Prompted by an ad about giving Mom flowers on Mothers Day, but this is about gifts in general.
I don’t want flowers. Thanks. I don’t want another mug, no matter how cute or touching the saying is. I don’t want jewelry or perfume - I don’t use either. I don’t drink coffee, and I’m really not all that crazy about wine. And spare me knick-knacks that I’ll have to dust or appliances that I’ll have to find homes for. And clothing is too big a crap shoot, what with sizes, styles, colors, fabrics - but if you happen to make perfect choices, I may hold you hostage and make you go shopping with me!
Of course, I don’t have to worry about any of this for Mothers Day, since my daughter is broke and she knows I’m not much of a fan of gifts anyway. I’m bored and I started to wonder what kinds of things you’d prefer not to be given under any circumstance for any occasion.
If for some unknown reason someone would give me something on my “don’t want” list, I’d be gracious and appreciative, and later I’d try to figure out how soon I could regift it. I have manners, but I have limits.
Cheap tchotchkes. I don’t need another dish or small poster or tiny vase that you got in Vietnam or whatever. Thanks for thinking of me, but just share your story with me over coffee or whatever. I don’t need some tiny piece of art that I likely don’t want and feel compelled to keep just because it was a gift.
Also, along a similar vein, my kids are always getting me ties and socks because they can afford them. I always tell them to just give me a hand-made card or piece of art because there are lots of socks and ties out there, but only one piece of art of card made by their hand. Or even just the gift of time spent with them. I can’t buy that.
Well…I’d rather not get anything, really. Except for exorbitantly expensive stuff, I have pretty much everything I need/want. Gifts just end up being clutter for the most part. And it’s sweet when the kids make something or whatever, but there’s only so much room to put that stuff too. That’s why I put a halt to my mom/dad/brother/sister-in-law exchanging gifts for Christmas a few years go.
Ditto to FairyChatMom’s whole list (well, except the wine. I’ll take that).
Add chocolates and books.
I love chocolate, but it’s not something to be thoughtlessly tossed down the hatch anymore. I also love books, and for that reason, I have a lot of opinions about the kind I like. I rarely buy books either, preferring to borrow them from the library.
$25 gift cards to sit-down restaurants. Students buy these at the grocery store. They inevitably are for some place where I would not usually go, and where $25 covers an entree and a soda. If it were somewhere I liked, that would be awesome. but I am just never going to use this Olive Garden or Red Lobster card. I wouldn’t go by myself and I don’t like it enough to be willing to pay for the rest of the family to go, too.
If you want to spend $25 on a food-oriented gift card, fast food, fast casual, or coffee/desert is much more likely to get used, in my experience.
Language courses I’ll never complete. Hawai’ian was okay, Kʼicheʼ Mayan wasn’t bad, but Cherokee? C’mon sis, no more of those! Gift certificates for establishments run by fundy jeezoid scalawags. I’d give those to panhandlers. Subscriptions to game apps. Dried figs. Inspirational literature. Personalized golf balls - I don’t indulge. Iguanas.
I prefer consumable gifts, especially booze. But anything chocolate is fine and dandy too. And if you give me a food or beverage that I don’t like, I can easily dispose of it and tell you it was delicious.
Most “things.” If I really want something I’ll just buy it. I’d love to do away with gift-giving altogether. If we can’t do that, let’s at least do charity gifts. You can demonstrate how well you know me and how much you care about me by donating to something I’m into-- Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, a cat rescue or environmental organization–without giving me more stuff to store in my tiny apartment.
Funko Pops and Bobble Heads. It’s a laugh, they’re fun but seriously. I don’t collect them and have no desire to do so. I know my people mean well and I appreciate the sentiment. I really do but please. No more.
I’m more of a minimalist and have been trying to get rid of stupid shit around the house. We’ve set a ton of stuff out on the curb, free for the taking and are renting a dumpster for the stuff we can’t give away.
Booze is fine. But get me the kind I like, like plain bourbon, scotch, or rum, and not the kind you like, like wine coolers or bourbon/apple liqueur.
Fragrances. I use deodorant when the occasion requires, but I prefer not to smell like anything in particular. I don’t want a selection of six different fragrances, or a complete set of Axe products, including deodorant, body spray, and body wash!
My fave gifts to give or to get, are trinkets. Not tchotchkes, little trinkety things, that are amusing and fun to hold in your hand. Not expensive, but simple and amusing. My feeling is, once it stops amusing you, please feel free to pass it to the next person/child who is interested in what it might be/do!
In every foreign open market is someone selling a locally made handicraft/toy, made out of a local leaf or such, and folded into a giant bug or a hopping frog, etc. They aren’t intended for tourists, it’s for a local child out with him Mam, usually they cost only a few small coins!
Know, right now, I am DEF having that! (I own a Jews harp carved from a small piece of bamboo!)
(Sometimes we can’t stop, or I see something intriguing from a moving cab/bus/train, occasionally in the hand of a child, on public transport. I will hawk eye, in every market I go to, till I find it!:D)
