. At last year’s Secret Santa, we were each allocated a target of £5 and a member of staff to buy for. I put hours and hours of thought into the gift I bought for my person. Sure the gift had to be silly, but I really think I did well. However, I was not over-impressed with what I received from Agnieszka… A giant stuffed turkey hat. Everyone else got things they could use, or that was relevant to who they were or mocked something about them. I just got a random hat. And then they put a photo of it on the wall, and all our customers would come in and just laugh. Thanks guys!
http://www.christmastreesandlights.co.uk

. Growing up, my grandma had a darling neighbour by the name of Doris, who suffered from dementia and didn’t realise. Each year, she would come with gifts of sweets. When we were young, it was more of a hamper, but as we got older, the contents got stranger until one year, she turned up with an unlabelled tin of food and a packet of shortbread that was 15 months past its expiry date. We never opened that tin, and still do not know to this day what was in it…

When browsing an online forum, I came across a lady who told of an ‘elderly family member’ who tries to give useful gifts and just misses the mark. After the elderly family member cleared out her home one year, she presented the lady posting on the forum with half a box of 30-year-old sanitary towels for Christmas, which was accompanied by a little suspender belt to wear the pads with. Naturally, she struggled to smile and show gratitude, and instead almost laughed out loud at the sight of them! Suppose they might come in useful when it comes to cleaning the kitchen or mopping up household spills? Perhaps not.

Every year, my mum and her friend set themselves bizarre Christmas gift themes. Last year, it was ‘Edible but Inedible’. My mums interpretation of this was to buy a celebration cake, and use various edible decorations to make it look mouldy and inedible. She created a headless grey marzipan mouse, and marzipan maggots coloured with yellow food colouring. Then, she cut a slice out of the cake and decorated it with green food colouring to make it look like mould. She then added the mouse to the cake, and stuck maggots on top and into the green ‘mouldy cake’. Despite it being completely edible, her friend discarded it without even taking a bite!

. My favourite and craziest Christmas gift of all was something that my parents gave my sister when she was 11. She had harped on all year about wanting a Berghaus Mera Peak waterproof coat, to keep up with the trend among her friends. Coming in at over £200 at the time, my parents were pretty reluctant to fork out, especially since it probably wouldn’t last her 5 minutes. As a joke, they got an old pack-a-mac and opened it up, wrote ‘Mera Peak’ on a piece of paper, and taped it to the front of the coat. Not only was she disappointed, they then made her wear it, and took a photo and showed everyone who would look. She’s never lived it down!