Some months ago I discovered a commercial website called TEMU. It is a Chinese site selling all manner of household odds and ends at unbelievably low prices. I was fascinated and drawn in to look at all the stuff.

Trouble is when you look, you find, and sure enough I found several items I liked. The question was: Is this site trustworthy? After all, it is out of the country and the prices are too low to be for real. I asked some of my friends if anyone had ordered from it. Some had and said the stuff was worth what they paid for it.

I decided to give it a try. I had seen a cute clock with cats on it. How can I resist a cat clock? It was perfect. I also found quilts that looked handmade with patchwork designs. One was country-looking with roosters that were cute.

I knew it would be cheap junk and take 3 months to come from China. Still, I decided to give it a try. Why do we do this stuff? In a few weeks, items started arriving. It seems that everything does not ship from China. They have local warehouses full of their best sellers and it is shipped right here in the USA.

The clock, the thing I wanted most, was a big disappointment. The clock was not two or three dimensional as it appeared in the picture. It had a flat face painted to look that way. The quilts were not pieced or quilted, they were thin flannel blankets printed to look like quilts. I should have known.

TEMU accepts returns but the items were so cheap, it wasn’t worth returning them. So, I put them in the closet with other unwanted gifts and purchases that I didn’t really want. One day maybe I’ll clean it out and give the items to charity.

Every year my church social group has a holiday party where we play “Dirty Santa.” I probably don’t need to explain it. It is a pretty well-known game and is played everywhere even at office parties. It is much more fun than a gift exchange or even gag gifts. Briefly, everyone brings a miscellaneous gift, numbers are drawn and each person opens a gift. But if someone else has opened a gift you like, you can steal it instead of taking a new one. That’s the “dirty” part. There are other rules, but that is basically it.

Usually, the gifts are white elephant type things — something someone might like. It can be a re-gift, a craft, a thrift shop item or something new but inexpensive. My non-returned items would be perfect. So, I wrapped them up and took them to the party.

After everyone ate and caught up on gossip, it was time to play. The gifts were the usual assortment of ornaments, garden tools, or kitchen items. Candles seemed to be popular. Candles are good because if you don’t want them, you can burn them up.

Eventually, someone opened the blanket. It was an instant hit! Everyone wanted that silly blanket. It was stolen over and over until the limit of steals was reached. I was in shock. I guess you never know what people will like.

The cat clock was another story. Someone opened it, but no one stole it. One person considered stealing it, but decided against it. I guess you can’t win them all. Usually, I put a lot of time and thought into my gifts. The gift I get in return always looks like a left-over relic from a gas station gift shop. I suppose I can always save it and use it next year. However, it is often so bad I feel embarrassed to gift it.

That’s the story of the chicken blanket. I have come to realize that the game is for the fun of it and the “gift” is incidental. I’m still trying to figure out the allure of the chicken blanket. If you ever need a bargain gift that everyone likes but me, I know where you can buy one.

Copyright 2025 Sheila Moss