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    1. Life

    Ssssh… 9 Untraceable Ways To Recycle Your Christmas Presents

    There's always one, if not, three or four gifts that you cringe while you open. But this is the end of the road for unwanted gifts, we've found 9 sneaky ways to get rid of your Christmas presents without anyone knowing…

    By Becky Freeth
    Published 27 December 2013 In Features

    When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

    Christmas Gifts
    Christmas Gifts
    (Image credit: Rex Features)
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    There's always one, if not, three or four gifts that you cringe while you open. But this is the end of the road for unwanted gifts, we've found 9 sneaky ways to get rid of your Christmas presents without anyone knowing…

    1. Recycle Your Clothes If you're looking to shift some of your unwanted Christmas Day garms this year, H&M will exchange a bag of your clothes for a £5 voucher to spend in-store, just drop it off at one of their iCollect points. And no-one will ever know...

    2. Get Rid Of A DVD If you could barely disguise your disappointment at opening a third copy of Les Miserables this Christmas, rest assured, the extra copies could earn you back the cash to buy something you really want. Simply enter the DVD barcode at Zapper, drop it off at one of Zapper's easy Collect+ spots and get ready for your cheque to arrive. Simple.

    3. Sell A CD When you asked for Grammy Award nominee and Mercury Prize winner James Blake's new album, you really didn't expect to be playing X Factor winner James Arthur's EP over Christmas dinner. Luckily, Music Magpie will buy back your secondhand CDs in exchange for a cheque, charity donation and even M&S e-Vouchers.

    4. Shift Unwanted Books Why does everyone insist that you read Fifty Shades of Grey? You got the gist from the churlish giggles you caught from behind Kindles on the tube, and the woman who won't. stop. talking about it at work. Trade in your chick lit at We Buy Books and get ready to buy another of 2013's top rated reads (and one that you won't mind discussing with your mum). 

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    5. Recycle Homemade Gifts Forgive us for being insensitive to the recession, but no, we did not want an eco-friendly charm bracelet made out of 2013's collected bottle caps. But, you know what? Someone will buy your friend's homemade efforts at Etsy, a hot bed of artistic nick nacks and vintage trinkets bought and sold by creative so and sos.

    Christmas Gifts

    Christmas Gifts
    (Image credit: Rex Features)

    6. Trade In Your Tickets If Billy Elliot tickets were the last thing on your agenda for 2014, you can rid yourself of that weekend burden and sell your tickets secondhand at Seatwave. Your loss is someone else's gain.

    Marie Claire Newsletter

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    7. Exchange Jewellery When you dig inside that little blue box of dreams on Christmas Day, you'll think he's finally started taking your hints. That's when you realise the only reason he knows you'll like that glorious gold bracelet, is because you already own the exact same one. Lucky for you, Tesco Gold Exchange will buy your bracelet (bagging you some more post-xmas spending money), and just maybe you'll start wearing that old bracelet a little more often…

    8. Shift Designer Bits Not every designer handbag is beautiful. Just because it was curated by a fabulous fashion house - the name of which you can't pronounce - and it nearly caused your partner to take out a second mortgage, it doesn't mean it'll be love at first sight. Though all is not lost, style lovers the fashion world over use Fashion Blood Hound to source designer bits that maybe you just don't love as much as you thought you would...

    9. Get Rid Of Smellies Among the most unwanted gifts given at Christmas are smellies and candles. As long as you keep them in a resellable, unused state, these are exactly the kind of products that charity shops are crying out for at the start of a new year. At least with this option, you'll feel a little less guilty about giving away your gift.

    Becky Freeth
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