How to tell them you didn’t like a present!

Re package back to the gift giver next Christmas maybe?😂

When it's getting near your birthday, mothers day and Christmas, why don't you tell them what you would like. You could say you've tried toiletries that you really like for example.

We have a spend limit, we don’t need anything, if we do we go out and buy it, so….
The criteria is
Under £10
Can be new but preferably in good used condition.
Or something hand made.
Far better than a drawer full of expensive stuff that you won’t use.

I’d be inclined to wear a long sleeve cotton top under the knitwear when you see them and mention by the way that you’re doing it due to an itch when wearing their lovely knitwear.

Toiletries I’d just use.

If you don't actually need the presents you could ask them to donate to a charity you would like to support instead of buying you anything.

You probably do the same for them Cambsnan, none of us can guess exactly what somebody else wants as a present. We do a wish list in my family, share it with the others, and all buy each other something off the wish list. That way we know we’re getting something we would like, but don’t know exactly what until we open it.

I would ask in the future if you can give them a list you could then phrase in a away that you know everyone is busy at this time of year so to make things easier. Then you can put five or six things on there starting cheap, soap, shower gel, hand cream and then a few mid priced things but if it's clothes ask them to get a gift receipt in case you need to change it.

I don't think I'd tell them.
Before it comes to birthday/Christmas I would suggest a gift that you would like.
Hint that you have enough jumpers and toiletries that haven't been used yet and would rather have so and so or gift vouchers please.
Do you use Ebay that you could sell your stock on and use the money to buy something else?

I would not tell them either

It is the thought that counts

How about creating a wish list in the future?

My DD bought me clothes for Christmas.
I tried them on in front of her and we agreed one top didn't suit me so she said she'd try to return it.
The other, a fleece type zipped top I've hardly taken off.

I would hate to tell anybody I didn't like their gift but I do regifting for tombolas and raffles later in the year.
Shame about the expensive woollies.

I certainly wouldn’t tell them after they ve gone to the trouble of spending money on you but a few weeks before your birthday or whatever day I d say if anyone wants to know what I’d like for my birthday I d love ………
My children always ask me what I’d like and I can say something that I do want and although it’s not a surprise it’s lovely to get something I wouldn’t normally buy myself but would want…. last year it was flowery short garden boots and a pair of earrings I d admired and some perfume I liked etc etc much better than something I didn’t want

I'm always grateful for the thought and never return or change but sometimes recycle. I still like the surprise element and give them all what I would like them to have. I do keep my ear close to the ground over the year though.

There is no way to tell them nicely.

My mum never likes the presents my sister and I get her, and it's so disheartening. She tells us why she didn't like the latest gift, probably so we don't waste our money in future, but it's too late when we've already spent it, and we are no wiser afterwards, as she never tells us what she would like, so other than adding to the very long list of things she doesn't want, we are back to square one every birthday and Christmas.

At her age she has everything she needs, and she can buy everything she wants. She doesn't like sweets, doesn't wear accessories or make-up, prefers her own jewellery, doesn't like bath products and gets through one bottle of perfume every few years. Candles or diffusers are a non-starter as she has a cat, and she's not a fan of gadgets. As you can see, that limits our options, yet she expects us to surprise her with something she'll like, and always lets us know that we've missed the mark and she's given away the present because she won't use it, or that we really shouldn't get her another one, as it's not her sort of thing at all.

Honestly, Cambsnan, I wouldn't tell them. They've bought you things out of love, in the hope that you will like them. If you can let them know what you would like, that would be great (I wish my mum would do that), but if that's not how your family operates, I would just pretend that you are delighted.

Doodledog, next time, how about a goat for a poor family in Sudan, with her name on it, IYSWIM.

Goodness, I certainly wouldn't tell them. How very ungrateful you are.

kittylester

There is no way to tell them nicely.

No there sure isn’t! It’s rude to complain about a present in any form at all.
Give the knitwear to a charity shop and the expensive toiletries to me 🤪
In good time for next year make an Amazon wishlist and fill it with things you would like.

Doodledog that’s just awful for you.Stick to flowers or plants? Does she have any form of dementia? My Mum always says she’s pleased with presents and maybe she is and maybe she isn’t but would never complain about them.

welbeck

Doodledog, next time, how about a goat for a poor family in Sudan, with her name on it, IYSWIM.

😂

You either have to keep on smiling to tell them,which ever makes you less disgruntled.

We all share lists too and so usually get something we all like. I so give small surprises too as I know the brands my daughters likes. We are always happy to change something if we hate it but they very rarely happens

Sorry also not so

Oreo

Doodledog that’s just awful for you.Stick to flowers or plants? Does she have any form of dementia? My Mum always says she’s pleased with presents and maybe she is and maybe she isn’t but would never complain about them.

The last time we got her flowers she complained that her house 'was like a florist' as my daughter and her friend had sent some too.

Tempting though the goat option may be , she wouldn't like that either. I don't think she has dementia - she's always been the same, really. She complains about things that other people have bought her, too - nothing is ever right.

It's almost as though she has a deep-seated need to have someone understand her enough to get the perfect present, but as it hasn't happened in nearly 90 years I think it's unlikely that it will happen now. It's such a shame, as it can't be nice being permanently disappointed, and she has missed out by not taking pleasure in what she has been given.

DD usually sends me a photo before she buys, if she's buying me something to wear.