“...carry bags for Christmas presents, a rain hat (long story), dry bag for camping, fish “creel”, a portalet (another long story)...”
Well yeah - but that only took one bag.
Around here I just found out that you can shove them all into one bag and toss it in the bin of recyclables rather than taking them back to the store. We still end up with tons extra after using them for all of the other things you mentioned. (Portalet too if you count baby diapers!)
Or just give them to Robert in Tennessee - he eats 16 bags a week!