General Etiquette > Life...in general

Gift Exchange Bust

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stanthedevil:
I went to a holiday party last week that was wonderful.  It is a bunch of women who are only connected to each other through the hostess and the yearly get-together.  By the end of the evening, everyone has made a few new friends.  The food and the entertainment were absolutely marvelous.  However, the gift exchange was very disappointing.

The invitation simply asked people to bring a gift to share (if they wished to participate) and you could be as lazy or creative as you liked.

I went out and spent about $20 to make a "coffee for one" kit.  I bought a cute winter themed box, a mug, 1/2 pound of gourment coffee, and then filled the rest of the box with about 2 pounds of different kinds of Hershey Kisses (mint, peanut butter, caramel, dark chocolate, and milk chocolate).  As the gifts were opened various nice gifts came out including a wooden massager, a very nice bath kit, a book, etc.  There were three "bad" gifts: a painted "shrunken head" made out of a coconut, a weird gnome statue, and a bag of promotional stuff from someone's work.  However, the "shrunken head" was a big hit.  One of the women "stole" it because she wanted to use it in her classroom.  So the gnome statue and the promotional stuff tied for "crappiest gift".  The other girl and I both got to pick out another present.  There are always extra presents because some people bring gifts and don't stay for the exchange.  The other girl got a DVD and I got another bad gift - an ugly stuffed bear.

Basically, I brought a nice gift and ended up with a bag of promotional stuff (pen, magnet, little stuffed animal) and an ugly bear.  The woman who brought the bag of stuff ended up with a really nice bath kit and thought it was hilarious that a "newbie" got stuck with a bad gift.  I guess I won't be such a "newbie" next year.

Adah:
The first year of a Yankee Swap gives you a lot of information about the tone and tenor of the particular swap. I've also ended up on the short end of the stick of a swap, but I've since decided to just not take them to seriously. It would be helpful if the hostess/swap organizers could set a dollar limit and some guidelines, but overall, I'd just let it go. You weren't the only one who noticed who brought the "crap" gifts...

NOVA Lady:
Ugh...promotional crap how tacky.

If I had known promotional stuff could also double for a gift I wouldn't have spent a penny this season :) I go to so many conferences that I end up with swag that we could not possibly use up (hundreds of sticky notes, pens, magnets, toys of all varities, and so on).

I cannot imagine what would posses someone to think these things would make good gifts though.

platys:
I actually have this weird thing for promotional stuff.  My sister has been sending me huge amounts of pens from her work - they can't be given away because they  managed to mispell a fairly important word on them.  They are nice pens, and I love pens.

What I've decided with gift exchanges and secret swaps is to take joy in what I give, and how happy people are witih what they receive, rather than worry what I end up with.  I've had a few not so great exchanges, but I've also had wonderful exchanges where the person clearly had a ball, and gave me great stuff.

ZipTheWonder:
To be truthful, I have never been to this type of exchange that was meant to be serious.  I have only seen it about 2 or 3 times, and all of those, the gifts were predominantly junque/regifts/gags.  I wonder if some of the complaints we've heard on this board about this are the result of the same (mis-)conception about these gift swaps. 

One that I went to actually clarified a "White Elephant Gift," yet there was both a sterling picture frame (regift?)and a box of ExLax(gag?).  I'm sure some went home disappointed and some went home embarassed, but what are the gifts supposed to be in these exchanges??

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