Be Excellent To Each Other

What do people do here for present buying? With the adults in my family we don’t buy presents as we take the view we are all able to buy things in reason for ourselves. We buy the kids presents though. I few this as pretty sensible, with my brother we just agreed a price and we each bought our respective children a present from the other to save pissing around sending things to each other houses.

My wife thinks I’m miserable and with her family they all buy presents, thing is they all agree what everyone is buying the other, so not exactly a surprise! Then what happens every year 2-3 days before Christmas she tells me I have to get things for her family as they have bought me things so I end up doing the complete opposite of what I set out to do each Christmas and run around in the crowds buying shite for people.

Last night I got an Amazon wish list from my account as my wife uses it as well, it had about £130 worth of running gear, so I think great that’s what she wants that’s my shopping done. So I order it all, then she tells me off as the wish list was supposed to be something her sister and mother could use!

I really like Christmas and have gone to some effort to get my son and my wife thoughtful presents as they are the people that matter, just can’t be arsed with all the other pointless gift giving as you spend money on stuff people don’t really want just to get back stuff you don’t want.

*insert Cliff Richard video*

Buy for the people that matter, if you can.

I buy stuff for my side of the family, and my GF buys stuff for her side of the family which seems to work nicely for us.

I give my family the link to my rainforesty giftlist so they can get some ideas, and when they do the same it helps my planning. I usually get people some of what they want, and some things I've chosen for them. I don't generally give gifts to friends these days, and don't really expect anything either.

I've found buying something for a complete stranger on the Reddit Secret Santa easier than choosing presents for some people this year.

This year, having just bought a house, Mr. flis and I decided not to buy each other proper presents. Instead, I have bought things we'd need for the house and have wrapped them up to give to him! Like a hedge trimmer I also bought him 12 pairs of socks as his boys, my boys, and me all steal his socks. We obviously give all of our boys presents and this year, we'll give them all cash as their main present but we've also spent another £200 on little gifts and things for them; pyjamas, books, Lego, beer pong - that kind of thing - as well as selection boxes and chocolate coins!

Aside form them, I also buy for my mum and step-dad, and my sister and her little boy. This year, each of us wrote letters to santa and emailed them to each other; it seems to have worked pretty well. My step-dad wants stuff for their trip to Iceland next year, so we've bought a gateau and stuck Peter Andre's face on the box (and got him some base layers). My mum wanted Clinique vouchers but they don't do them, it's just a generic Boots voucher so I asked the girls on the Clinique counter if they had a little gift/presentation bag or box I could have to put it in and they were so happy to help. I got a little bag tied with purple ribbon and Clinique printed on it and put the gift card in there with a handful of chocolate coins in pink and purple foil. Whatever you buy, have fun with it and use your imagination - the socks I bought Mr. flis are all individually wrapped - even if it's stuff you know they've asked for and are probably expecting, you can present it in a way they don't expect.

Also: I LOVE CHRISTMAS SOOO MUCH!!!!!!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Just bought stuffed toys of all the characters from the Gruffalo for my son.

He loves the books, the film and also has a dinner plate with them all on, he does a 18 month olds impression of the snake that sounds like he has something stuck in his throat

This is what present buying is all about!

We buy for close family that we see a lot (parents, siblings, my nieces, Kate's uncles, grandparents), but that's it. When I was younger my family bought for everyone, which was fun as a kid but must have been a nightmare for the parents, as my mum had three brothers and all of them had at least 2 kids.

I bought Kate's xmas (and birthday as she ticks over on the 28th of december) presents about a month ago and wrapped them all up and left them in the lounge. Mainly because it drives her insane seeing them and not knowing what's inside I might buy them in the summer next year and leave the out for 6 months

I won't put anything under the tree until Christmas Eve, tried it already and attempts were made by my son to open them and pull labels off etc

I hate wrapping presents, last thing I want is to do them twice!

This is the first year I've put any under the tree before Christmas Eve and my boys are going on 13 and 16...!! I found the best way to avoid them prodding is not to put names on anything, I have a complicated system of coordinated paper and tape set up instead They won't risk someone else finding a part opened present or a couple of chocolates short from a selection box.

Kate is a feeler, which is why her main present has been put in a random box before it was wrapped.

I've told everyone this year I'm too skint to buy for them so it's just Gaz and my two little ones. You'd think this would make it easier but I've found it impossible this year and have so far bought a sum total of 1 thing for my daughter.

This year it is just MissKov and MiniKov

MiniKov is easy lego and xbox, or a combination of both.

MissKov has been tricky as she only wants sports stuff, which I am trying not to buy as I believe Christmas presents should be fun and not practical

I only ever have to buy for my mum, dad, sister and niece and even when I've been in relationships in the past I've handled my family (and presented them as 'from' both of us) and my girlfriend has done the same. Generally speaking I just lean on my mum and sister to find out what people want then buy it myself so it's pretty low stress.

The only issue comes with the fact that my family can be slightly idiotic about presents and spend ages humming and hawing and changing their mind about what the best thing to get is, and generally just taking the whole thing far too seriously.

One example of this was a few years back when my sister needed a laptop and my mum was adamant this had to be a complete surprise (another factor that they always use to over-complicate stuff). This needed to be a long-term proper machine and I knew my sister had some money of her own put away towards getting one so I suggested just telling her we were planning this and then we could all pool our money towards getting her the best machine possible. This was rejected out of hand, because 'spoiling the surprise' was apparently more important than any practical consideration, so we ended up getting her something I wasn't entirely happy with due to budget constraints. Of course as soon as the grand reveal came my sister repeated pretty much what I'd said about it all and now she's got a laptop that's a bit crap when she could've had something much better that probably wouldn't have entirely packed in last week as her current one has. Fannies.

My sister's version of this is to always suggest sending my parents to a hotel or away somewhere for some event or whatever because that's what they like. Fair enough. But she absolutely always sets her sights far too high then spends weeks digging around on the internet for non-existent hotel rooms within a reasonable price range. After far, far too much chat around this she eventually realises she's not going to get what she's after and settles for something that isn't ridiculous which we could've sorted out in half an hour weeks beforehand. It always comes out in the wash eventually so I just try to step back and let her churn away at it for as long as it takes until the inevitable endgame, and then I step in and do my bit by paying for it all.

So you need either Lego + an Xbox or an Xbox that's actually made of Lego? I'd just stick with the two separate presents there.

Or any of the lego xbox games

an xbox made of lego! Why don't the make that?

I don't have any strong views on this point, but what I *do* believe is that they shouldn't be a waste, so I'd go for what she's going to make use of.

I know it sounds a bit "Bah Humbug" but seeing money and things being wasted really bugs me.

My mum used to buy some really bad presents that I'd never, ever use which just ended up gathering dust until they went in the bin or to a charity shop, and it took ages to get her to stop doing this. I told her I'd much rather receive nothing or have her give the cash to a decent charity than see her spend money for no reason. We are already too much of a disposable society, so essentially buying something just to throw away is madness.

Then, just when I'd won that battle, my Dad started doing something similar, and would buy me very expensive and really nice books on a subject that I just wasn't interested in at all, or at least not more than in passing. I know that he meant well, and that if you *were* a big fan of a particular type of car/bike or whatever other subject it was, you'd get a lot of pleasure from a real collectors item but that just wasn't me at all. I actually found it quite upsetting that A) he didn't know or understand me at all, no matter how many times I tried to explain, and B) that there's this really nice book sat on a shelf that *someone* somewhere would love to have and I have no way of finding them and getting it to them.

As a result I won't buy gifts just for the sake of having something to hand over, so if there isn't something that I'm pretty sure will be ok I'll often check with the recipient what they want and will give a present-IOU

I'm lucky enough to be beyond the point where I 'need' to be given things, so mainly I treat Christmas presents as an expression of sentiment. The best present is always one where someone's thought about who you are and what would be something you'd appreciate, regardless of value.

It's one reason I'd never go the wishlist route - what's the point of someone buying me something I've asked for?

YES! You get it!

I'd rather someone buy me something I'd asked for than other stuff I've received like work shirts, aftershave (I never wear it), shower gel or gadgets that aren't really gadgets.

absolutely!
with the addition that as long as there are small kids involved who believe, I love piles of small presents over a few big ones
it does mean I can be stressed over finding people perfect presents, but I love it and get all excited and hope they love their gift as much as I think they will
which is also why I find secret santa too much pressure as a don't know you people well enough to be confident buying a good gift

I don't disagree, and I don't *need* anything, but there are some things that I might like but wouldn't ordinarily buy myself. If someone wants to be pointed in the right direction, what's the harm in that, and I certainly wouldn't complain if they bought me a well thought out gift instead.

Where it all falls apart in practice is people that can't make sensible choices.

I think the idea of a wish list also goes back to when you were much younger and there were certain larger items where the only chance you had to get them *was* at Christmas. There was no way I'd have got an Amiga if it hadn't been as a combined Christmas and Birthday present for example, so I made it abundantly clear that this was what I'd like. It worked, too, unlike a previous year where I really fancied a Scalextric set so my dad bought me model trains cause that's what he want to get.

Wish lists are invaluable when your family don't know your interests well enough to know what specifically to buy you. How the fuck is my mum supposed to randomly arrive at the conclusion that Far Cry 4 on the PS4 is the kind of thing I'd like for Christmas? Or Tetris cufflinks? Or a Portal 2 t-shirt? This is made worse, not better, when as Craster says you're, "lucky enough to be beyond the point where I 'need' to be given things." That means a present for you is by necessity something along these lines that couldn't be divined by someone who doesn't have any knowledge of that hobby. Without any guidance my family spends ages stressing about what to get me and, more often than not, buy me generic and/or unsuitable stuff simply for the sake of getting me something and that's no use to anyone. A wishlist ensures that someone can buy you something they know you'd like with as little stress as possible and you get something you actually want and it's still a surprise of sorts because you make a decent sized list specifically so you're only ever going to get a near randomly selected subset of it. Fair enough if you're easy to buy for without that help but I can't understand why someone would be actively against the idea.

Simple - I have zero impulse control. If I like something enough to put it on a wish list, I'll just buy it.

Me too, I just don't buy anything from mid November to give folks a fighting chance.

Incidentally this is why it's been hard buying for Gaz. Because all the things I've thought of he's already bought himself I've had to tell him today to stop buying stuff to give me a bloody chance The only exception was a genius idea I had (in my humble opinion) but would have cost me upwards of £700 to pull off.

One day....

But I've just bought myself an iPhone 6+...

This happens every year. I have an extensive Christmas card list, the kind that to be struck off of is my ultimate way of seeking and obtaining vengeance against those that have done me serious wrong. I put a tick next to every name as I write their card. Someone lacks a tick, but I have a clear and vivid memory of doing a card for them the other week. Do I risk sending them a second card, or risk them thinking they have wronged me in some unforgivable way?

I don't even know what to ask for other than maybe the new LEGO Batman. So I asked for that. I'm so difficult to buy for this year that I went down loads of lists of great gift ideas for men, and all the secret Santa threads from years past to try and get inspiration, but I just don't know what I want. I feel sorry for other people. Especially as I have great ideas for things to give to others, so everyone else's has been done for ages, and I still keep buying more.

No one? Really? No one?

Alright fine. I'll only charge £600.

I don't know... I'm feeling there's a hint for me somewhere in this post...

There you go, I've made it a bit more obvious for you

Buying for a guy is the easiest thing on earth. Buy yourself underwear..done.

Kate gave me a dozen vouchers for various home cooked cakes last year. Cheap, thoughtful and nom.

Thank goodness for the kindness of friends. I was really worried that I might get the wrong thing. Now I can finally relax that this Christmas I've got what he really wants!

Trooper, you totally have to get Mrs Trooper one of these!

http://www.valekrollingpins.com

I just woke up to these texts from my brother:

I'm not sure if these are real or a hoax

http://www.incrediblethings.com/food/th ... p-glitter/


For the person who has everything!

Just eat glitter.

Blue chalk turns your pooh blue.

Yes yes. I get bored easily.