UKC

So, we've been given a voucher for a family experience day by some friends as a thank-you, which is really sweet of them.

However, the list of options for that value is pretty limited and doesn't have anything really suitable for us locally.

It does, however, have the option to top it up a bit to something more interesting for the kids, but will now involve paying the difference, plus a train journey for 4 to get there, plus lunch and dinner out, which is going to cost several times the original value.

We'd have been quite happy with a card and a bottle of wine, knowing that I'm sure they'll reciprocate in the future!

The definition of a white elephant.

Curiously, as I write, the thread currently below this one is 'Sperm donating.'

Happy birthday.

My wife, of all people, has taken to what she thinks is a rich seam of work gifts; a new laptop bag, collar stiffeners, wallet. Ok the wallet may get some use outside of paid employment but honestly….. 

Thoughtful gifts you wish they hadn't bothered

The wedding ring 

Oooft!

I once got a used £20 cotswold voucher for xmas off my brother, when he realised he'd sent the wrong one, he didn't replace it! 

I think those "experience" gifts are a bit of a scam. Marketed as an easy choice if you can't think of a gift, but turn out to be loads of work for the recipient. I bet a significant number of these vouchers never get redeemed, and this is factored in as additional profit for the people selling them.

The worst gift I ever received was a certificate saying I owned part of the moon. This was a wedding present. I would have been fine with no gift at all, but I was pissed off that they'd given money to a bunch of scammers.

Clearly they hadn’t read the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies. 

Quite often a single voucher for something you're only likely to do as a couple, group or family. 

The cat used to bring gifts from his hunting trips and leave them on the kitchen floor for me.
They were definitely unwanted, especially if you trod on one in bare feet...