10 useless Christmas gifts you could give in Dubai

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10 useless Christmas gifts you could give in Dubai

A huge Christmas tree from a chocolate brand on display at Dubai Mall.

Dubai - No, I already have a toaster, thank you very much.

By Curated by Keith Pereña

Published: Fri 23 Dec 2016, 10:05 AM

Last updated: Sat 24 Dec 2016, 11:11 AM

Ah, Christmas. A time of giving. Everybody would love a well-thought-out gift, especially one which would be useful. Here in Dubai, Christmas gifts usually come in the form of luxurious clothing, gadgets or even experiences. While the act of gifting is nice, there are people who make amateur mistakes when it comes to choosing presents. Here are a few gifts you shouldn't even think of giving. And what if you receive one of these? Well, you could return them to the stores they were bought from.

Books

Getting books, if you know what the recipient likes, is all well and good. BUT if you receive books on 'far-out' topics such as "How to raise a cow," even if you're in the industry, something is seriously wrong.

Socks

Sure, it's cold outside, but doesn't your recipient already have enough socks in his/her sock drawer?

Corporate gifts

Don't give me a USB, a box of paper clips or any other office stationery with a certain company logo on it.

Board Games

Please don't gift what could be your recipient's tenth set of Chess, Monopoly or Checkers. Also one person can only handle so many RISK spin-offs.

DVDs

No, we don't need a Blu-ray copy of the 100^th anniversary of "Love Actually." Haven't you heard of streaming, Netflix and the Internet?

Calendars

Let's double-check. You have a calendar on your phone, your iPad, your laptop and at your workstation at the office. Do you really need another one?

Personalized anything

You get the gift and it's yours, right? Shouldn't that be enough to determine that you're the owner of the gift?

Holiday-themed items

This is also known as stating the obvious. We're getting gifts for people because it's Christmas and we don't need to be reminded.

Toiletries

Consider this. Giving toiletries as a Christmas gift is intrusive and awkward. Who would want to get a can of shaving cream as a gift? It's likely that the person who gave it to you is creepy.