When Bad Gifts Happen to Good People

Remember when grandma gave you that extra large fuzzy sweater for Christmas a few years ago or that hard-as-a-rock loaf of fruit cake from Aunt Nancy? While the holidays present an opportunity to get everything we do want, we can also end up with some stuff we would never want in a million years.

Luckily, this happens to everyone, so we can all commiserate together.

In fact, there’s even a survey out by Consumer Reports that tracks what people do when they receive terrible gifts over the holidays. And as far as surveys go, this is one of my favorites; it’s right up there with the top 10 Halloween costumes report.

The survey uncovered something very lovely about human beings. We are far too nice when it comes to receiving bad gifts—40 percent of respondents made the “best of” the lousy gift, while 39 percent hid it somewhere (like the back of the closet or under the bed, perhaps?), and 18 percent donated it to charity. While fairly passive-aggressive options, it’s far better than what some folks choose to do.

There’s a tenacious 2 percent of respondents who actually have the gall to return the gift to the gift-giver. Wouldn’t you just love to be a fly on the wall for that showdown? Yikes!

The report went on to share the culprits of this horrible gift-giving. It’s the usual suspects, of course: in-laws, friends, and grandma and grandpa. However, because we’re so nice, at least 44 percent of respondents believe the thought is more important than anything else—even a bad gift. Aww…aren’t we sweet? But really, I would like grandma to know I wear a medium and that camel is not my color. Ever.

With Americans set to spend $707 each on holiday gifts this year (up 4 percent from last year!), there’s a lot of room for bad gift-giving. We just hope it doesn’t happen to you.

What do you do with your bad/ugly/awful holiday gifts? We hope we’ve at least given you some good ideas, but if not, please share your responses below.

-Heather Strang

Comments

[maya]

Bad gifts usually come from people who feel obligated to get someone they don't really know or don't really like something. It is an aberration because a gift should be an expression of a positive sentiment towards someone you love. Otherwise, why bother? It's a pity that people a re forced to give gifts to almost everyone during large family gatherings. I personally tend to abstain from getting people I don't really care about anything because I myself really hate getting something that I have absolutely no use for or no pleasure. Without mentioning the clutter and the waste all this generates. I say let's get the holidays back to what they really should mean - spending time with the people we love and getting them things they can use and - and if we're really lucky - cherish.