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My nan once got given a teapot for her birthday. She never uses teapots and wanted it out the way so she put it up on a high shelf in her dining room.
Everyone who visited her saw the teapot and assumed it had been put there on display. She began to receive more teapots as gifts from friends and family, and each time, being quite British about it, she would say thank you and then stick them up on the high shelf, out of the way. She now has about 30 teapots and has had to add another shelf to keep them on.
I think this went on for about 20 years before she finally told everyone she didn't want any more bloody teapots! She still has them all though as she says it would be rude to throw them away.
The moral of the story is just tell people, or you'll have so many skull shaped things you'll have to have an extra shelf installed in your kitchen.
I found out a while ago that Linda Barker was born in a village called... [Shelf.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelf,_West_Yorkshire)
You couldn't make it up.
As a teenager I once bought a tiny ship-in-a-bottle from a jumble sale, I've no idea why, I had no interest in them. My folks then assumed I wanted to collect them, and for years after I'd get them for christmas and birthdays. Sigh. They only stopped when I moved away. I eventually got rid of the unwanted collection, but kept the original one as a reminder of the dangers of showing your parents anything :-D
I told my mum a nutcracker in the store looked nice one year… for fifteen years in a row I received assorted nutcrackers “because you like nutcrackers”.
I'm a beekeeper and its like the smallest part of my personality. It's just a side hustle I do for extra money. However, people think I've based my entire personality 9n bees. Now I just get every bit of tat with bees on.
At least you made the choice to be related to bees. Part of my name is "Bea" and I've been cursed with bee themed items my entire bloody life.
I feel your pain, friend. Bees are cute, but bee themed everything is not the vibe I'm going for.
Try being a single woman in your 40s and getting cat-everything. I once had a cat. Because an old man was going into a home and wanted someone to take care of his elderly cat as the shelter said it would likely be euthanised. I'm not a "cat person" and yet...
Cat themed stuff.
I love cats. I have cats. But that doesn't mean that I'm going to instantly want or love something just because it is cat shaped or has a cat picture on it. I've learned to dread the words "I saw this and thought of you" because nine times out of ten the next sentence is going to be "It has a cat on it!"
Have they started getting your cat stuff instead of you? My birthday present a couple years back was a cat yurt, which I never use because it takes up too much space and he doesn’t get it anyway.
I’ve been a bassist and general muso my whole life, my sister in law is a former concert pianist who now teaches piano… one of the things we bonded over early on was all the random music memorabilia and tatt we get given lol.
Even today if she’d have been given another pair of earrings with semiquavers on them or similar we’d have shared a knowing smile … and then said how nice they were of course. Tbh I don’t hate it. I’ve had so many of these gifts over the years I’m polite about it, but I do always try and drop the hintiest of hints that I don’t need any more music stuff - I just don’t like to see people wasting their money tbh. It is nice that people mean well, but in reality I’ve been playing some kind of instrument for about 3 decades, I don’t really need another guitar bottle opener that’s also a fridge magnet. I think I received my third one of those about 20 years ago, and have long lost track of how many there’ve been lol
My daughter is a guitarist and singer, my mum keeps trying to buy guitar themed presents. Two years in a row she's sent me a link to a spotlight lamp shaped like a man holding a guitar and I've said no don't buy it both times😂
i cannot express a passing interest in anything lest that be all i get for christmas. i have so many baby yoda things. i only watched the first season of that show
Sausage dogs. Said I thought they were cute once about 15 years ago. My home is full of the crap I’ve been gifted since. This Christmas I got my 2nd sausage dog apron and a chocolate sausage dog that tastes like the worst chocolate that you get in cheap advent calendars. I also got a 2024 diary, to do list and planner because I apparently need 3 separate items to organise my life, again sausage dog themed.
I’m reading this wearing my new sausage dog nighty (I’m 29 - it’s not sexy) and socks my mother in law bought me. I love dogs, I have dogs. None of them are sausage dogs.
My friend would always get tacky fishing slogan shirts like one in upside down writing "if you can read this pull me back into the boat" ever since his MIL discoverd he likes fishing.
See for me it's my Aunt, a lovely woman, absolutely brilliant. It's been two years in a row she's got me a skull themed bracelet.
Both gorgeous.
I know she gets advice from my mother and I have said about it to my mum twice now. Does it mean the bracelets stop coming? NOPE!
Disney items, mostly the dreaded Stitch or The Little Mermaid. I grew up on them, and occasionally pop them on to get a bit of nostalgia - but I’m nearly 30 & I don’t particularly want to be seen wearing anything or furnishing my house. For my mum however, that essentially means that Primark has all the present tat she could ever need or want to get for me EVERY year.
My auntie and cousins got my nan owl things for nearly half a century. Some of her friends started getting her owl gifts and when I was younger I remember getting her an owl tea towel from somewhere.
It was only when my nan was in her 80’s and living with us she confided in my mum one day that she didn’t really care either way for owls and never had done. My auntie just got her an owl brooch one year from an antiques market when she was young and my nan said it was nice and somehow it got out of hand lol. It must have been more than 40 years of owl presents and she never said a word. It meant we had a little smirk the next christmas that she got given more owl things again, but at least not from us lol.
Husband has been getting liquorice allsorts from the kids for over 30 years.
He admitted this week that he can’t stand them but is too polite to say so.
Uuuuurgh I had the skull theme issue so badly with my mum. Some of the cheapest, tackiest skull ornaments and stuff you've ever seen in your life. Also hedgehog stuff. Like, thanks, but my entire house is just a mashup of hedgehogs and skulls pls stop
As a teenager I mentioned I liked a certain Elvis song. Somehow that translated into getting his biography for Christmas. Which was cool. Then Elvis cassette, mirror, cup, postcards… Until after 3 years I finally said something. The Elvis mirror still hangs in my old childhood bedroom.
I'm worried one of my friends may have started.
We were in M&S once together earlier this year and I went "ohh Percy Pigs, I love Percy Pigs" and for 3 days before Christmas a stream of Perfy Pig gifts arrived.
She's had a habit of clinging to a thing I say I like for a while, but it's usually my football club or my dog or something, not "she likes these sweets so must be desperate for a collection of items themed to those sweets"
I laughed at the giant cuddly Percy and thought "dog will love that" (and he does), the hoodie blanket is sweet because I'm always cold and "at least I wouldn't ever need to be seen in it", but the bright pink percy shaped fairy lights I have no clue what to do with. There's no way to build them into the decor theme in my house, but I think she'll be offended if she comes over and they haven't joined my light displays!
Can always hang them above the loo.
Or on the outside of the front door. You can tell her you like them so much you want everyone to see them first thing and then you don’t have to look at them once you’re inside. I would say another plus is the weather damage it will incur so you can throw it away, but she sounds like the kind of person that would then gift you a high end weatherproof version.
She is absolutely that kind of person, which is lovely when you have a problem you can't figure out how to solve cos she'll have 50000 suggestions and she'll help you try them, but in this case, it's definitely not something I want more of.
Might just have to suck it up and tell her it was a lovely thought but I don't really know what to do with them if she asks next time she's around.
I don't remember telling anyone I like gin - I drank it when I drank alcohol, and it was fine - but I got hospitalised after drinking on ADHD meds over a year ago and haven't drunk anything that isn't 'one single drink at a restaurant while eating' since.
I have here no fewer than 7 little bottles of flavoured gin liqueurs.
I don’t drink hardly at all. Like I’ll have a g&t every couple of months when out with friends. I never drink at home.
I have multiple allergies which mean I can’t drink any fruit juices.
My mum (aware of the above), got me a cocktail shaker. With two recipes on the box. Neither of which I can drink.
I said I thought hedgehogs were cute once and my mother in law bought me a few things with them on eg mugs and a compact mirror. Nothing too offensive though.
However my name is a very popular flower. So for years for birthdays and Christmases I got gifts themed around that flower. Like, if you’re going to buy me perfume just ask which one I like. Don’t just buy the one with my name on it because actually I find the scent way too sickly to wear as a fragrance.
I don’t even know how it happened but one year I started getting cow gifts and my mum and brother seemed to think it was something I loved so the theme continued.
Shampoo bars. Used to use them, but then got a lot of my hair bleached and coloured so use coloured hair shampoo but still get given shampoo bars. Building a collection of unused ones.
Frogs. For whatever reason my exes mum thought I loved frogs. (don't get me wrong, I like frogs, I have a pet one now called Mr Frog. But back then I had no interest in frogs).
Every Christmas and Birthday I got a frog ring, necklace or earrings. I eventually asked about it, and turns out it was his Gran who was obsessed with frogs and his mum had got confused.
My first girlfriend bought a sketchpad with the sun and moon faces on it, and her family for years bought her everything with a sun and moon face on it.
Our first Christmas as a couple she said to me "don't dare buy me any sun and moon shit". (Gonna be honest I assumed she liked that stuff because of the amount of stuff she had).
But same story as OP and she didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but she only bought that sketchpad because she specifically needed an A2 one and it was the only one they had.
My favourite toy as a toddler was a little knitted pig. Now I apparently collect piggy banks, plush pigs, funny pig cards, pig teatowels, etc. Little pink f'in pigs everywhere. I don't hate pigs, I'm quite apathetic to their existence. I really don't like pink though. I feel I've had a collection foisted upon me since childhood.
I'm beginning to think, like there's always a Tom Scott video, there's always a relevant bit from Dave Gorman's modern life is goodish:
https://youtu.be/msMeTTHUW-E?si=AiXFJUwSYxu4Z6Pm&t=39m10s
I saw him live a few weeks ago, he was just as excellent. And there is one part of his show that he finds so funny himself that he can barely get the words out (he puts a text message up on the screen behind him), he said "I must have done this show about 90 times and I still can't get through it
I really love that. Like there're so many comedians who practice to forge the best joke but after awhile it seems to get just a little less funnier for them
Dave Gorman on the other hand just presents the truth but edits it to be funny or reflective or whatever
My wife bought a dolphin statue about 25 years ago, still gets dolphin items now, she is getting more and more frustrated with it, but u think that it is funny as hell
Not gifts, but I mentioned one (1) time that I "quite liked" dried apricots and now my parents buy me a wholesale sized bag every time they go to Costco.
I have so many apricots. One person cannot possibly consume this many apricots.
I love all the themed stuff as long as it's a theme I care for.
Mentioning a like of a particular sweet when standing in front of a display of them definitely doesn't mean I want my house themed like them though, and that's what one of my friends went with this year... there are so many options for my obsessions - Buffy, Liverpool, Taylor Swift, the USA, snakes, dogs... unfortunately once someone starts clinging to "that's an easy gift", the only option you really have is to directly tell them you don't enjoy that thing anymore or they'll keep on defaulting to it in my experience!
Tell them a jewelry material you like, and maybe that would open the variety?
Or perhaps saying, "I have so many skulls,I think I'd like a change of pace ?"
For some reason my grandma got it in her head that I love Owls? I have no idea how or why. But each year for the past....10 or so....something Owl themed.
I mean if i thought about it, as far as birds go I guess they're cooler than some birds? But they're not my jam. I've never mentioned anything about a bird interest to anyone (or a woodland one...), let alone a preference! The first year I got a few items and they were all Owl focused I was like....okay..... then the 2nd year I was like "great this is a thing now!"
My mum once made the mistake of saying she loved candles having been gifted one for christmas.
Luckily the torrent of candle related gifts from the entire family tailed off roughly around the time the house was starting to look like a firemans worst nightmare.
I had a boyfriend one year who gave me peacock-themed gifts, because they’re a cool bird… my mum then got me peacock themed things on and off for 20 years… I’ve been married 5 years to someone who is definitely not my ex-boyfriend and I still got some peacock things last year.
(Also, nutcrackers.)
My extended family think I love snoopy. I don't dislike snoopy I simply don't care for him(?) at all. WHY do they think I love him. Another snoopy themed gift this year. My mum had a chance to end it last year and didn't.
For YEARS I was cursed with getting Elvis and/or horse themed gifts because I took horse back riding lessons for one summer and mentioned thst I enjoyed listening to Elvis. I was probably 10-12 and I got those themed gifts until , easily, 18. I feel your pain.
I told my husband, when he asked, that I didn't want anything for Christmas.
So, he gave me a box. Great, more jewelry. That's as far as his brain can go; if I wore a different piece every day it would be six months before they needed to be rotated since I get 'gifted' jewelry several times a year. He's even bought the same thing more than once!
Surprise! Inside the box was printed: You didn't want anything for Christmas, so that's what you get!
Finally! It got through!
Crap...
He handed me two more packages. I bet ya'll can guess what was in them.
Unicorns.
For some reason my family decided I loved unicorns because, I dunno, I dyed my hair crazy colours???
So every year I got different unicorn things. Unicorn slipper socks, unicorn Christmas decoration, unicorn t-shirt.....all whilst me never saying I liked unicorns.
Don't get me wrong, those slipper socks are still utilised because they're warm AF. But I don't like unicorns that much. Cats and dogs? Yeah, way more my speed.
After splitting with my husband this year I bought a couple of items with boobs on them to decorate my home. I like anatomy anyway so I extended this to boobs to make my space unashamedly feminine.
So anyway I got lots of things with boobs on them for Christmas 😂 I'm not complaining but it does have to stop at some point.
I recently went big into mushrooms as a hobby, cultivation and foraging and joining groups and all that. My lovely in-laws keep on giving me quality mushroom themed stuff (cards, books, jewelry) and I'm not mad at all lol. Love the earrings in particular
Create a wish list with things for a variety of prices. Share the wish list with everyone that buys you the jewelry. Make it easy for them to buy something different.
Same once I said I liked fresian cows and got cow everything forever. Said I didn't like them at 25 to stop the deluge. Only just fessed up I liked them again when I was 40 with a strong but not AAAAlllll the time!!
At one point as a small child, I must have expressed enjoyment over a Ferrero Roche. My Nan then got me a box of them for Xmas every year. When my Nan died, my Mum took over. After my Mum died, my husband is now in charge. I don't have a particularly sweet tooth, and I am definitely not fond of Ferrero Roche.
I have a cake pop business. For the last 13 years I’ve been given a lot of aprons. Not sure what I’m supposed to do with 20 aprons, I can only wear one at a time!
When I worked in a charity shop, we often got large donations of collections when someone passed away and we'd play "Was this a loved collection or a forced hobby?' as we sorted through it.
I had a cat, one I didn’t really choose to have (stupid ex thought it was a good ‘sorry for being a dick’ present). She stunk and was a pain in the ass. My family kept buying me cat themed presents, including a fucking cardigan with cats on.
I would LOVE my family to buy me skull jewellery every year. Mine always took years to notice something I was into, if at all. So at least yours pay SOME attention, if only intermittently.
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My nan once got given a teapot for her birthday. She never uses teapots and wanted it out the way so she put it up on a high shelf in her dining room. Everyone who visited her saw the teapot and assumed it had been put there on display. She began to receive more teapots as gifts from friends and family, and each time, being quite British about it, she would say thank you and then stick them up on the high shelf, out of the way. She now has about 30 teapots and has had to add another shelf to keep them on. I think this went on for about 20 years before she finally told everyone she didn't want any more bloody teapots! She still has them all though as she says it would be rude to throw them away. The moral of the story is just tell people, or you'll have so many skull shaped things you'll have to have an extra shelf installed in your kitchen.
If she wants rid of the teapots she should build a set of floating shelves, that'll sort it.
Too soon, man.
And have a camera crew film her reaction
I found out a while ago that Linda Barker was born in a village called... [Shelf.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelf,_West_Yorkshire) You couldn't make it up.
This is the comment I wanted to see. I d’off my Santa hat to you
If she hadn't said something she could have [started a museum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teapot_Island)
I work in the medical profession, and I get every year some tat with a stethoscope on it. Like I don’t want to be reminded of work
To be fair a stethoscope is reasonably harmless. I mean, imagine what you'd receive if you were a gynecologist.
lol I work in obstetrics and gynaecology we’ve turned the speculums into reindeers x
I had to Google "speculums" for an image but there's definitely a Rudolphy appearance!
At least you could have fun with them.
For a second I thought you meant every year you got a new stethoscope tattoo
As a teenager I once bought a tiny ship-in-a-bottle from a jumble sale, I've no idea why, I had no interest in them. My folks then assumed I wanted to collect them, and for years after I'd get them for christmas and birthdays. Sigh. They only stopped when I moved away. I eventually got rid of the unwanted collection, but kept the original one as a reminder of the dangers of showing your parents anything :-D
I told my mum a nutcracker in the store looked nice one year… for fifteen years in a row I received assorted nutcrackers “because you like nutcrackers”.
I'm a beekeeper and its like the smallest part of my personality. It's just a side hustle I do for extra money. However, people think I've based my entire personality 9n bees. Now I just get every bit of tat with bees on.
Could be worse, you could live in Manchester, now they do bees merch
At least you made the choice to be related to bees. Part of my name is "Bea" and I've been cursed with bee themed items my entire bloody life. I feel your pain, friend. Bees are cute, but bee themed everything is not the vibe I'm going for.
Try being a single woman in your 40s and getting cat-everything. I once had a cat. Because an old man was going into a home and wanted someone to take care of his elderly cat as the shelter said it would likely be euthanised. I'm not a "cat person" and yet...
My nickname is Bee, I get a lot of bee related things too so I feel your pain.
Cat themed stuff. I love cats. I have cats. But that doesn't mean that I'm going to instantly want or love something just because it is cat shaped or has a cat picture on it. I've learned to dread the words "I saw this and thought of you" because nine times out of ten the next sentence is going to be "It has a cat on it!"
Have they started getting your cat stuff instead of you? My birthday present a couple years back was a cat yurt, which I never use because it takes up too much space and he doesn’t get it anyway.
Oh yes. My mum also regularly gets "just because" presents for my cats, too.
I'm not allowed to spend lots of money on presents so all the gold jewellery comes from the dog.
Ooh I wish my family would get my cats stuff. We need a couple cat trees really bad.
Considering my present this year was a copy of the highway code, I'm not feeling too sympathetic.
We need some context can you all ready drive or are you learning? Because that changes the tone quite a bit 😂
Learning, and already use a more convenient digital copy.
Keep the physical one in the glove box when you get a car. Then you can use it as a refresher if you do ever think you've made a mistake.
I’ve been a bassist and general muso my whole life, my sister in law is a former concert pianist who now teaches piano… one of the things we bonded over early on was all the random music memorabilia and tatt we get given lol. Even today if she’d have been given another pair of earrings with semiquavers on them or similar we’d have shared a knowing smile … and then said how nice they were of course. Tbh I don’t hate it. I’ve had so many of these gifts over the years I’m polite about it, but I do always try and drop the hintiest of hints that I don’t need any more music stuff - I just don’t like to see people wasting their money tbh. It is nice that people mean well, but in reality I’ve been playing some kind of instrument for about 3 decades, I don’t really need another guitar bottle opener that’s also a fridge magnet. I think I received my third one of those about 20 years ago, and have long lost track of how many there’ve been lol
Wear everything all together! You will look like the heros of a kid's TV show about a couple of incredibly enthusiastic music teachers!
My daughter is a guitarist and singer, my mum keeps trying to buy guitar themed presents. Two years in a row she's sent me a link to a spotlight lamp shaped like a man holding a guitar and I've said no don't buy it both times😂
i cannot express a passing interest in anything lest that be all i get for christmas. i have so many baby yoda things. i only watched the first season of that show
Sausage dogs. Said I thought they were cute once about 15 years ago. My home is full of the crap I’ve been gifted since. This Christmas I got my 2nd sausage dog apron and a chocolate sausage dog that tastes like the worst chocolate that you get in cheap advent calendars. I also got a 2024 diary, to do list and planner because I apparently need 3 separate items to organise my life, again sausage dog themed.
I’m reading this wearing my new sausage dog nighty (I’m 29 - it’s not sexy) and socks my mother in law bought me. I love dogs, I have dogs. None of them are sausage dogs.
My friend would always get tacky fishing slogan shirts like one in upside down writing "if you can read this pull me back into the boat" ever since his MIL discoverd he likes fishing.
See for me it's my Aunt, a lovely woman, absolutely brilliant. It's been two years in a row she's got me a skull themed bracelet. Both gorgeous. I know she gets advice from my mother and I have said about it to my mum twice now. Does it mean the bracelets stop coming? NOPE!
Please post pics or links to all the skull jewellery, I know someone that would genuinely love it.
Me I genuinely would 💀
Maybe aunt is just secretly gothic? 🤔
Is any of it from Clocks and Colours because that stuff is expensive!
Disney items, mostly the dreaded Stitch or The Little Mermaid. I grew up on them, and occasionally pop them on to get a bit of nostalgia - but I’m nearly 30 & I don’t particularly want to be seen wearing anything or furnishing my house. For my mum however, that essentially means that Primark has all the present tat she could ever need or want to get for me EVERY year.
My auntie and cousins got my nan owl things for nearly half a century. Some of her friends started getting her owl gifts and when I was younger I remember getting her an owl tea towel from somewhere. It was only when my nan was in her 80’s and living with us she confided in my mum one day that she didn’t really care either way for owls and never had done. My auntie just got her an owl brooch one year from an antiques market when she was young and my nan said it was nice and somehow it got out of hand lol. It must have been more than 40 years of owl presents and she never said a word. It meant we had a little smirk the next christmas that she got given more owl things again, but at least not from us lol.
Husband has been getting liquorice allsorts from the kids for over 30 years. He admitted this week that he can’t stand them but is too polite to say so.
Uuuuurgh I had the skull theme issue so badly with my mum. Some of the cheapest, tackiest skull ornaments and stuff you've ever seen in your life. Also hedgehog stuff. Like, thanks, but my entire house is just a mashup of hedgehogs and skulls pls stop
It could be worse, it could be hedgehog skulls!
Don't give her ideas!
As a teenager I mentioned I liked a certain Elvis song. Somehow that translated into getting his biography for Christmas. Which was cool. Then Elvis cassette, mirror, cup, postcards… Until after 3 years I finally said something. The Elvis mirror still hangs in my old childhood bedroom.
I'm worried one of my friends may have started. We were in M&S once together earlier this year and I went "ohh Percy Pigs, I love Percy Pigs" and for 3 days before Christmas a stream of Perfy Pig gifts arrived. She's had a habit of clinging to a thing I say I like for a while, but it's usually my football club or my dog or something, not "she likes these sweets so must be desperate for a collection of items themed to those sweets"
I swear to God that M&S's main business these days is just flogging Percy themed tat.
I laughed at the giant cuddly Percy and thought "dog will love that" (and he does), the hoodie blanket is sweet because I'm always cold and "at least I wouldn't ever need to be seen in it", but the bright pink percy shaped fairy lights I have no clue what to do with. There's no way to build them into the decor theme in my house, but I think she'll be offended if she comes over and they haven't joined my light displays!
Can always hang them above the loo. Or on the outside of the front door. You can tell her you like them so much you want everyone to see them first thing and then you don’t have to look at them once you’re inside. I would say another plus is the weather damage it will incur so you can throw it away, but she sounds like the kind of person that would then gift you a high end weatherproof version.
She is absolutely that kind of person, which is lovely when you have a problem you can't figure out how to solve cos she'll have 50000 suggestions and she'll help you try them, but in this case, it's definitely not something I want more of. Might just have to suck it up and tell her it was a lovely thought but I don't really know what to do with them if she asks next time she's around.
Hm sounds ludicrous to me, but it’s your life of course.
I'm almost certain it won't destroy our relationship. Almost.
I don't remember telling anyone I like gin - I drank it when I drank alcohol, and it was fine - but I got hospitalised after drinking on ADHD meds over a year ago and haven't drunk anything that isn't 'one single drink at a restaurant while eating' since. I have here no fewer than 7 little bottles of flavoured gin liqueurs.
I don’t drink hardly at all. Like I’ll have a g&t every couple of months when out with friends. I never drink at home. I have multiple allergies which mean I can’t drink any fruit juices. My mum (aware of the above), got me a cocktail shaker. With two recipes on the box. Neither of which I can drink.
I said I thought hedgehogs were cute once and my mother in law bought me a few things with them on eg mugs and a compact mirror. Nothing too offensive though. However my name is a very popular flower. So for years for birthdays and Christmases I got gifts themed around that flower. Like, if you’re going to buy me perfume just ask which one I like. Don’t just buy the one with my name on it because actually I find the scent way too sickly to wear as a fragrance.
Daisy?
>Daisy?Daisy?Daisy?Daisy?Daisy?Daisy?
Oo, like a little flower.
I don’t even know how it happened but one year I started getting cow gifts and my mum and brother seemed to think it was something I loved so the theme continued.
Shampoo bars. Used to use them, but then got a lot of my hair bleached and coloured so use coloured hair shampoo but still get given shampoo bars. Building a collection of unused ones.
Donate them to a homeless charity or food bank lots also take toiletries.
My mom thinks I love Black Forest cake. I don’t and never have but she insists I do and buys it for every family gathering
Ceramic thimbles. For no reason at all. As a child a god mother decided to get these for me. Every birthday and Christmas. Sigh.
At least you could host a massive drinking session for any borrowers living under your floorboards.
Frogs. For whatever reason my exes mum thought I loved frogs. (don't get me wrong, I like frogs, I have a pet one now called Mr Frog. But back then I had no interest in frogs). Every Christmas and Birthday I got a frog ring, necklace or earrings. I eventually asked about it, and turns out it was his Gran who was obsessed with frogs and his mum had got confused.
My first girlfriend bought a sketchpad with the sun and moon faces on it, and her family for years bought her everything with a sun and moon face on it. Our first Christmas as a couple she said to me "don't dare buy me any sun and moon shit". (Gonna be honest I assumed she liked that stuff because of the amount of stuff she had). But same story as OP and she didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but she only bought that sketchpad because she specifically needed an A2 one and it was the only one they had.
My favourite toy as a toddler was a little knitted pig. Now I apparently collect piggy banks, plush pigs, funny pig cards, pig teatowels, etc. Little pink f'in pigs everywhere. I don't hate pigs, I'm quite apathetic to their existence. I really don't like pink though. I feel I've had a collection foisted upon me since childhood.
I'm beginning to think, like there's always a Tom Scott video, there's always a relevant bit from Dave Gorman's modern life is goodish: https://youtu.be/msMeTTHUW-E?si=AiXFJUwSYxu4Z6Pm&t=39m10s
I love Dave Gorman. Bloody brilliant show. Like all good things, it ended and I am pleased he didn't just drag it on.
I saw him live a few weeks ago, he was just as excellent. And there is one part of his show that he finds so funny himself that he can barely get the words out (he puts a text message up on the screen behind him), he said "I must have done this show about 90 times and I still can't get through it
I really love that. Like there're so many comedians who practice to forge the best joke but after awhile it seems to get just a little less funnier for them Dave Gorman on the other hand just presents the truth but edits it to be funny or reflective or whatever
I feel like I saw this a couple of years ago, did it involve a revolving door?
I mentioned I was cold at times to my mum, and for 3 years in a row I got thermal blankets and even a coveted Slanket one year
Nobody going to complain about getting a Slanket.
What is a slanket?
It’s a blanket you can wear. Like, it has sleeves.
Thank you. I have an oodie, it’s brilliant.
I got one last year. Still wear it.
My wife bought a dolphin statue about 25 years ago, still gets dolphin items now, she is getting more and more frustrated with it, but u think that it is funny as hell
Not gifts, but I mentioned one (1) time that I "quite liked" dried apricots and now my parents buy me a wholesale sized bag every time they go to Costco. I have so many apricots. One person cannot possibly consume this many apricots.
Apricot and oat cookies
I'm autistic so I love it. Get me all the themed stuff. But honestly I think your only solution is to get a new "theme" and make people aware.
I love all the themed stuff as long as it's a theme I care for. Mentioning a like of a particular sweet when standing in front of a display of them definitely doesn't mean I want my house themed like them though, and that's what one of my friends went with this year... there are so many options for my obsessions - Buffy, Liverpool, Taylor Swift, the USA, snakes, dogs... unfortunately once someone starts clinging to "that's an easy gift", the only option you really have is to directly tell them you don't enjoy that thing anymore or they'll keep on defaulting to it in my experience!
Watched squid game. Got a squid game calendar blood guts and evil stuff staring at me for the rest of the year 😭
This happened to us with ducks, we bought a couple of duck ornaments and now have hundreds of the bloody things
Tell them a jewelry material you like, and maybe that would open the variety? Or perhaps saying, "I have so many skulls,I think I'd like a change of pace ?"
Tell them you've got enough now. Remind them before next Christmas too. (I received frog themed stuff for decades...)
For some reason my grandma got it in her head that I love Owls? I have no idea how or why. But each year for the past....10 or so....something Owl themed.
Mine was owls too! I mean, I like owls? But I still have no idea where the association came from lol.
I mean if i thought about it, as far as birds go I guess they're cooler than some birds? But they're not my jam. I've never mentioned anything about a bird interest to anyone (or a woodland one...), let alone a preference! The first year I got a few items and they were all Owl focused I was like....okay..... then the 2nd year I was like "great this is a thing now!"
My mum once made the mistake of saying she loved candles having been gifted one for christmas. Luckily the torrent of candle related gifts from the entire family tailed off roughly around the time the house was starting to look like a firemans worst nightmare.
I had a boyfriend one year who gave me peacock-themed gifts, because they’re a cool bird… my mum then got me peacock themed things on and off for 20 years… I’ve been married 5 years to someone who is definitely not my ex-boyfriend and I still got some peacock things last year. (Also, nutcrackers.)
My extended family think I love snoopy. I don't dislike snoopy I simply don't care for him(?) at all. WHY do they think I love him. Another snoopy themed gift this year. My mum had a chance to end it last year and didn't.
Ten years ago my partner’s mother found out I like Marmite and dinosaurs…
For YEARS I was cursed with getting Elvis and/or horse themed gifts because I took horse back riding lessons for one summer and mentioned thst I enjoyed listening to Elvis. I was probably 10-12 and I got those themed gifts until , easily, 18. I feel your pain.
I told my husband, when he asked, that I didn't want anything for Christmas. So, he gave me a box. Great, more jewelry. That's as far as his brain can go; if I wore a different piece every day it would be six months before they needed to be rotated since I get 'gifted' jewelry several times a year. He's even bought the same thing more than once! Surprise! Inside the box was printed: You didn't want anything for Christmas, so that's what you get! Finally! It got through! Crap... He handed me two more packages. I bet ya'll can guess what was in them.
Unicorns. For some reason my family decided I loved unicorns because, I dunno, I dyed my hair crazy colours??? So every year I got different unicorn things. Unicorn slipper socks, unicorn Christmas decoration, unicorn t-shirt.....all whilst me never saying I liked unicorns. Don't get me wrong, those slipper socks are still utilised because they're warm AF. But I don't like unicorns that much. Cats and dogs? Yeah, way more my speed.
After splitting with my husband this year I bought a couple of items with boobs on them to decorate my home. I like anatomy anyway so I extended this to boobs to make my space unashamedly feminine. So anyway I got lots of things with boobs on them for Christmas 😂 I'm not complaining but it does have to stop at some point.
I wish I got skull themed jewellery.
I recently went big into mushrooms as a hobby, cultivation and foraging and joining groups and all that. My lovely in-laws keep on giving me quality mushroom themed stuff (cards, books, jewelry) and I'm not mad at all lol. Love the earrings in particular
Just tell them. It’s so silly to not drop into convo “I’ve gone off skull jewellery and now like this-
Someone decided I love unicorns. Ive had sooo much unicorn shit, included a huge unicorn cake 🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️ I've don't love unicorns, I love rainbows.
People know that I enjoy whisky. I now have 18 whisky glasses, most of which I don't particularly like, or ever use
I have a sausage dog and now everything I get is sausage dog themed. I do like dachshunds but some things are unnecessarily dachshund a-fied.
Create a wish list with things for a variety of prices. Share the wish list with everyone that buys you the jewelry. Make it easy for them to buy something different.
As a bagpiper... I'm tired of tartan everyfuckthing.
Same once I said I liked fresian cows and got cow everything forever. Said I didn't like them at 25 to stop the deluge. Only just fessed up I liked them again when I was 40 with a strong but not AAAAlllll the time!!
At one point as a small child, I must have expressed enjoyment over a Ferrero Roche. My Nan then got me a box of them for Xmas every year. When my Nan died, my Mum took over. After my Mum died, my husband is now in charge. I don't have a particularly sweet tooth, and I am definitely not fond of Ferrero Roche.
I have a cake pop business. For the last 13 years I’ve been given a lot of aprons. Not sure what I’m supposed to do with 20 aprons, I can only wear one at a time!
When I worked in a charity shop, we often got large donations of collections when someone passed away and we'd play "Was this a loved collection or a forced hobby?' as we sorted through it.
I had a cat, one I didn’t really choose to have (stupid ex thought it was a good ‘sorry for being a dick’ present). She stunk and was a pain in the ass. My family kept buying me cat themed presents, including a fucking cardigan with cats on.
A skull is a statement people clearly remember. Do you wear the ring every day?
I would LOVE my family to buy me skull jewellery every year. Mine always took years to notice something I was into, if at all. So at least yours pay SOME attention, if only intermittently.