Tuesday, July 21, 2009

The Appropriateness of Gift-giving

Sarah Palin is currently under investigation for allegedly receiving improper gifts during her tenure as governor of Alaska. This made me wonder ... as we head out shopping for weddings, birthdays, and get-well gifts, how many of us realize what is a proper gift, and what is not? For the purposes of clarification, I put together this handy chart for future reference.



Proper Gift: chocolates

Improper Gift: used cans of motor oil



Proper Gift: nice box of stationery

Improper Gift: dead beetles in a jar




Proper Gift: a DVD

Improper Gift: moldy bologna




Proper Gift: a gift certificate to the recipient's favorite store

Improper Gift: dryer lint



Proper Gift: a green plant

Improper Gift: leeches



Proper Gift: a pretty wall hanging

Improper Gift: fast food restaurant napkins



Proper Gift: wall clock

Improper Gift: toenail fungus medication



It is my hope that we might all become enlightened and learn to tell the difference between a proper gift, and an improper gift, lest our gift-giving someday become suspect as well.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Darn - now I'll have to go out and buy all new Christmas gifts. Just when I thought I had the shopping all finished!

Kimberly Vanderhorst said...

~snort~ You're hilarious, Tristi. Which reminds me to grab the salt because we're headed out to the lake and leeches, alas, are one of the lake's improper gifts sometimes...

Chas Hathaway said...

Ha, ha! I once did a prank telemarketer call (they called me, and I pranked them), and somehow I was able to get into a discussion about improper gift-giving. The lady insisted that my attempts to give my friend used tires for Christmas was good excuse for them to be less than appreciative for the gift. I argued that they were still good, and worth at least $50 total.

The funniest part of the whole thing was that she totally thought I was being serious.

Unfortunately, I didn't get that one recorded, but I've gotten a few others recorded since then at http://chas.willowrise.com/?cat=472

Anyway, that just reminded me of that. This was a hilarious post! Especially the fast-food restaurant napkins! Ha, HAAA! That would almost be worth getting as a gift just to be able to say you did!

- Chas

Tamara Hart Heiner said...

ha ha ha! simply hilarious!

Poor Sarah...should be the gift-givers under investigation for giving questionable gifts!

Nichole Giles said...

Ahem. Well. I'd like to know where a used, odd dollar amount gift card falls on the gift chart?

I once received one of those from a close family member, and will never stop laughing about that.

Fun list.

Nichole

Tristi Pinkston said...

It might just be me, Nichole, but I think that ranks on the improper side. :)

Pendragon Inman said...

LOL Nice. I'm trying to think of some terrible gift i've gotten in the past to add to the "not" list, but i suppose at 3am, my brain just doesn't work as well on the recall-thing. Guess that should be a clue to me, eh? GOOD NIGHT!

Karlene said...

I have to take exception to the dead beetles in a jar, having once received that from my son.

Also, Nicholes gift card. I mean, free money is free money, even if some of it was used first. :)

John Ferguson said...

How about one of my favorite "gag" gifts? I go out and gather 5 or more gift cards from different stores, but I only put money on one of them. Then I enclose them all in a tasteful card (maybe Garfield or Maxine or something) with a note that says, "One of these cards has $$$ on it. Good luck." So, what do you think, proper or not?

Karen Gowen said...

Just got your books in the mail and I can't wait to dig in! Your messages inside are definitely in the appropriate side of gift-giving. Thank you! And as they say, "the check's in the mail."

Anna said...

My grandmother... who I love .. gives the oddest gifts. There are 3 girls in my family. One year both my sisters got a fruit basket for Christmas. Different, but hey, you can eat it.

My gift: A pair of nylons. I hardly ever wear nylons. Strangest gift ever.

One the other hand, one year she gave us some religious books (she's Baptist). They weren't anything we would want to read. We found a bookstore that sold them and got cash back. We got around $15-20 for each them and spent it on something we really wanted. That was strange, yet a nice gift for the money back.

Anonymous said...

Awww...no toenail fungus?! I had it all wrapped and everything...

Lee Ann Setzer said...

My husband's aunt used to cut out crossword puzzles from her newspaper and mail them off to us every so often.

However, if Sarah Palin tries to send me her dryer lint, I know what to do now!

You are hilarious.

Holly (2 Kids and Tired) said...

LOL!!!! Oh, too funny.

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