Wambui Virginia @kuivirgie

Leah Salim and her husband had only been dating for a few months when the holiday season kicked in.

Not wanting to rock the boat with an extravagant present, Leah decided to buy a nice, but less expensive gift for her husband.

“He is an ardent football fun, he loves playing soccer video games, so I bought him a DVD for an upgraded version for the next year, showing that I was a cool and thoughtful girlfriend.

Only awesome girlfriends buy such kind of presents for their men, right?” she chuckles.

So, you can imagine the horror when, late on Christmas day, they exchanged presents, and Leah opened a pack of body hair shavers and creams!

“Can you imagine? Needless to say, I was beyond annoyed. I burst out in tears while my boyfriend stood there mouth agape.

He probably wondered why I was too upset over a gift he had spent so much on,” she laughs at the memory.

Luckily, she is not alone in her Chritmas gift fail, a bunch of other people have walked the wrapping paper road of shame right along with her.

Maryanne Wandia explains how she got terrible gifts at one time. She received stiletto heels from her boyfriend.

It was a confusing moment because she is not used to wearing such high-heeled shoes and she had already hinted the shoes she had spotted.

Terrible givers

Moniece Wambua, felt disappointed and annoyed after she hoped to be gifted with jewelery, only to get a toaster. 

“Yes, it is useful, but not exciting. I can’t just show it off to my friends, like hey, I just got a toaster for a Christmas gift!

After a while I re-gifted it to my sister,” she says. Another time, her boyfriend gifted her a trashcan for their anniversary because he noticed the old one leaked. He is really a terrible giver,” she cries.

Men are mostly the culprits in taking home the worst gift giver crown.

Which is why Steve Karanja, would not opt to gift someone, “I was dating this woman and on our first Christmas, I did not know what to give her, so I framed my own picture and gave it to her. 

She was upset and claimed I was not thoughtful and neither did I try,” he reminisces.

So, what would you do when you find yourself in a situation where you receive a bad gift? 

Well, Christmas is around the corner and whether you love gifting or not, family and friends will most likely shower you with gifts and expect you to give back as well, the twist is, some will be terrible. 

We all understand that it is the thought that counts when it comes to giving out gifts. However what is the person thinking, when they gift you something so horrible?

Something that may seem inappropriate, thoughtless and ill considered.

It is important to be appreciative of what others do for us and it shouldn’t be a task as many would assume it to be as told by psychologist Sheila Wachira. A bad gift sets off doubts as to whether the giver really knows you.

The best way to act when you have a bad gift is trying as much as possible not to show and feel annoyed, although she admits that smiling and showing appreciation can be difficult if you had high expectations of what kind of gift you would receive. 

 However, whatever it is, she advises that you should never show negative emotion in response to a gift you have just opened.

“A person may feel misunderstood after an unfitting gift. Probably, the giver did it in a hurry or they are not good at giving gifts,” she explains.

She says only a few people know how to gift. Many people will look for something that works.

“However, gifting should be a goodwill gesture, not a compulsory duty, and should not be for mean intentions, as terrible gifts not only make the giver ignorant, but unimaginative too,” she says.