An article by 
Dec
2
2004
2
2004
Uncategorized
Tacky
One man’s tacky is another man’s chic.
It’s Christmas time (again), and your television commercials are filled with a limitless supply of ideas for crap you should buy other people. There are some who would love nothing more than opening a Mohawk Chiapet or the pocket fisherman from Mr. Ron-co himself. For me, those fall in to the realm of tacky. So I began to wonder if there was some universal standard of tackiness, a standard that all people every where could look and say, “Yea man, that’s tacky.”
And then I saw it advertised:
“Give the gift that will make everyone’s Christmas a happy occasion. From Grandma to little Jimmy, people just love getting gift cards from Marathon Gas Stations.”
That’s right, Granny can get a pack of smokes, fill up her tank and snag a 40 before she heads out for the holidays thanks to the Marathon gift card. But hey, perhaps I’m wrong, maybe my sisters are clamoring for an MGC. Heck, I had just planned on getting them a case of Mongolian Fire Oil so they could make Hibachi-Bob; but DANG, this is so much better.
So this is where I turn to you, the semi-loyal reader, what is tacky?
What is the most tacky gift you have ever given and or received?
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About the Author: Bob Soulliere
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Call me strange, but I love money and gift cards as gifts! (though maybe not to the gas station-but as high as gas is this year…it would be like getting gold) Make all checks and gift cards payable to Kitty
Tacky gifts fall in the range of please do not give me another mug-I do not drink coffee and if you are such a close friend/family person of mine-you would know this already. Usually tacky gifts come from those who want to give you something out of obligation (for some reason) when they dont really KNOW you well enough to know what you like or don’t like. (hince those family get togethers you mentioned in an earlier post) Hmm will have to think longer and harder for a more tacky gift…than a mug-that is all that comes to to mind at the moment.
Walking through meijer yesterday when I spotted the Chia-Shrek.
You know, you can make your own chia…with some old hose and some grass seed. Was a bible school craft one year …so dont buy one, give someone a handmade one, that they will treasure all year
Last year we had an obligatory Christmas party at the office I used to work at. We did a “steal the gift” kind of exchange, kind of a round robin thing (if you want details, email me
). Some of the gifts were nice, like candles and bath stuff, decorative items that were somewhat tasteful, etc…I ended up with a measuring spoon. How very thoughtful! *rolls eyes* I thought that was tacky.
Also, now I that I am older, the gifts that stores put out prepackaged with a bow on it that were manufactured/packaged specifically for Christmas are generally of a lesser quality and I consider them tacky. I always think gifts should be more personal and well thought out. I agree with the comment above – obligatory gifts are generally tacky.
One more story – I had a friend who did not have pierced ears and was given earrings from a coworker. She thought “don’t give me any gifts if you don’t even know that my ears aren’t pierced”. Again, obligatory and tacky.
Ok NOW I’m done.
At work, we have a vender who supplies us with nudie calendars at Christmas for the new year……and on the one hand, they have a certain tacky allure, but on the other hand, they are utterly worthless!!
Can’t put them up at work, can’t put them up at home… an odd “stocking stuffer” (so to speak)
We had a “Dirty Santa” giftswap at family Christmas a couple of years back, and our contribution was a puffy, frilly white photo album shaped like a heart. We had received it as a wedding present.
Shudder.