The Weather Outside Is Frightening... And I Should Know.

Maybe it's my personal bias but I'd really advise against the passive-aggressive strategies. "Dad, all my life you have been giving me weird and inappropriate gifts that just end up going to Goodwill. I don't want any more watches or weather stations, and I'm old enough now that you don't have to get me gifts at all. But if you do want to, please ask me what I would like." That is if you say anything at all. I'm generally of the opinion that a gift given to you should be received with thanks, period. (It becomes different if someone is giving inappropriate gifts to your child, of course.)

Ask his new wife how she gets nice presents. It's entirely possible she gives him a list or flat-out goes to the store with his money, buys what she wants, and gives it to him to wrap. Then ask her to do that thing for you- either she buys your gift or gives your dad the list. If the issue turns out to be that your dad COULD buy you a nice gift but won't, I would tell him you've grown out of gifts and want to exchange cards, and tell this godawful story at bars when you want to get smashed because I for one would buy you a drink upon hearing it.

You can't change your dad. You can't change your dad. You can't change your dad. Keep repeating this as often as necessary. Receive the crap gift and if getting it to Goodwill is just too much hassle, leave it on the curb. You can't change your dad. You can't change your dad. You can't change your dad. Sorry your dad's shitty to you.

Are you friendly with his new wife? You could bring it up with her. Hopefully she can add some pressure onto him to not send any gifts anymore, or help him pick out better gifts-- I'm not sure which of these you would prefer. I only say this because from 1981-2001, I could tell when my uncle was married or not (4 times, 4 women) by whether my family got some kind of gift or card at Christmas, or whether we heard nothing. Perhaps your dad really does listen to her well enough to be able to discern a good gift for her. My cynical self thinks that the new wife is doing what my parents do to fulfill the fantasy that my dad is good at picking gifts. My mom tells my dad, "for Christmas, buy me X, Y and Z. Here are the stores that sell them, the sizes/colors I need, and the date you should buy them by in order to get the sale price." Regardless of which of these scenarios is playing out in their relationship, the bottom line is, he listens to what she says about gifts, so she might have some insight for you about how to better communicate with him, or may be willing to communicate on your behalf.

I would return the favor by gifting him something equally redundant and useless to him, again, and again, and again, until he complains about it, and then doing it again, and again. It would a) be entertaining and b) might have a chance of getting the point across how inappropriate his gifts are.

Are you old enough that there is another generation of kids younger than you (your kids or nieces/nephews or even cousin's kids)? At a certain age I think you can say, "How about we stop giving gifts to adults and save presents for the children" without hurting anyone's feelings. Let the next generation deal with shitty gift giving.

I would mention it to the wife after you mention it again to your father. Just say (to him) "listen, these gifts aren't necessary anymore, let's just spend time together occasionally." And reinforce it with his wife- "Please tell my dad I don't need anymore weather stations- I'm not sure he's "hearing" me telling him that, I just end up taking them to Goodwill". That's it. And if he gives you another one, just tell him "we talked about this, you should take this back home with you because I don't have time to go to Goodwill right now". Repeat as needed. Don't think you will get nice presents instead though, it seems unlikely and honestly, is that really what you want from this? I doubt it.

I would tell him you don't want the weather stations and tell him exactly why. Tell him what you told us here -- it comes across like he doesn't care. Tell him if he is going to give you another weather station, he should give you nothing at all. From what I can tell, you've never actually been direct and honest with your feelings. "Hey, you gave me a weather station last year" isn't really enough. Lay it all on the table.

+1 to ask the wife. Or just be like, "Dad, I LOVE those earrings you got for Jane! Nice find. You should get me some earrings next year, nudge nudge hint hint."