With Christmas around the corner, half of Brits are expecting to receive a present they will not like – and top of the list of unwanted gifts is bath bubbles – with 39 percent insisting a bottle of smellies is an unoriginal and uninspiring gift. Soap suds even beat novelty items such as novelty ties, or joke jumpers (both 34 percent), while one in three (32 percent) loathe being brought clothing of any sort.
The research from card company, thortful, who commissioned the research, found that if added up the total spent on gifts which are completely unwanted, is £1.5billion every year.
In fact, two thirds of us are considering moving to buying more experience based gifts to save on the waste of physical products.However, if you are a buyer, don’t expect to find out that your gift is wasted as nearly seven in ten (69 percent) of Brits say that they would never let on that they didn’t like a present. And a third say they are completely used to pretending to like gifts they dislike.
However, five percent do admit that they’ve lived through the awkward moment when a loved one found a present they’d given them in the bin..
Regionally the worst gift purchasers are in Leicester where residents have spent at least £240 on gifts they knew were unwanted in the last five years. That’s contrasted with the more frugal citizens of Leeds who have only spent £148.
UNINSPIRING GIFTS INCLUDE…
- Bubble bath
- Bath Bombs
- Novelty socks
- Slogan mugs
- Clothing you don’t need
- Underwear
- Slogan t-shits
- Books you didn’t want
- Useless kitchen gadgets
- Bad smelling perfume
