When I first read your title, I thought you did actually like giving out ‘trashy’ gifts (like giving your grandma leopard print g-strings or something). Then I read your OP.
That lady is a rude bitch. No two ways about it.
I think your gift was lovely and in swell taste.
That lady has no class whatsoever. None.
The idea of you apologizing has it’s merits, in that she might end up feeling badly. However, her attitude suggests that offering an apology just might backfire. She may well upbraid you for giving her such “trash.”
IMHO, take the high road. Be content with the knowledge that you got her a gift that you thought she’d like, based on your limited knowledge of her. That she didn’t like it isn’t your fault. Let her apologize to you for her thoughtless behavior.
Women like that are exactly why I made sure I was “sick” the day of my company’s Holiday Bash[sup]TM[/sup].
I think every lab must come with a bitch, because mine has one to. And I can see her doing EXACTLY the same thing.
What kind of present did she give? I bet it wasn’t nearly as nice as yours.
It’s funny the way people respond to gifts. In my former position, our little department had a “White Elephant” gift exchange every year, in which gifts are placed on a table and selected at random, and can then be exchanged with people who’ve already chosen gifts. It can be a lot of fun, but is also very telling about which gifts are popular – the most popular ones are the ones that get traded around a lot.
I took part in it two years. The first time, I figured “these are a bunch of designers, they’ll appreciate a classy gift.” I found something within the price range (under $25) at a local pen shop: it was a gorgeous fluted glass ink pen, with five different inks for dipping the tip in to write. I wrapped it carefully in some elegant silver paper and nice ribbon. I thought it was a lovely gift. It was chosen after most of the other gifts, and it didn’t get exchanged once.
The second year was the same year Fellowship of the Ring came out, and Burger King was selling four promotional glasses, which featured four different characters and lit up with a red light at the bottom. I hunted down all four (which took some serious effort) and bagged them all in an “'N’Sync” gift bag to complete the package. It was the second gift chosen from the table, and it was either the most-exchanged gift that year, and damn close. Almost everyone in the room wanted it, even after someone had already drunk out of one of the glasses!
The first gift was (I thought) elegant and thoughtful. The second one was kitschy but fun. It was the second one that was a big hit, even though it was almost useless, and could even be classified as “trashy.” (glasses from Burger King!)
Which is just to say, exchanging gifts is a tricky game at best. You shouldn’t take any offense that your gift didn’t go over as you intended… you put thought and care into selecting it and you should be proud of that.
Oh, and your co-worker’s reaction was crass and rude. Whether or not she liked it, she shouldn’t be trashing it that way. If she truly was the elegant person you described, she could have reacted with grace and a little class. However, her reaction shows her to be shallow and rude. I agree with Zabali_Clawbane… if you’re unfortunate enough to have to get a gift for her again, just get her something generic and be done with it. No need to put thought into something that won’t be appreciated anyway.
Obviously that lady is an ungracious turd. It’s a shame she acted so rudely. This is one of the reasons that I refuse to participate in that crap. I don’t care if I’m the only one in the group who doesn’t.
I do have to ask one thing and I can’t believe it hasn’t come up before now. What the everloving fuck is a tart burner?
Haj
tart burners
http://www.candle-licious.com/html/tart_burners.html
It’s probably because men don’t tend to like “fun” socks.
Agreed on all counts that the woman was a complete shithead for not pretending to like the gift. If you gave me that same gift (or a bunch of equally cutesy stuff you thought matched my personality), I’d make a pretty good show of pretending I genuinely loved it before taking it away and hurling it into an active volcano. 
After reading through runner pat’s link, I now see they are Oil Burners… I guess that is the “Brit name” for it. 
Regardless, that woman is a bitch - a complete ingrate.
I’ve given up trying to put a lot of thought into gifts for people I don’t know very well - my taste and thought processes are quite different from most people’s, and I’ve come to learn that what I think is great is crap to someone else - most people wouldn’t appreciate a ceramic Curious George that I think would be the absolute cat’s ass. People I don’t know well get gift certificates or generic stuff.
For the record, I’m hard to buy for, too - gift certificates and generic gifts are more than welcome to me.
The woman was an ungrateful twat, plain and simple. Call me crazy, but I would have loved those gifts from you (I adore funky socks…I have socks for every holiday, and if I could find them for Chanukah, I would be thrilled, even though I’m not Jewish.).
Just don’t participate next year. If anyone asks why, be sure and tell them.
Ava
ntucker, one word for you: regifting. 
I suffered for years with these gift exchanges, too. I simply can’t go by the ‘well, I think it’s nice’ rule – hey, I though EVERYONE would think a silver pillbox shaped like a turtle was neat! And I’d love the glass pen someone mentioned above.
Finally I hit upon the PERFECT gift. Everyone likes it. It has no unwanted calories to offend a dieter. It has no unwanted alcohol to offend an abstainer. It has no animal matter to offend a vegan. It’s not at all racy or risque in case you’ve drawn a blue nose. It isn’t a useless knickknack to offend the clutter phobic. It’s non-breakable and easy to wrap. It suits everyone reqardless of age/sex/size/religion. Best of all it’s dead easy to buy, obtainable almost everywhere.
What is this miraculous gift?
Change. As in ordinary coins, lots of them.
No kidding. I just get the dollar amount of the gift exchange in an assortment of coins, usually quarters and some dimes, though that year they released the gold dollars I tossed in some of those. I sew a little bag out of scrap cloth and write “Emergency Change” on it with a fabric marker. Then I dump the coins in and tie it closed with a bit of ribbon and ta dah! Instant perfect gift exchange present, with no fuss, muss, worry, or thought involved.
I mean, c’mon: who doesn’t find themselves in need frequently when faced with vending machines/washing machines/tolls/parking meters/newstands/etc?
Holy crap, you rock. I can even get them before the end of Chanukah.
Thanks!
Ava
My gift for office giving is a Christmas tree ornament. They’re pretty, light, and well under $10.00. Even if the recipient isn’t christian, it’s still a pretty ornament.
Tart Burner with Wax Tarts? You should have given them to me! Sure, i already have two tart burners and three boxes of wax melts, but I would have still loved to have them!
And I LOVE floral scents!
Wow, I would have loved that gift. I already have 2 tart burners ( a regular one with daisys on it and a Christmas one), and I like cute socks, too. I would have been thrilled with getting “oodles” of tarts.
What an ungrateful bitch.
So, Amberlei, what did you get in the gift exchange?
I accidentally bought tarts thinking they were candles. But I don’t have a tart burner, so now I just have these tarts hanging around, wondering what to do with them.
I would have loved to get a tart burner.
Chiming in to say I love the tart burner too, but I love the baking smells; Harvest, Vanilla Cookie, etc.
Did you actually go to Yankee Candle in South Deerfield? That place is a nuthouse at Christmas.
Your coworker? A bitch plain and simple. How dare she call any gift “trash”, even if it doesn’t suit her. I do think you should call her out and I like the suggestion of the group e-mail.
Twiddle
That’s why it’s important to apologize for giving such a thoughtless gift while in front of other people. The Ungrateful Bitch will either backpedal or she’ll upbraid Amberlei for being so thoughtless. This is the where the endless apologizing comes in particularly handy. No matter what Bitch says, Amberlei keeps apologizing about how she was so stupid, thoughtless, inconsiderate, yes, Bitch is so right, it was such a poorly chosen gift, etc. The more Bitch agrees with her - “See, I’m RIGHT! You did give a trashy gift!!!” the more everyone around will shake their heads in disbelief, first at the bitch factor and second at the fact that this woman is SO stupid she cannot see what everyone else in the office can: that she is an Ungrateful Bitch and that she is making a giant fool of herself. The story will spread throughout the office in about 5 minutes flat - people will probably even run over to listen in - and everyone will be talking about it for months.