TOP TEN WORST GIFTS TO GIVE

Christmas gifts. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Another man's meat is another man's poison.  

We want to give gifts that are meaningful or useful for the receiver.  But sometimes the gifts that we love may not be the right gift for the intended someone.  It is like you are buying the gift for yourself!  By all intents, you mean well and.

To avoid becoming the brunt of relatives whispers, or the reason your friends suddenly would glance at each other, here are a list of 10 worst gift giving mistakes.

1. The Gifts that you think is of "Good Intentions"

Your idea of a good intention could backfire and create awkwardness or worst cause the person to resent you.  Gifts which target a specific short-coming is generally not appreciated. 

Such gifts could include:

• A gift certificate to the newest diet craze.
• Coaching tapes on how to be successful to someone who is unemployed or in a dead-end job.
• A month's supply of Nicotin patches to a chain smoker.
• Hypnosis tapes for overeaters, smokers, aggressive Type A personalities.

Gift certificate  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

2. Gimmick Gadgets

There are a million gimmick gadgets out there that you may be tempted into believing will make the perfect gift for someone on your list who has no hobbies, no particular talents and who doesn't seem to need a thing. 

No doubt, such an individual is hard to buy for, but don't believe for a second the Match your mood Detection Device will end up anywhere but in the storeroom or more likely, the garbage can.

3. Expert Advice to Experts

Some people pride themselves to know everything there is to know about a particular topic. They may excel in a sport, pride themselves on their deep knowledge of astronomy or they could be an expert tailor. 

Buying expert-related gifts is dicey because they already have it, already knowledgeable about it, or really have no use for it.

4. Gifts With a tacky message

If that someone happen to be pregnant, don't go and buy a T-Shirt with a huge arrow pointing at her stomach with the words, "I am pregnant" or "Bun in the Oven" in bold letters.  That is as tacky as it can get!

If you have a friend who is a lawyer and his birthday is coming up next week, don't even consider buying him a T-Shirt with the words, "I am a lawyer. Don't try to sue me!"

This is just bad taste.  Unless the person you are buying for is still underaged, there is  a  likelihood of your T-shirt gifts ending up as a floor rag.

5. Artwork

Guessing the type of art a person may love should be avoided.  Unless, they specifically request a particular piece of art, you may then proceed.

 6. Themed Undergarments

Cute boxer shorts with snowman designs or hearts for your special someone?  Stop and ask yourself where could he wear them?  The office? The Gym? At home?  The answer is no to all three.

Santa Claus Boxer Shorts

For guys, never choose an itsy, bitsy tiny red polka dot nighty unless she specifically say that it is something she would love to wear.

Itsy Bitsy Tiny Nighty

7. Framed Pictures of Yourself

If every year your niece were to send you a big framed picture of herself, you will run out of display room Your shelves will begin to resemble a shrine.

Loving oneself is important, but sending framed pictures of yourself is an odd gift. Including a photograph in with a holiday card will keep everyone updated on how you look, without making them add on a new room to the house just to display your picture.

8. Last minute Gifts

Sometimes, you may forget that you have to attend a dinner in your friend's house and only remembered the invitation on the eleventh hour.  So what do you do?  Rush to the nearest Seven Eleven and grab two giant bags of M&Ms.

Don't be caught being a last minute hostess gift giver.  Keep a few bottles of good wine for such oversights.

9. Thoughtless Gifts

You may think it is smart to buy a lot of gifts at the beginning of the season for one of these reasons:

• Promotion price
• Cool or neat. 
  
  

You figure that you will match the gift to the person as the season rolls in.  Well, you should rethink that line of thought.  It is obvious that it should be the other way around - 

• Think first about the type of person your cool friend is.  
• Consider their likes and then try to find a gift to match.

Examples of Thoughtless Gifts:

• Giving a country CD to a person who loves the blues.
• Giving alcohol to someone who doesn't drink.
• Giving perfume to someone who is allergic to perfume.
• Giving coffee to someone who never drinks coffee.

10. The Re-Gift

Should you re-gift?  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Before you even think of wrapping up that awful present you've had hidden away, look out for upcoming topic about re-gifting and see if you are up to par with this now accepted trend in gift-giving.

Source:http://couponing.about.com/od/bargainshoppingtips/tp/worstgifts.htm

Until my next topic, 

Have An AweSome Day!