The Holidays are Over, Now to Deal with the Bad Gifts

Socks, ugly sweaters, steering wheel covers, we've all gotten bad holiday gifts. Of course the question after the fact is, what to do with them? And, while we're on the subject, are you a bad gift giver without realizing it?

We've all had it happen to us, you tear into the wrapping paper hoping for something you've wanted and end up staring at something perplexing. An ash tray? I don't even smoke. But you still try to put on your most sincere smile and say, "gee, thanks, that's...unique". All the while, the gears in your brain are spinning, "how do I get rid of this without hurting anyone's feelings?".

Re-gifting is always a risk. The person you re-gift to may have just as little use for the gift as you did in the first place or, worse, they may know the original gift giver. The last thing you want is to all be together and have the original gift giver say, "Hey that's funny, that tea kettle cozy looks a lot like the one I gave you".

Thankfully, gift giving has gotten a lot easier in the Internet age. Many websites have "wish lists" that you can make publicly available so gift givers can see things you actually want. Amazon.com even lets you rank items by priority.

The New York Times has an article on gift giving etiquette and suggestions, you can check it out here.

So fess up, what's the worst or weirdest gift you've ever gotten and what did you end up doing with it?