By Destiny Jackson, Co-Opinion Editor
According to the National Retail Federation, the US spends an estimate of $485 billion during the entire Christmas season alone. That means the average American is spending about $600-$700 during holiday time alone. That’s a lot of jingle bells ringing at the cash register.
However, even with all that money spent that doesn’t mean that every gift is worth buying or even regifting. So even though there shouldn’t be such a thing as a “bad gift”, there’s still a gift that we have all received that we all are less enthused about that is probably collecting dust in our closets or cupboards somewhere. So what happens when your eye of the beholder has a bad eye? I spoke to some students around campus to tell me about their worst Christmas gifts ever.
Marvin Herrera, 28, psychology, said: “Before I had a computer, I was given an external hard drive, because my grandma thought it was a computer. A year later my dad bought me a computer. I was a 10 year old with a lot of backuped drives!”
Alex Marie, 21, English, said: “I gave my former high school best friend an at-home spa kit, and she regifted to me [the] next year and tried to play it off like she had recently seen it in the store. We are no longer friends, but for different reasons.”
Brandi Alexandria, 26, art, said: “My ex gave me a Costco membership for Christmas, which I guess saving on bulk items might be a little romantic? But we didn’t even shop there.”
Mark De Leon, 34, liberal studies, said: “I love to travel and so does my wife. So when she told her elderly parents we were going to Japan for our honeymoon just before the holidays, they gave us some money. Not just any money. $200 in Euros. I guess they figured it was close enough. We couldn’t stop laughing.”
While these are certainly some unique examples of the types of presents one can get over the holiday season, the trend of unloved gifts doesn’t have to keep trending. Please remember to send out a list to whoever your Santa Claus is this year to avoid embarrassment.
