Returning kicks Re-Gifting's ass

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

In reaction to some derogatory posts in other threads about people who returns gifts…
I was in FOUR Christmas gift swap things this year. :eek:

Yeah, I know they aren’t mandatory, but they really are, when you consider the illwill refusing to participate engenders. Who needs to give your coworkers/neighbors/church women’s group friends/crafting club buddies a reason to cold-shoulder you for a whole year just to avoid buying a $5 gift?

Personally, I always give consumables. This year all four gifts were bags of chocolate coated pretzels. I figure even if the person doesn’t like chocolates, they can feed them to family, friends, and visiting Mormon missionaries.

But it seems I always get knickknacks in return. Sometimes weird, sometimes lovely, but…I already have way more knickknacks than any house can deal with.

This year’s swag:

 A scented candle in a 'reusable' white ceramic flower pot.  (Potentially a consumable but a) the scent made me sneeze and b) the flower pot had no drainage hole - way to kill an innocent plant.)
 
 A coffee mug painted with butterflies.  (We have at least a dozen coffee mugs, and I don't even drink coffee.)

 A sort of plaque thingy, with a religious  'inspirational' message painted on it.  (Uh-huh.  I am so not in the religious  inspirational message target audience.)

 A pair of 'kissing' stuffed dolls.  (No comment.)

Now, I’m not saying any of these things were horrible gifts in themselves. All were new, shiny, and I suppose someone somewhere would love them – but none of htem were ‘me.’ In fact, they were so NOT me that I would even feel queasy about putting them into a future gift swap. Besides, that would entail storing them for a whole year, and who has extra storage space?

Anyway, I happened to notice that both the plaque and the coffee mug had Harmark logos…and went Hmmmm. So this morning I put all four gifts into a bag and went to the local Paper Store to see if I could return some of them.

The store took back all four of them! Not just that, but I’d left two of the gifts sitting inside the gift bags, and they took the bags, too!

So there I was with almost $28 in store credit, and fortunately I had my calendar with me. So now I have four birthday cards, two anniversary cards, a congratulations on the new baby card, and three ‘get well’ cards.

I am so, so glad I returned those gifts. Not only am I free of four unwanted knickknacks, but because of that I figure I might not have to set foot in a card store until Mother’s Day.

And isn’t that the best gift of all? Some extra free time!
Anybody else found themselves much happier as a result of RETURNING some gift?

2

This year I received a set of four minature (tea light) candle holders. They’re so tiny and fragile they should have “FIRE HAZARD” written all over them, or at least my two cats and Hallboy will be drawn to their small size in seconds flat, thereby creating a fire hazard. (I like candles, but I like the big candles in heavy glass containers that aren’t easily knocked off a table.)

From another friend, I received a handmade glass plate, made by a local artist. It has fruit on it. It’s tiny (about the size of a very small saucer), and I have absolutely no idea what I could possibly use it for, or even WHERE I would use it. (No, it doesn’t match my decor.)

Oh, shoes. Yes, I received a pair of shoes for Christmas. They’re very pointy, and too loose and they’re buck ugly.

3

[HIJACK]When did “giving” become “gifting”? I see it everywhere these days.[/HIJACK]

4

Not I, but my husband, parlayed three dress shirts, a sweater, a turtleneck and a pair of shoes into a whole new wardrobe, thanks to Kohl’s after Christmas sales! He took back the not-quite-right gifts and spent the store credit on half a dozen mock turtlenecks (orig price $25, reduced to $7.99), casual sportcoaty layering shirts, a nicer pair of shoes that fit, two pairs of pants, a couple of dress shirts that fit, some henleys and sweaters…all substantially reduced. He did end up shelling out a few bucks himself because he found such great deals, but got a whole lot more of what he liked than a few overpriced things that were given.

5

I’d love to return some of the tchotchkes I got for Christmas, but I don’t know where, and I certainly ain’t gonna ask. I’ll wait until the “statue of limitations” on gifts goes past, then give 'em away.

6

Last night I returned a movie 3-pack given to me by my father-in-law, because I already had two of the three movies in the pack (I did give my wife a sampling of titles I wanted but didn’t have, and he departed from that, so, that’s what happens). With that store credit, plus the $25 gift card I’d received, I got myself three movies I didn’t have, and still have a buck twenty on the gift card. Noice.

Did I mention that what I returned were Muppet movies, and what I bought were horror movies? Okay, that’s what I did. Actually, one of the three movies I bought was the one from the box set that I didn’t already own, so I tried to keep in the spirit of the gift. But The Descent and Imprint were just a-callin’ my name.