I think this behaviour is very tacky. When my children were young, the pastor at my church organized an ornament exchange where everyone was to bring an ornament and receive one in return. I recall spending about $15 for a Hallmark ornament which was a lot of money for us at the time. When we went to the exchange, the ornament we received was made by a child out of popsicle sticks and crayon-scribbled paper. My children are in their teens now and I have a few of the "popsicle stick" variety of ornaments they made over the years that I hang on the tree. I keep them just because they were made by my kids, ugly as they are. I was totally insulted when I received someone else's kid's ugly handiwork. Ever since then, I have been of the opinion that if you can't give something nice in this type of exchange, don't give anything at all and don't participate.