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Submitted by Trend Hunter on December 22nd, 2008

Of all the brutal presents I’ve received in my life, none have been so humbling as those from (now) ex-boyfriends. You’d think there would be a seminar that hapless significant others could attend to help guide them along the right path to gift enlightenment. The world might be a happier place, especially around the holidays.

Here are the best of the worst. Some of these gifts came from the same person within the same year!

1. Underwear, two sizes too small.

2. A bra, a letter too large.

3. A pack of cheap disposable razors with a note, “So you don’t use mine.”

4. A three-pack of athletic socks (Don’t get me wrong, I love new socks,
just not from my boyfriend)

5. Barbie-blue eyeshadow.

6. A six-pack of lint rollers (Again, super useful but not particularly
romantic).

7. A 30-pack of Natural Light beer (at a total retail cost of about $13).

-Marissa Brassfield for Trend Hunter

Submitted by Alison Storm on December 18th, 2008

I have a small circle of high school friends. Even though we live in five different states we work hard to keep in touch. We exchange phone calls and e-mails and birthday cards. We’ve forked over big bucks for bridesmaid dresses for each other’s weddings. We’ve spent large chunks of our paychecks on plane tickets to Vegas for our annual gathering. And every year we buy each other Christmas presents, carefully wrap them up, and ship them off as another way to show our friendship.

But this year one of girls in this intimate circle (we’ll call her Friend B) decided that with the state of the economy our decade-old tradition of exchanging Christmas gifts should be halted. Friend B’s e-mail read,

‘the main thing that I wanted to bring up is the gift exchange thing. I know that every year I feel very strapped financially and I also don’t have as much time to shop for great gifts as I would like… so I was thinking that maybe we should not exchange gifts this year due to all of the economic strain and all of us having not as much free time as we would like. What do you think about this idea? If you still really want to do the gift thing let me know, but I will just have to do small items.’ READ THE REST…

Submitted by The Bargainist on December 8th, 2008

One in three people say they feel stressed out during the holidays, according to Gallup. My theory is that the Christmas stress comes from finding the perfect gift. There’s a lot of pressure in gift giving. Will they like it? Will they hate it? Will they return it? Will they treasure it? You see, being a good gift giver says a lot about you as a person. It says that you listen well, are thoughtful, understanding, and caring.

Think about when you get a really great gift—it makes you feel good, right? Now think about when you get a gift that makes no sense. Not only do you have to fake liking it, but you have a resonating feeling of how little this person actually knows you. Shouldn’t your mom know what size sweater you wear? Shouldn’t your grandma know that you are allergic to wool? Shouldn’t your granddaughter know you hate frogs?

Yes, she should.

In my defense my grandmother and I have never lived in the same town. Miles always separated us. I’m sorry to say months have passed without any communication between us. But I always felt Christmas was my chance to shine. It was my opportunity to be a good granddaughter—my chance to show how thoughtful, understanding and caring I was.

Years ago my sister and I discussed what to get Grandma for Christmas. My recollection tells me it was my sister’s suggestion to add to Grandma’s frog collection. So frogs became our annual holiday gift theme. Frog socks, frog figurines, frog candles, frog pajamas, frog mugs, frog slippers, frog pens—if this woman liked frogs than darn-it, she would be surrounded by them 24-7. READ THE REST…