It’s sort of amazing how many kinds of bad gifts there are, isn’t it?

There’s the impersonal kind; the obviously bought last-minute kind; the hideous kind; the inappropriately expensive kind; the useless and space-hogging kind.

Then, there are the ones which make you feel unseen, even insultingly misinterpreted. A vegan friend of mine still talks about an ex who bought her a cheese subscription box for Christmas. I still wince when I remember that, to some relatives, I seem like a Mrs Brown’s Boys box set person.

Because there are so many ways for a present to be terrible, crap gifts are common. But is it ever OK to admit that, or must we pretend all is great?

And can we ever, in good conscience, return, donate, or bin them?

Here, Jo Hayes, founder of Etiquette Expert, shared her thoughts.

“A gift should be given freely”

A true gift, the expert said, is given with “no strings attached”.

That means you should be “entitled to do with it as you please”. And yes, that does include donating it, re-gifting it, or, if possible, returning it to........

© HuffPost