Holiday Gift Don'ts: 5 Useless Gifts Nobody Wants

By Brooke Viggiano Tue., Dec. 11 2012 at 9:00 AM

Even Snooki doesn't need a pickle slicer...

Every week this holiday season, we'll be posting our favorite food-centric gift ideas. Earlier this week, we featured Useful Kitchen Tools Under $30. To further help everyone avoid that awkward "Hey, didn't I get you that last year?" re-gifting moment, now we're sharing 5 Holiday Gifts That Nobody Actually Wants.

Make sure to avoid these useless gifts:

5. Single-Purpose Slicers

"Thank God you got me that egg slicer last year, Jane. I don't know what I'd do without it," said nobody ever.

I'm confused as to how having 18 different slicers seems easier than a knife, or the god-send that is the mandoline (one of our holiday must-haves).

I'm also slightly in awe that someone is able to produce and sell these things. A pickle slicer? If only Snooki knew! There's even an avocado slicer -- do they not know how much fun those things are to scoop out with a spoon?

4. Strawberry Huller

I really have nothing to say here. If you even thought about getting this, I think you're beyond my help.

But even worse? One of the you-may-also-likes linked to the strawberry huller is a strawberry slicer. Of course. God help us all.

Holy shit! There's two of them...

3. The World's Tiniest Strainer

Okay, so it's marketed as an egg separator, not the world's tiniest strainer...but I feel like they have to be playing us, right? I mean, we all know how to separate an egg, right? Don't we??

What's the angle here? WHO VERSUS?!?

2. A $40 Can Opener

The WMF Profi Plus Safety Can Opener may be designed and engineered to the highest professional standard (wtf does that even mean -- it's a freaking can-opener!), but what can be so special as to justify the $40 price tag?

It's not an electric can opener. It doesn't automatically clean itself. It isn't even goddamn bedazzled! You're not tricking me, WMF.

Photo by tvol

Spoiler alert! Calzones can be beautiful even without molds.

1. Specialty Molds

Did you know there exists such a thing as a calzone mold?

I will barely even make a calzone, let alone enough to necessitate an entire calzone mold. (Shut up. I'm still in character from Halloween, okay. Party on!)

But you know, the calzone mold really is needed. Because people mess up calzones all the time. It's tragic, really.

And stuffed cheeseburgers? Forget it. I wouldn't know where to start without this stuffed hamburger press. Right?

The fact that all of these items can be found at Williams-Sonoma is not lost on me. This holiday, let's all do ourselves a favor and stay far, far away.

Be sure to check back for guides to Gifts for Kids Who Cook and the best Last-Minute Homemade Gifts. Happy holidays!

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Tags:

bad gift ideas, gifts for the cook, holiday, kitchen tools, useless gadgets

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Jacqueline Guerra Y. Paz

a broken pepper grinder.

Jalapeno

There's a banana slicer on Amazon that has over 600 of the funniest freakin' comments...but the good news is that now it's 51% off.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0047E0EII/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0047E0EII&linkCode=as2&tag=hydfbook0e-20&ascsubtag=US-SAGE-1354895767272-ODANC

brookeviggiano

@Jalapeno lol exactly! "This product is amazing. I used to get so frustrated trying to slice bananas using various methods such as chainsaws, sorcery, and even a knife fashioned out of the femur of my ex boyfriend. I soon became reclusive, never leaving my house."