# Gifts that no sane person would buy for themselves
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-that-no-sane-person-would-buy-for-themselves/383956
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [December 13, 2006, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-that-no-sane-person-would-buy-for-themselves/383956 "2006-12-13T14:48:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@LionelHutz405](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LionelHutz405)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2006, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-that-no-sane-person-would-buy-for-themselves/383956/1 "2006-12-13T14:48:45Z")
What things do you think fall into the category of stuff that is bought as a gift but nobody would ever buy for themselves? Usually because the item is silly, solves a problem that really isn’t a problem, or just plain not very useful.
**PriceGuy** commented in another thread about who the hell would buy the boxed DVD set of ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’? I immediately thought, ‘no one’, but you’d buy it as a gift for someone when you have no clue otherwise what to get them.
A few others I can think of:
Heated ice scrapers. They have a long cord that plugs into the cigarette lighter of your car and the scraper heats up to make it easier to clear the ice. Seems like a gigantic pain in the ass to me. I can’t imagine anyone actually buying this for themselves.
Christmas-themed sweaters. Anyone wearing one of those, you can be sure it was a gift.
Wall calendars and coffee mugs with funny pictures or cartoons on them.
I saw a pillow the other day that was designed to hold an ipod, so you could listen to it in bed. Grandparents will buy this as a gift, but really, would you want that?
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### Author:  [@Roonwit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roonwit)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2006, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-that-no-sane-person-would-buy-for-themselves/383956/2 "2006-12-13T14:55:30Z")
Lottery tickets.
“Merry Christmas! This gift is probably absolutely worthless…but you never know!”
:rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2006, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-that-no-sane-person-would-buy-for-themselves/383956/3 "2006-12-13T14:56:37Z")
Featured in a flyer I got today: [Enjoy warm chocolate any time](http://www.gadgets.co.uk/item/CF/Stainless-Steel-Chocolate-Fountain.html)
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### Author:  [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2006, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-that-no-sane-person-would-buy-for-themselves/383956/4 "2006-12-13T15:09:08Z")
I suppose I’m crazy - I buy myself lottery tickets occasionally. I’ve won a few bucks on scratch off games.
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### Author:  [@Roonwit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roonwit)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2006, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-that-no-sane-person-would-buy-for-themselves/383956/5 "2006-12-13T15:09:37Z")
Oh, wait, can I do one more?
How about Chia pets? I’ll bet Grandma thinks you’d love to have one. They’re the Perfect Gift, you know. It says so right on the TV.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2006, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-that-no-sane-person-would-buy-for-themselves/383956/6 "2006-12-13T15:11:12Z")
[QUOTE=hawthorne]
Featured in a flyer I got today: [Enjoy warm chocolate any time](http://www.gadgets.co.uk/item/CF/Stainless-Steel-Chocolate-Fountain.html)
[/QUOTE]
Chocolate fountains are experiencing a bit of popularity over here at the moment - it’s just an elaborate fondue really - they look a bitch to clean.
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### Author:  [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2006, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-that-no-sane-person-would-buy-for-themselves/383956/7 "2006-12-13T15:13:11Z")
[QUOTE=Roonwit]
Lottery tickets.
“Merry Christmas! This gift is probably absolutely worthless…but you never know!”
:rolleyes:
[/QUOTE]
I bought my kids scratch-off lotto tix for stocking stuffers last year. One won $50 and the other won $10! Now they keep asking for them…I keep trying to tell them that we really just got lucky last year… ::sigh:: I reckon I’m going to get them again this year.
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### Author:  [@LionelHutz405](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LionelHutz405)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2006, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-that-no-sane-person-would-buy-for-themselves/383956/8 "2006-12-13T15:13:47Z")
[QUOTE=jali]
I suppose I’m crazy - I buy myself lottery tickets occasionally. I’ve won a few bucks on scratch off games.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I wouldn’t count lottery tickets because people do buy them for themselves.
The chocolate fountain fits though. I think the ‘bitch to clean’ factor will pretty much eliminate anyone buying it for them self.
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### Author:  [@Roonwit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roonwit)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2006, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-that-no-sane-person-would-buy-for-themselves/383956/9 "2006-12-13T15:16:29Z")
[QUOTE=jali]
I suppose I’m crazy - I buy myself lottery tickets occasionally. I’ve won a few bucks on scratch off games.
[/QUOTE]
:smack:
Sorry, I guess I just completely missed the gist of this one. I’ll just sit over here and have a second cup of coffee, then try reading for comprehension.
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2006, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-that-no-sane-person-would-buy-for-themselves/383956/10 "2006-12-13T15:28:24Z")
[QUOTE=hawthorne]
Featured in a flyer I got today: [Enjoy warm chocolate any time](http://www.gadgets.co.uk/item/CF/Stainless-Steel-Chocolate-Fountain.html)
[/QUOTE]
:: blink ::
Once again, the internet brings me another Thing I Would Never Have Imagined In A Million Years[sup]TM[/sup].
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### Author:  [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2006, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-that-no-sane-person-would-buy-for-themselves/383956/11 "2006-12-13T16:11:38Z")
[QUOTE=hawthorne]
Featured in a flyer I got today: [Enjoy warm chocolate any time](http://www.gadgets.co.uk/item/CF/Stainless-Steel-Chocolate-Fountain.html)
[/QUOTE]
My friends got me one for my birthday. It requires so much chocolate that it’s really only good for large parties (unless you have a few chocoholic friends)
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### Author:  [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2006, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-that-no-sane-person-would-buy-for-themselves/383956/12 "2006-12-13T16:40:32Z")
A baby ultra sound machine.
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2006, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-that-no-sane-person-would-buy-for-themselves/383956/13 "2006-12-13T18:14:09Z")
All that stuff you get when you get married. You have to register for it because you’d never buy yourself fine china, or get yourself started on silver. (I mean, you might buy a platter that goes with your china, or buy yourself the serving pieces to your silver, but place settings?)
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### Author:  [@Ass\_Gasket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ass_Gasket)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2006, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-that-no-sane-person-would-buy-for-themselves/383956/14 "2006-12-13T19:33:16Z")
Pretty much anything from the dollar store that makes noise. My bother gave me a cat-shaped soap dispenser a few years ago. It made an atrocious mewing sound when used.
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### Author:  [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2006, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-that-no-sane-person-would-buy-for-themselves/383956/15 "2006-12-13T19:37:10Z")
Any of the “gifts” at places like T.J. Maxx or Marhsall’s; I went in there the other day to pick up a few cheap dress shirts for work, and it was a holocaust of sub-Sharper Image shaving cream heaters, automated tie racks, LCD golf scorekeepers, novelty cufflinks, and the like.
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### Author:  [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2006, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-that-no-sane-person-would-buy-for-themselves/383956/16 "2006-12-13T19:37:10Z")
For amusement purposes, I once bought my brother The Clapper.
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2006, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-that-no-sane-person-would-buy-for-themselves/383956/17 "2006-12-13T19:40:00Z")
[QUOTE=sciurophobic]
My friends got me one for my birthday. It requires so much chocolate that it’s really only good for large parties (unless you have a few chocoholic friends)
[/QUOTE]
So you’re saying that you need the 4.5-kilogram size of [this](http://www.toblerone.com/your_favourite/assortment_classics-en.html)? 🙂
(Honestly, I was in a drugstore a few days ago buying cards, and I saw this thing lying across the top of the shelf next to the cash. I thought it was a point-of-sale advertisement until I saw the Nutririon Information label on the end. I asked how much it was. Eighty bucks… )
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### Author:  [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2006, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-that-no-sane-person-would-buy-for-themselves/383956/18 "2006-12-13T19:54:19Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout]
Chocolate fountains are experiencing a bit of popularity over here at the moment - it’s just an elaborate fondue really - they look a bitch to clean.
[/QUOTE]
Actually, I’m sure they’re rather easy to clean… in comparison to the tablecloth, chair, floor, clothes, hair and everything else that will get covered in chocolate once the kids discover the thing.
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### Author:  [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2006, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-that-no-sane-person-would-buy-for-themselves/383956/19 "2006-12-13T19:56:37Z")
[QUOTE=LionelHutz405]
I saw a pillow the other day that was designed to hold an ipod, so you could listen to it in bed. Grandparents will buy this as a gift, but really, would you want that?
[/QUOTE]
Yes. [hangs head in shame] But I’m a huge nerd.
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### Author:  [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2006, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gifts-that-no-sane-person-would-buy-for-themselves/383956/20 "2006-12-13T19:58:12Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout]
Chocolate fountains are experiencing a bit of popularity over here at the moment - it’s just an elaborate fondue really - they look a bitch to clean.
[/QUOTE]
Here, too. I had to put one together a few weeks ago for a catering event I was working at - it was a bitch to put together. No written instructions, just cryptic pictures. It _looked_ like it would have been easy, but it wasn’t. I won’t even go into how much of a PITA it was to disassemble and clean.
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