The Herald takes a look at the 'weird and wonderful' gifts donated during Christmas appeals. Photo / File
The Herald takes a look at the 'weird and wonderful' gifts donated during Christmas appeals. Photo / File
Bloody knives, dolls with shaved heads and sandwiches filled with cat food - these are just a few of the unusual gifts people have donated to the Salvation Army for it's annual Christmas appeal.
It's hard to know if those making the donations were trying to be naughty or nice but they clearly won't be making it to the Christmas tree.
The Herald has taken a look at the "weird and wonderful" donations volunteers come across each year during these appeals.
For one volunteer, many years working for the Salvation Army at Christmas time turned up some shocking children's gifts.
In one instance, amongst the soft toys, board games and sports equipment, the volunteer was horrified to find a blood-stained hunting knife.
"I assumed that the blood was from an animal. We consulted the community constable on this one," he said.
Other surprises included a sandwich filled with cat food - wrapped in Christmas paper - a topless Wonder Woman doll, and a wooden go-kart with one wheel missing.
Another shocking discovery was a Barbie doll that had its head shaved, with Nazi swastikas drawn and engraved on its head.
Volunteers unwrap and rewrap all gifts to make sure they are new and meet health and safety regulations. Photo / File
While two other quirky finds included over 30 individually wrapped coins, and an empty wine casket labelled as a gift for a 9-year-old girl.
"Someone had been travelling and gifted all of their foreign coins, wrapping each one individually. I think there were about 30-40 of these all separately dropped in the bin," the volunteer said.
Meanwhile, strange food items have also found their way into the Christmas present pile.
A tin containing a single scorpion coated in chocolate was donated by someone who had purchased it from a New Zealand company that was promoting eating insects as a high protein.
A wasabi Kit Kat - the special variety that Nestle sells in Japan, and a container of alligator paté were also deemed by someone as good children's gifts.
"The alligator pate was genuine alligator - or at least the packaging said so - bought from an unknown international food store," another volunteer said.
Salvation Army community engagement manager Rhondda Middleton said people were very generous at Christmas time, but some get "slightly off track".
"The good thing is we haven't had anything really sinister, like needles in strawberries or anything like that, which is great," she said.
"99 per cent of the time there are these amazing gifts coming in for families who really can't afford to get those nice things for their kids for Christmas."
Any broken toys will be discarded, while suitable second-hand toys will be sold at Salvation Army family stores. Photo / File
To the other 1 per cent who donate inappropriate gifts, Middleton said they needed to "go find something else to entertain themselves with".
"It's such a busy time of year and all of our volunteers are making Christmas happen – so it disheartens people when you find something inappropriate and wonder 'what were they thinking'."
However, Middleton said volunteers unwrap and rewrap all gifts to make sure they are new and meet health and safety regulations.
"A lot of people think it is really nice to give second-hand toys, but actually in the long run for health and safety, new is what we give out as Christmas gifts.
"We want to make sure that every kid in New Zealand gets the opportunity to get something new that is theirs."
Middleton said when it came to choosing what to donate, people should think about what they would buy their own niece or nephew.
"For kids that are 10 or older it is things like headphones, vouchers, and sports equipment," she said.
• The Salvation Army Christmas appeal runs until this Friday, December 21. Anyone wishing to donate can drop off items at their nearest Salvation Army or under a Wishing Tree at Kmart.
The Naughty Gift List:
• An empty wine casket labelled as a gift for a 9-year-old girl. • A tin containing a single scorpion coated in chocolate. • A wasabi Kit Kat. • Alligator paté. • A Barbie doll with Nazi swastikas drawn and engraved on its shaved head. • A blood-stained hunting knife. • A sandwich with cat food filling. • A topless Wonder Woman doll. • Forty individually wrapped foreign coins. • A kid's wooden go-kart with one wheel missing. • A bong, accessories and cannabis. • Mousetraps. • A completely burnt-out candle in a jar. • Partially coloured colouring-in books.
