If this happens every year the OP may want to suggest they stop exchanging gifts or do some kind of fun grab bag going forward – we do a grab bag (with a dollar limit) with “stealing” for extended family and it is fun!
Honestly, I’m too lazy to figure out and return items. If it’s not obviously from Walmart or target, or came with a receipt (super rare), I would just put it in our Goodwill donation box and hope somebody out there could use it.
And really… that can kindof be an extension of the holiday donation season. Somebody facing tough times might end up with a nice brandy new item for their January birthday.
Thanks for the review here. S2 had a pair of boots like this a few years ago, but he wore them out. Was really bummed. Haven’t found anything similar since except Thursday Boots – had seen their advertising, but didn’t know how they’d hold up and that’s more than he usually spends.
Still need to send the rest of his holiday gifts, so may make these part of that!
I like the quilt underneath the fire blanket!
My MIL has quilts everywhere, all fashioned by relatives.
I generally don’t spend this much for boots either, but I love that they can be resoled. They were pretty comfortable right out of the box, and are breaking in very quickly. I don’t think I’ll need to buy another pair of boots.
S2 would like that he can get them resoled. The last boots he had had crepe bottoms, so that wasn’t an option.
I promise this is the last Thursday Boot post, but this video of the resoling & renewal process is an interesting watch. I don’t know what this costs, but I’m sure it’s much cheaper than buying new boots. This could be a 2028 Christmas present.
I am loving the USB charged lighters. I bought 1 for H and 1 for S. S left his for D, who was delighted. I have used it multiple times since Christmas to melt the ends of polyester straps and elastic. It works very well and does the job neatly. Its much handier than I envisioned.
Update on the gifts this year: D loved the Athleta tights. Got her a pair of the Rainier tights and another of the Elevation ones - she asked that I return the Elevation ones and get her a second pair of the Rainier tights instead.
H didn’t like the Ridge wallet. Wouldn’t even try it. Argh. S tried it instead but didn’t like it much either. So, that’s going back.
Lululemon pants for both H and S were a big hit - used immediately. Friends’ S and DIL loved the gardening gift and the gift card to the Walter Anderson nursery. Thanks to all the suggestions on this thread.
He must have about croaked when you said that. LOL.
My daughter also loved the tights. I can’t remember which ones I got her but she really likes them. Even the color I didn’t think she would go for. Also they have their big sale still going with an extra 30% off so I picked up two more pair.
Ok…here is my story. DH wanted a petite Sanduko knife…handed me the Cutco catalog with it circled. I immediately ordered this ($150) over priced knife. It arrived on about Dec. 8. I put it on a shelf thinking I would just wrap the box when I got the tree up.
Well…the Monday before Christmas I was getting ready to wrap it, and thought maybe I should open it to check. Good thing I did. The packing slip inside the box was for John somebody in Minnesota and the item was a petite chefs knife…which I did not want.
Called Cutco, and they just couldn’t figure out how this happened. Well…it did. I asked that the knife be sent to it would be here for Christmas. They expressed shipped it and it was here before noon on Wednesday.
But here is the fun part. For my “inconvenience” they were offering me a free “gadget”. I was given the option of four items. A pizza cutter, a can opener, a vegetable peeler or an ice cream scoop.
I chose…check out the price…ridiculous. But for free…my husband eats ice cream every night. And he loves this thing!
Haha! For that price it should scoop your ice cream and bring it to you while you sit and watch your movie.
Good customer service that you were offered a free gadget, though.
I wonder if Minnesota John got your original knife.
This reminds me of working for a catalog company during the holidays. Something similar happened to our company but the item that was to go to someone (but went somewhere else) was now sold out. That woman was so mad and was crying and started throwing up. Now granted I think this is a little extreme but she must have had her reasons (maybe ?)
I worked for a high end kitchenware company one holiday season, back when people would usually call, with the catalog in hand to place their orders (early 90s, before websites).
I pressed the button to take the next call and an unmistakeable voice said: Hello, this is Lauren Bacall…
What do you say to that? I really didn’t know! I didn’t know if I should say that I knew who she was, or that I was a fan, or what the proper response was to “this is Lauren Bacall,” so I just said: thank you for calling ____, how can I help you?"
Well, we then spent over half an hour talking about the different things she wanted to purchase, I answered her questions and gave measurements of copper gratin pans, talked about specialty items, and then wrote down her credit card numbers and completed her order.
I’ll never forget it
Well let’s get serious here! Who would spend over $50 on any of the gadgets I was offered? My guess is they have a room full of these things and they are given as incentives and whatever…because they can’t otherwise get rid of them.
I will say…it’s a very good ice cream scoop!
We had some famous people call too. I never got them but the one I remember was Isabella Rossellini.
Ours was also when they received the catalog and called. Boy was it a nightmare during the big sale when everything was already sold out by the time they got their catalog. Good times
Were you surprised they didn’t just offer you to keep the error knife ? And then send the right one? I realize the price of the knife was more than the gadget but then you had to take the time to wrap and return the error knife