Fruitcakes and bath soap are the worst gifts! And those musical ties. If anyone ever gives me one of those, I'll hang myself with it.
Yes - so impersonal. Like, hello, everyone uses soap. But how do you really know what someone's favorite scent is, and whether they even want it in a soap? And AS IF anyone would ever actually wear one of those ties who wasn't just totally goofing on everybody else. And how much mileage can you get out of that?
I'm one of those people who puts a lot of thought into the gifts I give. I really try to get something they'll take to like fish to water but yet wouldn't buy for themselves, ya know? So when I get a thoughtless re-gift, it's like a slap to the face.
My husband is the most difficult person in the world to buy for, because he's about the only straight man I know (no offense intended!) who actually enjoys shopping. He shops (for bargains, mostly) all the time and buys himself all the things he wants and needs. So clothing is out of the question. I try to make him something personal every year for his birthday and Christmas, like a CD of his favorite songs or an album of his favorite photos (that he took himself - I can't take a decent picture to save my life). And since I *hate* to shop, even for clothes and shoes for myself, he buys me beautiful shirts and jackets and shoes he finds in his travels - things that immediately become my favorite items of clothing, but that I would never buy for myself.
And then my idiot ex-neighbor gives me an opened box of Crest Whitestrips for my birthday. Seriously. That disturbed me on a number of levels. (I have really good dental hygiene, I swear!)