Today I was op shopping and came across my bugbear: vast collections of gift-type items that seem to have been used once or not at all. I went a bit secret squirrel and took some photos to show you what I mean:
Piles of gift boxes and tins
Bags of plastic toys - mainly happy meal toys! Also soft toys that you can tell have never been loved.
Unopened decorations
There was also a pile of unopened pamper packs with bath supplies and hand creams that I didn't get to photograph. I often see these types of items in oversupply at op shops.
Jump forward a week in this scenario and you are now appraising the newly gifted stuff you have accumulated. How do you sort your piles? Do labels like: keep, regift, return and op shop come to mind? What I am trying to say is that we need to stop giving these generic gifts when they are unsuitable. Gifters are throwing away their money while meeting society's need to provide a wrapped package. Giftees are all generally so affluent that they can pick and choose the gifts they will keep and redistribute the rest. It seems so wasteful when you consider how the money could otherwise be spent . And if the money wastage doesn't bother you, consider this: these gifts are shitty to receive. If it is the 'thought that counts', the thought behind these gifts is: 'I don't know you well and don't have time to think about you' (and that is a best case scenario).
So what CAN you buy people? I suggest it is possibly better to get that information from them. It is October so there's still plenty of time to get some snooping in before Christmas. Perhaps just ask them, their friends or family for suggestions. If you are at their house or desk, get some clues there. Could you get them a coffee voucher, refill their chocolate stash or a movie ticket? Lastly, if you must take the generic route, at least save yourself some money and buy from the opshop! Or maybe you could get crafty and try to up cycle some opshop finds, like these:
