Oh no Grandma, not underwear again for Christmas!

SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) - Thinking of giving your loved ones socks, underwear, scented bath oil or maybe a non-stick fry pan for Christmas? Think again, especially grandparents.

A survey by Galaxy Research found 72 percent of Australians regularly receive a Christmas gift they don't like even though 69 percent of 1,242 respondents rated their present buying ability as above average.

The online survey, commissioned by the bank NAB, found the most unpopular but regularly received gifts included body and bath products, books, dressing gowns, slippers, socks and underwear.

Grandparents were rated as the worst gift-givers in Australia with 37 percent of respondents complaining about their gift buying, followed by mothers at 20 percent and fathers at 14 percent.

But it worked both ways. The survey also found 68 percent of grandchildren rated photo frames to be good gifts for grandparents but 44 percent of grandparents rated frames a "nice thought" but not something they would really want.

Teenagers particularly hated receiving clothes chosen by their parents, with 53 percent of teenage girls opposed to their parents buying them clothes although 70 percent of parents thought clothing was a good gift for their daughters.

One in three parents, or 36 percent, thought books were a wise choice for teenage sons but 38 percent of boys gave books the thumbs down.

Wives and girlfriends most disliked getting kitchen appliances from their partners -- but they were also rated the most difficult to group to buy gifts for, getting 53 percent of the vote.

Fathers were left yawning at yet another pair of socks.

The researchers said the survey's findings pointed to a miscommunication between different family generations as well as a lack of time to devote to Christmas shopping.

It found 74 percent of respondents expected to be shopping the week before Christmas.

(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith, Editing by Miral Fahmy)