William and I always try to think of awesome presents for each other. Because both of our birthdays fall near the holidays, we're really kicking into high gear for present-thinking-upping.
It's hard! I am easier to please than he is with gifts I think, but he is always very much wanting to do the perfect thing for me. I always want to surprise him and come up with something way awesome, but he has very specific ideas about what he likes, and I don't always understand what those are (i.e. if I want to buy him something to support his painting hobby, I'm not sure what's good and what isn't, or why something might work better than another for some reason.)
I honestly love buying presents for people. I enjoy thinking up things they woudl enjoy; I love shopping; and perhaps, more than any other thing, I love the moment where I think I've found the perfect gift for someone. And if it turns out to be what I think it is, I love the enjoyment someone gets out of it.
If I had more money, I would buy more presents. I run into things all the time that I think that my friends or family or William would enjoy (and don't even get me started on what I could buy for Molly). We draw names in our family for Christmas, and it's fun and makes things much easier financially. But sometimes it's hard, because I come up with gifts for the wrong person! Or I want to find some sneaky way to give away gifts to everyone.
Anyway...this line of conversation with William tonight and Mrs Twink's post led me to wonder: what is your gift-buying philosophy? What's been the greatest gift you've come up with? What's the best one you've received? And, of course, what's the worst?
Come on, pony up. I'm really curious.
11 comments:
I'm going to sound like such a grinch, but we're not big into gift-giving. Neither of us is Christian, so Christmas is sort of just another day.
As for birthdays and other potential gift-giving times, we don't do much aside from going to dinner. Why no gifts? Mr. Monkey said it best the other day, "I don't need gifts. I buy myself whatever I want whenever I want."
And ditto for me. :)
I'm with you, KD, about loving the whole gift-giving process. It's so much fun watching a friend or family member open a gift that you've put so much thought into.
My best gift ever was a Christmas Day visit from Aaron when I was living out in Oregon. He was wearing a Santa hat at the airport, and I was wearing one in the car. Yes, we are dorks.
Worst gift? I feel bad saying this, but maybe a bright blue country western-style sweatshirt from my grandma when I was in junior high. It had silver buckles and jangly things dangling from it. My mom received a matching one in red. I put it on for an obligatory photo and never wore it again.
i love buying presents too, but I feel like really great gifts are harder to find once people get older. For me, I like to get handmade stuff, or things that cost way too much money ($350 frye boots, for example! :)) so I do try to make or buy handmade gifts a lot of the time.
my husband is hard to shop for, too, since he basically buys himself whatever he needs/wants. I can always find super cute and appropriate stuff for my mom or girlfriends though, and I think that's fun for everyone.
i also find that random presents are sometimes more fun than holiday or birthday gifts. mike recently got me a t shirt with a narwhal on it, just out of the blue, and it felt really special that he would think of that, you know?
I LOVE buying gifts for people. LOVE. IT. Often, I'll just go on Amazon and surprise ship things to people. I think it is so much more fun than buying for myself.
My biggest gift giving success was for the hub's 17th bday (just after we started dating). I went to an indy record store, and bought him about 20 CDs used that he'd been wanting for a long time, and then bought him a new CD booklet and filled it with the CDs, then wrapped the booklet back up, so that he thought it was empty. When he looked inside though, he was quite impressed. He still talks about it. Sadly, I think it's a gift that wouldn't really happen anymore. He still has all the CDs though.
I love buying gifts for people too. But I stress out about finding the perfect thing. I usually think of that person's favorite hobbies, and get them a gift related to that. Or, if I know they need something, I buy them whatever that might be. I am a fan of the useful gift!
I think the best gift I ever received was from my best friend: her mom, an artist, made this beautiful piece with a poem my dad used to recite to me all the time. It is just gorgeous and so meaningful. I can't think of the worst gift. Hm. Maybe socks??
I love buying presents for people. I try to limit my gift giving to the kids in the extended family, my parents, and now my coworkers. I used to never buy my coworkers presents, but (I swear to god) I received my gifts from my office than from my family! I also tend to overbuy for little man...what's a moma to do?
One of the greatest gifts I've come up with was a 27in television for my mom. It was spendy for my small budget, but was something my mom had wanted for her living room, but couldn't afford. I bought it, went to her house, set it up in her living room, and left a post-it note on the screen that read "From Santa." It was a pretty cool feeling!
I've been fortunate enough to receive some pretty amazing gifts. One that stands out is my digital camera and photo printer. I feel so blessed to be able to capture little man's "firsts" in pictures, and it also feels great to not have to worry about going to the store to get the pictures printed out. Last year, I was caught off gaurd by a coworker, and given an amethyst bracelet. She said it was because I had always commented on her amethyst jewelry (we both share febrary birthdays)...it was amazingly sweet.
The worst gifts I have received hail from an aunt of mine. She is a major shop-a-holic, and buys off of the target clearance racks. She'll give all of the kids in the family about a dozen extremely cheap gifts that always include sweatshirts, ugly sweaters, and ugly turtlenecks that are THREE SIZES TOO SMALL. Good times
AAAAAAAND...I'm done! (this was almost like my own personal blog post..hehehe, sorry!!)
the best gift i ever gave was a Tag Heuer watch to the hubs. I saved up for a long time because he had always wanted one. best gift i've ever gotten? besides the ring? he got me these really nice snowboarding gloves back when I had been planning a ski/snowboarding philanthropy for my sorority. we weren't really dating and it just seemed like the most thoughtful sweet thing ever!
cheers that you and your hubs are good gift givers!
I'm a terrible gift-giver. I mean I usually pull it out and find something great, but I feel so much pressure about the whole thing that it isn't very fun. Often I'd rather just skip the gift-giving than feel all the pressure to think of something amazing. However, I LOVE getting gifts so that wouldn't really be fair huh? If I wanted great gifts but didn't want to give them? :)
My fiance always does a better job finding me great gifts than I do for him, but that's largely bc of the factor you cited, that I don't have a good understanding/ability to pick out the right things. (So your post made me feel better!)
This year, though, having just a bought house, I think I can come up with some.
Hubbs and I don't usually exchange gifts. We make plans and let that be our gift. Usually anyway. If we give each other gifts it's usually something simple and not too expensive. I am going to be no help to you, but I hope you figure out something cool.
i love giving gifts so much. i really get a kick out of coming across something that would be absolutely perfect for someone i know, and i love anticipating their reaction to it. i'm horrible at keeping secrets, though, and on more than one occasion have buckled, given in, and handed over an "early" present.
your questions are hard! they shouldn't be, but they are. i've loved most of the gifts i've received, but when i turned 10 - that all-important double-digit birthday - i got a holly hobbie bake oven that i'd wanted for ages. somehow that one sticks out in my head.
and the worst? a set of windchimes. i HATE windchimes.
one of the most fun gifts i can remember giving is a gag gift for a CW - he often wore an olive green, short-sleeved, button-up shirt with khakis, and i always told him he looked like one of the "jungle cruise" guys at disneyland. so when i got his name for the secret santa, i put together a "jungle cruise tour guide" package. there was a safari hat, a microphone, a mini replica of the jungle cruise boat from the ride, and a script that included some of the lame, corny jokes that they use during that ride.
wow, that was a long comment. sorry, dude.
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