Do you help others buy your own Christmas gifts?

[Ashleigh]

I'm not saying buying your own Christmas gifts to yourself, but helping SO, parents, etc buy your own Christmas gifts simply because you know yourself best. I do that all the time and I get what I want but I don't get surprises as a result.

 

[arkieb1]

Yes with my husband because his gifts are SO bad. And I am not being mean, there is a post some where of butt ugly things we have been given by our spouses and mine is up there with the best of them.

 

[JewelFreak]

I give DH suggestions, sometimes point out what I want in a catalog. He's good w/surprises too, though. Occasionally I have said I want to get such & such a stone set & he'll pay for it, though I do everything else.

With DH it's NO SURPRISES. He tells me what he wants & that's that. Kind of wrecks the fun of gift-giving for me -- makes it all material rather than giving thought to what somebody might like. Oh well, people vary.

--- Laurie

 

[baby monster]

We rarely do surprise gifts. Everyone puts a wish list together for rest of family to pick from.

 

[dk168]

My choice to spend Christmas on my own and did away with present-buying ages ago, and always buy myself a present every year. This year I treated myself to a few little gemstones while I was out in HK.

DK

 

[Ashleigh]

I forgot to mention that DH and I used to do surprise gifts. Then we realized that we didn't or seldom see each other use the gift. Since then, no more surprises. Some of these surprise gifts were costly and it was a waste when we wouldn't use it.

 

[ame]

Yep. And sometimes Ill go halfsies if it's pricey.

I've gone so far as to buy things I want that would be too weird or complicated for my family to get and have it shipped to them and then they just reimburse me.

 

[CJ2008]

Yes.

We usually do a wish list with the family.

With DH, sometimes we tell each other what we'd like, other times we surprise each other. We're pretty good at giving each other things we like.

 

[Dee*Jay]

I would take the pain out of the process for the XH and choose my own main gift. He liked to actually go into the store and buy it himself (from behind the counter where I would have had the sales person set it aside... ) and sometimes he even wrapped it himself. Early on he picked a few things for me, but they were clearly flops so that came to an abrupt end before any truly expensive or relationship damaging mistakes were made. The CB and I have done away with the silliness and just don't get things for each other. Our lives are easier.

My dad gets a list of things from me, although he supplements with craziness of his own, and my mother, well, all bets are off. She sends me things that are so odd one time my best friend looked at a gift she sent me and said, "Has your mother ever met you?"

 

[Lady_Disdain]

We do lists but quite generic lists: "white shirt" or "red scarf", not "white shirt with blue buttons from Store". It is enough to give the giver an idea of what each of us would like or needs but still has plenty of room for them to choose, find something in their budget and put thought into. Often, the giver finds something perfect off the list and that is fine as well. On rare occasions, we do add very specific things (make, model and colour) but that is the exception, not the rule.

 

[chrono]

Expensive items? Definitely. Generic low cost items? Surprises are welcome.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

We don't really exchange gifts...we put a few things in the stockings, but normally, we focus on the kids. This year I told DH what I want to get him and asked him to either pick one out and I'd buy it or I'd buy two different ones (lap top case/carrier) and he could pick which he liked better and he said he'd look for one online and I could order it.

My husband is the type that will just go buy something if he wants it...he doesn't wait for a holiday with wish-list in hand, and in the last few months, he's purchased some pricey toys and so he for sure will just get little stuff.

 

[Sparklelu]

sometimes. DH knew I needed a new wallet as mine was stolen from my shopping cart in a store 2 weeks ago. I asked for on e for Christmas, he said its too personal a gift for him to pick out himself.(he feels that way about his watches too!!) Sunday we were in Coach and I saw the perfect wallet at an amazing reduced price. I could have picked it up for immediate use, but instead showed it to DH and said I liked it. He bought it.
I also send email hints. makes life easier. One year he spent way too much on tanzanite and diamond earrings. he was thrilled with them. They are so not my style and hang weird, so i never wear them. I contemplate selling them, or getting them reset.

 

[Circe]

Yes with my husband because his gifts are SO bad. And I am not being mean, there is a post some where of butt ugly things we have been given by our spouses and mine is up there with the best of them.

This. My husband always has the best of intentions, but that just means he's responsible for the 1-90 extension of the road to hell.

This is unfair, in some ways: I initially realized I was falling in love with him when he got me The Perfect Present when we were still just friends. He's great with non-jewelry things. But with jewelry things ... OY. I don't know if it was the steampunk watch or the Darth Vader cameo that made me draw the line, but the line, it has been drawn and QUARTERED.

If anything, my problem is that he refuses to do likewise for me, and is INCREDIBLY picky, and very quick to say when something isn't to his taste. And I just realized I haven't found anything for him yet. Ahahahahahahaha.

 

[iluvshinythings]

I have an amazon wish list and add stuff to it throughout the year and my daughter does the same for her and her family. My DH and I used to surprise each other and had mixed results. This year we bought each other a TV for the living room and split the cost. Easy and it was something we really needed.

I have been known to buy myself my own Christmas or birthday gift, usually something electronic like a camera or a piece of jewelry. I was single a long time and found that if I didn't do it, it wasn't going to happen.

 

[texaskj]

SO and my mother demand a list, written or emailed.
Our last Christmas married, the ex-husband decided he wanted to surprise me and he actually did pretty good. Problem was, he expected months-long praise for it.

 

[Rhea]

Our family has both wish lists and flat out tells the other people what to buy them. My husband's family likes surprises, but husband never knows what to get them and doesn't do the shopping.

I don't really feel the need to be surprised. We're adults with money who buy what we need and try not to have too much junk around. Anything that we don't buy ourselves is probably too expensive for us at the moment.

Last Christmas DH bought me a £30 drip coffee maker I've been wanting but was concerned I wouldn't actually use. It's probably the best gift he ever bought me and I use it 28 days of 30. Lots of the time we don't buy each other gifts at all.

 

[aviastar]

We surprise. No kids yet, so that might very well change in the next few years. DH is pretty amazing with his choices, I have to say I've never been disappointed.

This year we decided to do one surprise each for Christmas Day and then we would collect a list of things for the house that we could shop for together after the day. We own a small business and this time of year is too crazy to add in all the extra shopping. This way we can spend time together and not be stressed about anything.

 

[chemgirl]

I bought my own Christmas gift from DH this year! Wrapped it myself and everything.

He is so nervous about buying the wrong thing that he ends up leaving it until the last minute and then either doesn't buy me anything or picks something I would never consider a gift...like the new gas line...

 

[madelise]

FI bought this for me on our first Valentine's day:




It was $300. Sterling silver with "diamonds".
So yes, I need to help him. A lot.

 

[marcy]

DH and I pick out our own expensive gifts and say here you can buy me this for Christmas or my birthday. I swear we must be covered till 2025. Little gifts are always a surprise.

 

[Ashleigh]

FI bought this for me on our first Valentine's day:




It was $300. Sterling silver with "diamonds".
So yes, I need to help him. A lot.

Wow, did you wear it at least once to show appreciation? I wore a necklace once so as not to disappoint him.

 

[4ever]

Yep, at least 90% of the time I'll choose or suggest my own gift. It's not that my friends and family are bad it choosing things for me, I'm just very particular about what I like and I'd rather get what I want then be thinking 'yeah, it's nice but I'd rather have had X'. I don't really care for or value the surprise aspect of gifting.