in November like for the past two years.
Let me just say Christmas last year I was sooo spoilt! And so was my whole family!
#thisischristmas
Oh Lauren i could only imagine his embarrassment. I think it is wonderful that he has since made up for your first Christmas together.:)
One year, about six Christmases ago (because that’s a unit of time measurement, right?), I was given two very nice and expensive looking glasses, branded with my favourite alcohol (oh the pre-child days!). They’re truly gorgeous glasses, but I have an absolute aversion to frosted glass – even thinking of frosted glass as I write this sends goosebumps up my arms and makes me grind my teeth. I planned to re-gift then the following year, as I have three seperate friends who would all appreciate them… but after a year I managed to completely forget who gave them to me! So they’ve sat, unused and unloved, waiting for me to meet a new friend with the same love of rum.
I so hear what you are saying with the frosted glass, it’s like running nails down a chalkboard!
My MIL normally buys me Peter Alexander pjs, which I love. One year, about a year after we were married I think, my present under the tree wasn’t the usual PA bag/box, but a smaller wrapped box.
When I unwrapped it, I found perfume. Initially I though, ‘Wow, this is thoughtful’, until I opened the box. I found a half-full bottle of stale smelling, musky perfume. I normally wear fruity scents. I have no idea how long she had had it! It was hard to spray it on myself and smile without retching for the rest of the morning until I could wash my arms!
Oh no you poor thing! Much prefer the Peter Alexander pj’s.:)
When I was 8, my sister and I accidentally opened our presents from our Uncle before he arrived on Christmas Day. Mum quickly re-wrapped them and told us to “act surprised” when we opened the dolls for the second time when Uncle Bill arrived. My sister did a very-believable job with her acting, I on the other hand, screamed hysterically with excitement and throw the doll so high up in the air that she hit the roof and her head fell off! My Grandad spent the rest of Christmas lunch trying to reattach her head whilst the family had a good laugh over my poor acting skills.
#thisischristmas
Oh no! Maybe a little too much acting haha.:)
A few years back a family member (who shall remain nameless) either register to me or just grabbed something at the last second without any thought at all. If they had thought about it and chose this gift, well that’s just scary. To my surprise upon opening the wrapped gift was 2 pillow slips. Yes, you heard right, pillow slips. Lovely as they are, with birds and flowers they do not match anything I have ever owned or will own. I still wonder what they were thinking??? Towels I can understand or even a sheet set with pillow slips but 2 random pillow slips!! I smiled & thanked them very much, but was bewildered.
I can only imagine your shocked face, Christy!
Hello,
Christmas is such a wonderful time of year, for families to get together & have fun, lots of food etc. My mother had never been a very generous person with gifts or money (we put it down to having to struggle all her life after loosing everything in the war in Europe) So, whenever my mother gave you a present,it was never very expensive & often from Cheap shops, & you did put on such a big smile, as it didn’t happen very often. She always gave my sons ‘undies’, one pair, mind you, for Christmas.My boys could never really understand that, but thanked her & smiled. But since she has died, I have kept up her ‘tradition’ for my sons & give them a pair of undies every Christmas in Nana’s honour.
I think that is a really lovely idea, Irene. Good on you for keeping up her tradition.:)
One Christmas as a child, our cousins stayed with us and were there for Christmas morning. We all rushed out for the presents when we woke, only to find we all got a small colouring book and pencils each. My cousin who was my age felt terrible and said it was their fault my brother and I got no presents cause they were staying with us. My brother and I put on our brave faces and said oh no we are very happy and this is what we get each Christmas. We were so sad and felt very unloved. I got to go to my cousins when they returned home for an overnight stay and they opened their presents, the like of which I had never seen! They had real cameras and latest games and toys. My cousin asked her Mum if she could give me her presents and told her that I got none and her mum said no. I felt left out all over again. Another fake Christmas face saying its ok Im used to it.
Oh Cheryl that is really sad! Hugs.
#ThisIsChristmas. I was working and had organised the work Christmas party including a Secret Santa. When it came to my gift I opened it up in front of everyone to find that my elderly male Secret Santa had gifted me with an ashtray. I have never smoked in my life. Everyone kept telling me what a lovely gift it was and that he was so thoughtful to buy me such a lovely candy dish. So I spent the rest of the day playing gracious hostess and receiving heaps of compliments on my “candy dish”
Oh no!! I hope you were able to regift it.
#thisischristmas
When I was 10, all I wanted was a cd/stereo. I spent so many childhood hours searching my parents house for my birthday / Christmas presents. This year was no exception. One day upon searching under my parents house, I spied a big brown box. I got so excited (thinking it was my stereo), that I stopped looking. Imagine my disappointment Christmas morning when opening that said brown box, to find it was a computer chair ???
Oh gosh i can imagine you’re disappointment! Did you ever get the stereo you wanted?
I think about 4 years later.
#thisischristmas
When I was 10, all I wanted was a cd/stereo. I spent so many childhood hours searching my parents house for my birthday / Christmas presents. This year was no exception. One day upon searching under my parents house, I spied a big brown box. I got so excited (thinking it was my stereo), that I stopped looking. Imagine my disappointment Christmas morning when opening that said brown box, to find it was a computer chair ???
#thisischristmas
I forgot my hashtag! so reentering (can’t work out how to edit my earlier one)
My MIL normally buys me Peter Alexander pjs, which I love. One year, about a year after we were married I think, my present under the tree wasn’t the usual PA bag/box, but a smaller wrapped box.
When I unwrapped it, I found perfume. Initially I though, ‘Wow, this is thoughtful’, until I opened the box. I found a half-full bottle of stale smelling, musky perfume. I normally wear fruity scents. I have no idea how long she had had it! It was hard to spray it on myself and smile without retching for the rest of the morning until I could wash my arms!
I once had a boyfriend who gave me a framed photo of a ute! I was horrified but had to be thankful. No it wasn’t a joke present as i sat waiting for the real gift to come. #ThisisChristmas
Oh no! He obviously liked utes!
My birthday is Christmas Eve, so I’ve spent my life getting joint birthday/Christmas presents. The worst one however was the year I went away for a wedding the week before Christmas. I got a phone call from my (now ex) husband asking me if my birthday or Christmas was more important to me. I replied that Christmas is really about the kids, and my birthday is my day. I got a beautiful cushion for the lounge for my birthday, and nothing at all for Christmas. He couldnt
He couldn’t even be bothered to wrap the pjs I had bought and put in the cupboard for him to give me. #ThisisChristmas
Oh no Julie that is terrible i feel so sorry for you!
Years ago, my Mum joined up to flybuys, and gave my brother, sister and I the additional cards, all linked to hers. That Christmas, we all excitedly tore open the envelopes she gave us, thinking it was tickets, or cash, or who knows what, to find flybuys gift vouchers. Mum had used the flybuys points we’d earned to get us a Coles voucher. Not very exciting. Needless to say, we all signed up for our own flybuys accounts after that, and Mum kept wondering why she wasn’t earning points as quickly #thisischristmas
Oh dear!
I will always remember one Christmas when my cousins were in their early teens. They had to travel by plane to get home so I decided to get them both a notebook and pens that would be easy to carry and some extra money inside the notebook. The older one found the money quite quickly and continued to open her other presents. The younger one had a look on her face that said “where is mine?”. She spent the next 15 minutes going back through her pile of gifts to try and find her missing cash, throwing things everywhere in her search. Even with our hints she didn’t figure it out. When we told her where to look and she found it, her face was full of relief! #Thisischristmas
Oh that is a little bit cute.:)
#this is christmas. I had to fake smile many christmas’s when it came to my mother in laws gifts. The first christmas my boyfriend (now my husband od 26years) were together my mother in law gave me a size 16 elastic waisted pleated skirt (it was aweful, not something a size 8-10, 21 year old would wear) and then about 10 years ago my mother in law regifted a present to me that I had given to her the year before (it was a beautiful pewter trinket box). I was inwardly fuming but outwardly smiling. I put it away for my young daughter.
Oh Jenni you poor thing, i can only imagine your reaction.
My re-gifting experience was the opposite of yours Kat. My teaching partner had a birthday in November and I gave her a beautiful candle in the shape of a religious cross made in Mexico. Anyway, about 4 weeks later, it was time for the end of year religion concert. We planned to give the religion teacher a gift and my teaching partner said she had something that we could give her… yep you guessed it… it was the gorgeous little cross candle that I had given her for her birthday just weeks before. I was really taken aback… I couldn’t help myself I had to say something to her, so I said, “oh that was the candle I gave you for your birthday last month”. She seemed genuinely shocked, I think she had totally forgotten that I had given it to her. I felt quite hurt (and disappointed) at first actually, but when I thought about it more, I decided that the religion teacher would appreciate the candle more and I felt much better about the whole situation. I doubt that my teaching partner will do that again!!!
Oops! Sounds like the religion teacher would definitely appreciate it.:)
When i was 11 after a long drawn out Christmas lunch we got to open our presents. Each present i was given from different family members was a bag, not suitable for me and hideous in my 11 year old opinion. I tried to be thankful although i think my poker face failed. To this day i don’t really use a proper bag and have never forgot that moment of receiving 5 ugly bags for Christmas #ThisisChristmas
Oh no Jo! I hope you have been able to regift them?
Last year Mum husband and I had decided not to buy each other presents as money had been quite tight at that point. I bought him a packet of choc coated nuts just as a bit of a joke. But he hadn’t followed the rule and bought me some beautiful earrings. I felt sooo bad for him. #ThisisChristmas
Oh Melissa you weren’t to know. But i do understand how you must have felt.
My hubby bought me a baby q last Christmas and when I opened it he was watching me and I reacted disappointment. I said is that for me? He goes yeh you said you wanted one. I said no I never and he was like you do. Let’s just say he was really upset with me. However I now love it 🙂
I love my baby Q too! Glad you now like it, Kristie.:)
My Mother in law and sister in law re-gift constantly and we are sort of prepared for it but one Christmas they both regifted things that WE HAD GIVEN TO THEM and that they had already used! One was a toy for my nephew which was rewrapped and given to my eldest son 6 years after we gave it to them, and one was a Thai Cookbook that my mother in law had given back to me…I even caught my sister in law giving an aunt a wrought iron candle holder plus candle that we had given her the year before, RE WRAPPED USING THE SAME distinctive hand made wrapping paper!! ARRGGH…I was speechless.
Sorry, pressed post too soon! So the last 2 years I have re gifted things to my Mother in Law and Sister in Law and guess what, they like them better than when I spent weeks worrying about what to buy them. I am watching to see these gifts reappear.
Last Christmas I gave a friend a gift arly as I went away over Christmas. It was a new release book I did not like as it was not my style and it was given to me a few weeks before for my birthday. Then when I visited her parents on Boxing day her father proudly showed me the fantastic book he’d received for Christmas from… my friend!
#ThisisChristmas …at least Re Gifting is good for the environment!
Oh no! I think if we are going to regift we really need write down who gave who what gift before regifting.
I know my husband is not a person to purchase gifts and if he does they are so not what a girl wants for Christmas, birthday or mothers day. So each year I purchase something special for myself, wrap it up and put amazing words on a card to myself from him. I always look surprised when I open it and so does he and the kids. It seems to work for all of us and I don’t miss out.
Michelle i have to admit i have done te same in the past but hubby does wrap them.
My mother in law would make a pumpkin fruit cake annually and wrap it in christmas paper. One christmas we’d opened all the gifts and then placed all the paper out on the back deck. One of our staffies came across the unopened gift that somehow ended up outside and wolfed it down. Mind boggles why we didnt open the gift. Did I secretly want to regift it and give it to my sister? So Mother in law has never has made us a fruitcake since. The cubby house come kennel’s interior was decorated in rusty shades of orange. Makes me giggle everytime I look back. Looking at the mother in law with a gleeful grin was hard to surpress. #thisischristmas
Ooh that is a little funny.:)
Gave my sister a silver cutlery set fro one Christmas and wow was so embarrassed when she reminded me that it was the gift she had given us for our engagement many years earlier – oops
forgot hashtag 🙂 #ThisisChristmas
Oops!
Last year we gathered around the tree and everyone opened their gifts. My boys kept going back to the tree excitedly handing gifts to their Dad and each other until all the gifts were gone. Then they realised I did not get a gift at all. I said thats ok. I had ovbiously been so evil I did not even qualify for a lump of coal. Later when I queried my hubby he said, we bought a new car and that was enough to spend. My reply was thanks for telling me and really?? It was bought on 25/11. This year a verandah roof was installed in August(from my tax return money) and guess what? For my anniversary gift in September I got that roof! Let’s just say that by the time my birthday came a couple of weeks after that I could no longer “fake it”. #ThisisChristmas
Oh Nicola i feel so sad for you, you poor thing!
We were the recipients of a regift! We received a gift for our engagement (many moons ago) and the couple who gave it to us had not long prior had their engagement. How did i know it was a regift ?! Inside the box was a card written out to the couple who had given it to us!!! #ThisisChristmas
Oops, i bet they would feel really bad if they knew they had left a card inside!
#thisischristmas. My brother had married in September and the following Christmas he gave me a blender. I must say I was pleased with the gift, as he usually does not spend money on gifts or he will often make a gift. I then opened it up and found a note from a mutual friend with the receipt. It offered that my brother could return the gift if he didn’t like it. ??? I handed him the note. Nothing else was said???
I bet he was very embarrassed! I often here of this happening a lot.
As a kid I was really into dinosaurs and I can imagine now how my parents would have said to my uncle’s, ‘just get him anything to do with dinosaurs’.
When Christmas day rocked around I opened my uncles present which was a book called Jurassic Fart. It was the hardest I’ve ever had to keep a smile on my face and say thank you.
#ThisisChristmas
Oh no! You poor thing!
First year married I spent my Christmas with the in-laws. The first present was a “best daughter-in-law in the world” shirt – I didn’t know how to react when I opened it, I think it was meant to be a joke.
The worst present was from my sister-in-law, a pretty well off sisters-in-law, regifted a soft toy that vibrates and makes a horrible laughing sound when you hit/drop it. I’ve seen it at her house before and was told that a friend had given it to her. I didn’t know what to say but to fake that I hadn’t seen it before and try to smile sincerely. Then when I tried to set it off for the family it didn’t work. Maybe it had run out of battery? I opened the battery compartment to find the batteries had actually leaked… Worst present ever.
Forgot the hashtag
#thisisChristmas
Naw your mother in law must love you lots!!!
I was about 13 years old and a bit of a tomboy. My mum gave me a red dress. One, I disliked the colour red and two, i never wore dresses then (to this day I still don’t). I had to fake liking it and wore it to one family function, cringing inside the whole time. What annoyed me the most is that I thought my mum would know me better. #ThisisChristmas
Ooh mum… I know choosing clothes for tweens and teens is tricky, my girls change their fashion choices all the time, I have trouble keeping up 🙂
I eagerly opened the first gift my mother-in-law gave me and I was stunned. Six plain wooden coathangers. Unfortunately, a trend was set with practical but very boring gifts from then on. #ThisisChristmas
The first Christmas after I had moved out of home and purchased my first home, my dear old dad thought he would give the ever so practical gift of a new toilet cistern! Yes, I needed a new one, yes it would save me buying it, but a toilet cistern isn’t really up there on my “want” list!! #ThisisChristmas
ooh dad…. LOL
A few years ago I got an earful from a friend after I regifted a Birthday present that I had 2 of. About 5 mins after leaving her Christmas lunch, she called and told me that she found a small birthday card stashed in the side of the iPod box. It also had a $50 itunes voucher code written on it.
ooh dear, lucky her 🙂
That one time my grandparents gave me a rubicks cube; at age 23.
ooh I love them… sadly I have never been able to solve one, what about you?
#ThisisChristmas! It’s not a Christmas regift…but I had a baby shower and received many duplicate items. One of my family members was helping me and decided to slip the cards into the packages. I didn’t really think much of it until I regifted at someone else’s shower and there was a card in it from someone else!
ooh no….. whoops. But I agree sometimes there are so many double ups with baby showers, makes it hard.
I had a similar experience to you Katrina. Money was tight and I decided to give a girlfriend a regifted gift. She was thrilled when she open the wrapping and I was so chuffed that I had done so well and cheaply. But as she opened the box a card fell out that was from the person that gave it to me! Stunned silence from both of us. With neither of us knowing what to say. I have never regifted since and would rather go cheaper, if I’m short of money, than have that ever happen again!
Ooh that look is horrifying…. I feel your pain Vicki 🙂
#ThisisChristmas – I gave my boss a gorgeous photoframe and nearly fell over when she gave it back to me the following year. Couldn’t say anything but at least I got a present I liked!
My husband asked what I wanted for Xmas. I said something I can wear for Xmas that you think I would look good in. Come Xmas day in front of his family , I open it and it was a see through nightie size 10. I had to fake my surprise until later as I am a size 18.
ooh no, what was he thinking?????
I had an awkward moment with my daughter last christmas. I had put some hair ties in her christmas stocking as one of many practical little bits I tend to include. Well I failed to consider her new skill of being able to read when I did. What followed was a full day of explaining how overwhelmed the elves were and that sometimes they had to outsource to places like Coles for things such as hair ties. Did I convince her? I think so but she remains skeptical!!
I’ve had a very similar experience with jewellery from Collette… my daughter said ooh look Mummy Santa shops where you get your jewellery too. She still belives thank goodness.
Every year for about 3 years I asked for a trampoline and everyone of those years I never got one. I was so disappointed. Then one year I opened this present and it was a large piece of cardboard with a girl jumping on a trampoline and it had my name With an arrow pointing to it. My dad said something along the lines that’s all they could get. I burst into tears – then of course they took me outside and the real one was there. My family are trickers and its not until now I have my own kids and I have to buy Xmas presents that I realised my parents didn’t have a lot of money. Something I install into my kids is the value of money and how expensive the bigger items are and are not alway achievable. We haven’t had a disappointed child yet -touch wood and their list this year didn’t have any real expensive items on them ? #thisischristmas ??
I bet your Dad thought he was so funny… my hubby does that wraps small gifts in large boxes. But I agree, Christmas certianly isn’t about the value of the gift.
#Thisischristmas my grandma got me a gift and she didn’t live near us so we barely saw her. She had given me a cassette of 50’s songs and left the $1 sticker on it.
I once received a USED photo album from a family member, I was about 9 or 10 and honestly too chocked to be ungrateful, much to the gratitude of my parents. Later on after I sank in I felt a little hurt at the thoughtlessness of the gift BUT silver lining I always put thought into every gift I give big or small. #ThisisChristmas
*shocked
Scented candles and scented room diffusers, I get bad hayfever and all of them make me sneeze, they often you straight to the op shop and I have to fake a smile, #ThisisChristmas
I’ll never forget the MANY Christmas Days my mum would deliver gifts, all with the forethought that the present would in fact be re-gifted to her! I think I only caught on to what was merrily happening at the age of seven, when Christmas time arrived… A sack full of presents, containing the mature selection of Bob Marley’s greatest hits, some stylish tea towels and a grown-up, sensible purse, to house all of those ‘big bucks’ I was earning in pocket money.
A beautiful and wise woman, she always followed with the subtle disclaimer “I thought it would be cool to share”. Looking back, I see the talent in being able to select a gift that can finally be appreciated by two women. With taste growing ever similar, I think it’s my turn to do some sharing!
#ThisisChristmas!
Nanna gifting me a diary that was from the preceeding year complete with an entry for my birthday on an incorrect date.
I’m really against giving or receiving household appliances as gifts, but managed to keep my cool hen I received a iron for Christmas from my mother-in-law. #ThisisChristmas
My Nanna has been giving us the same box of chocolates for the past 10 years with my smile growing more strained each time…
When my children were little I raised them so I had to look surprised on Christmas Day when they would say Santa left you a present Mum
thats a sweet idea to include you too!
Santa and my auntie gave me the same dress, I had to pretend to my auntie that I loved the gift and was surprised. #ThisisChristmas afterwards I went into my room and hid the one from santa so she would not know
that’s sweet of you!
Gave my boss a box of chocolates that I had re-gifted to him. The tag had my name on it. He showed it to me. In hindsight I shouldn’t have given him anything – re-gifted or not.
I had spent a week at my Aunts, helping her and the family get ready for the special day, i had also gone out and bought them all carefully selected presents, on the day, my grandparents came as well, and all the presents where handed out except one, which was left for mr, yep just one, and when i opened it it was the ugliest smallest gym bag you have ever seen, and no i don’t go to the gym, it was actually a gift with purchase bag, so my aunt had bought herself something nice and gave me the ugly leftover, i feigned happiness and thankfulness, but after being very broke that year from buying all the things for them, i never went back for Christmas, it made me feel very unloved and sad, just like an afterthought when i had picked in and helped with the preperations all week
He bought me one of those pretty oil and vinegar, last minute gift boxes, the ones you buy for your long lost aunt, I did act graciously, although never used it, last year he asked me why I hadn’t used them, so I told him, I think now he realises it wasn’t his best choice!
no so many other better choices, perfume, jewellery, just to name two!!!!
Regifting not only applies to gifts themselves but also to the gift bags which we now use as an alternative to wrapping paper.
I guess giving my mother a gift in a gift bag which she’d previously given to me as a gift (the year before) probably wasn’t the smartest idea as I got sprung!
#ThisisChristmas
#ThetimeIthoughtIwasbeingthriftybutendeduplookingcheap
We always re use gift bags, and so no one in my family ever writes on the tags on them. My Nan used to re use wrapping paper, and we were never allowed to rip it
Ooh yes my MIL ever so gently opens up her gifts to keep the wrapping…. we just rip it and go for it 🙂
We always re use gift bags, and so no one in my family ever writes on the tags on them. My Nan used to re use wrapping paper, and we were never allowed to rip it
LOL…. woops busted. Yes I reuse gift bags all the time and can never remember who gave them to me.
LOL…. woops busted. Yes I reuse gift bags all the time and can never remember who gave them to me.
One year my husband bought me a lawn mower as I said I enjoyed mowing the lawn, the following year he followed up with a wipper snipper and I will say they are still used today, by my sons. I suppose it goes with the fridge he bough for my birthday nothing but practicullity
#thisischristmas
I think we need to give your hubby a lesson in gift giving 🙂
My favourite perfume used to be Red Door so every christmas and birthday I would be given some mostly from my parents I politely mentioned that I had too much and that I wasn’t using it much anymore but when I kept getting some I smiled graciously . Now I gad a big stockpile but the my sister mentioned she lived the stuff.Great I thought I’ll just regift! Next Christmas I gave her descreetly a big bottle of it not thinking she’d show my mum. At the following gathering a week after my sister said to my mum that I had given her great big bottle and I could tell she knew….but graciously faked it that she didn’t know I’d regifted.Oops ?#ThisisChristmas
I received a kitchen cloth with a calendar on it…Only the calendar was from 2 years before! It was hard to hide my surprise and pretend I liked it!
The worst gift I’ve ever been given? It was a bar of soap (just supermarket soap, nothing ‘fancy’ or ‘special’ or nicely scented’) do I smell? did they just grab ‘whatever’ they laid their hands on first?
Quite honestly I would have rathered nothing
#thisischristmas
I received a (ugly) 2nd hand pendant/earing set from my partner that belonged to his Mother for our first Christmas together! We are married with 3 beautiful children now and I have picked every single present since, can’t trust him with that again ?
I totally faked appreciating the $2 vase (price attached) from the Op Shop
#ThisisChristmas A few years back my Mother in law bought me a top for Xmas…she was so proud of herself I didn’t have the heart to tell her I hated it.. the only way to describe it is a Fluro pink mumu..she still asks why I don’t wear it…Awkward! Have entered on Instagram under the name @Chenks05 🙂
this is simple I have an elderly grandmother who always gifts dollies to us, needless to say I’m early 30 and don’t have a dollie in my house but every Christmas and every birthday I received them store them in a box for when “great grandma” comes to visit and out come the dollies
this is simple I have an elderly grandmother who always gifts dollies to us, needless to say I’m early 30 and don’t have a dollie in my house but every Christmas and every birthday I received them store them in a box for when “great grandma” comes to visit and out come the dollies #ThisisChristmas
One year when I was 7 or 8 on Christmas morning I got up at about 4am and snuck out to the tree and armed with a pair of scissors and the sticky tape I cut open the tape on the end to peak inside each gift to see what I had gotten. To my disappointment there was no roller skates as I had asked for, there were clothes in every single parcel, no toys just clothes. I was deviated and went back to bed to wait until we were allowed to get up. w#ThisisChristmas
Oops my little helpers hit post. As I was trying to correct deviated into devastated. I really had to work hard to hide my disappointment and fake how much I like a bunch of clothes
I hate disappointing anyone so when I received a pair of undies the size of a parasail I pretended she got the right size…. #ThisisChristmas
#ThisisChristmas every year my sweet Grandmother who never forgot us, gave us the weirdest presents! The weirdest year was when we received a t-shirt with a sequinned parrot on it and a feather clip haha would never complain though…she never forgot us 🙂
A few years ago my grandmother bought me a “One Direction” nightie pyjamas. When I first opened my gift I thought she was playing a joke on me, until I saw her face and realised she genuinely thought I’d love it. I plastered a smile on my face and thanked her, knowing I would never wear it! #ThisisChristmas
the year my now ‘ex’ husband for weeks said he was going to do the ironing to give me a break, there I was thinking he was being all romantic…needless to say on Christmas Day when I unwrapped a brand new iron, I knew the truth…he broke the other one, was hiding all the laundry just so that I could have the chance to ‘test out’ the new iron at Christmas time!!