CHRISTMAS SHOPPING!

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  Nov 16, 2007 5:03 PM GMT

  Have you started it yet?
  
  I just bought very special gifts today for two of the most important people in my life: my Mum and my man.
  
  Shopping for the kids begins next week.
  For whom do you find it most difficult to buy?
  
  

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  Nov 16, 2007 5:21 PM GMT

  I have the tendancy to shop just for my immediate family (brother, sister, mom and dad) and maybe two or three others for various reasons over various years. I don't know, just never made shopping a huge deal with me, I guess. Most difficult to shop for? It's never always been the same person each year, different strokes for different folks I guess.

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  Nov 16, 2007 5:31 PM GMT

  Oh you are so right, WolfDaddy. My shopping list has become shorter over the years - but no less expensive
  
  The hardest one for me to get is for my brother because I want something that has at least some kind of meaning. He is older than I and though he is the straight one he dresses so flamboyantly people think he's the gay one -- and I'm a bit embarassed to be seen with him. He doesn't want to age and thinks by dressing like this he looks young.
  
  

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  Nov 16, 2007 6:59 PM GMT

  I've decided not to buy anybody anything this year. ...

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• HndsmKansan
  
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  Nov 16, 2007 11:24 PM GMT

  Well I bought Christmas gifts for this year LAST YEAR and WRAPPED. Have 3 or 4 to put under the tree immediately when its put up. I try and always at least do that.
  
  I refuse to walk around aimlessly the week of Christmas wandering the malls trying to figure it out.
  What a waste of time! I will be done the first week of December.

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  Nov 17, 2007 2:59 AM GMT

  Guess I missed out on the "gay shopping gene". For Christmas, I purchase (as fast as humanly possible), not shop. Increasingly buying gifts online, as well.

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  Nov 17, 2007 3:03 AM GMT

  Already have my brother's gift. My Dad's always the hard one. The combination of being not materialistic, not liking clutter, and also being rich means that he's a difficult man to buy something for, as pretty much anything he knows he would like he already has.

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  Nov 17, 2007 3:08 AM GMT

  God - I haven't even thought about starting.
  
  

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  Nov 17, 2007 3:37 AM GMT

  I stopped by Macy's on my way to the gym tonight and they are having a huge sale today and tomorrow (Nov. 16 & 17). I got tow Ralph Lauren shirts that were originally $125 for $25. Oh, and I got some great gifts, too. Head over there now, even if you're a bad shopper. They've got a lot of great bargains and your family and friends will think you spent a ton on them.

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  Nov 17, 2007 4:13 AM GMT

  "I've decided not to buy anybody anything this year"
  
  We made that a family-wide policy a few years ago, and it has made the holidays a lot smoother.

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• HndsmKansan
  
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  Nov 17, 2007 6:48 AM GMT

  What about your partner there Paradox?

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  Nov 17, 2007 2:49 PM GMT

  

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• Timbales
  
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  Nov 17, 2007 2:53 PM GMT

  Haven't started at all. Lately it's been gift cards for my family, because we're all at an age were anything we don't already have is just too expensive.
  
  The bf wants me to buy him clothing, because he doesn't like shopping for himself.

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  Nov 17, 2007 10:19 PM GMT

  "What about your partner there Paradox?"
  
  We both prefer to just go out and buy what we want or need.

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  Nov 17, 2007 10:41 PM GMT

  Workin on that list this night. Parents are impossible. They don't need a damn thing. Always hard to shop for.

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  Nov 17, 2007 10:56 PM GMT

  I have a suggestion(s) for when you just don't know what to buy for someone who doesn't need anything, who can buy themselves whatever they want whenever they want. Go funny and go practical. Buy them something that would never be given as a gift. Like a plunger.
  
  
  
  or some scrubbing pads for the kitchen
  
  
  
  if the recipient owns a cat, then, maybe a big bag of cat litter
  
  
  
  Whatever it is you get your finicky giftee (subliminally inserted message: McGay wants a piano - in case you're wondering what to get me this year), you should wrap it in beautiful gift wrapping paper or some other nice packaging:
  
  
  
  Then they're always surprised enough at how stupid your gift is that it gets a laugh. Then they laugh again later in the new year after they finally use what you got them. It's the kind of gift that keeps on giving. Fun for the whole family. Send by midnight tonight. Operators are standing by.

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  Nov 17, 2007 11:15 PM GMT

  I also stopped buying for friends and family awhile back--we all just decided that we had everything we needed and a lot of what we wanted. My partner and I usually travel somewhere warm together for the holidays, and that serves as our gift exchange, and my closer friends and I exchange "gifts" throughout the year (for example, if I see a book I think someone will like, I'll pick up a copy for them, etc.).

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  Nov 18, 2007 4:52 AM GMT

  
  
  The carton is sooo beautifully festive – looks like a box of candies! I'm sure my nieces and nephews will be delighted!
  
  Oh, McGay, thanks, man, for the kitty litter idea. Its the perfect gift for my mother. Even though she has a cat, and I do not, I'll be sure to buy the heaviest sack on the market lest she try and give me back the present – like she always does.

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  Nov 18, 2007 5:08 AM GMT

  The family used to draw names from a hat, after Thanksgiving dinner. That way everyone had to buy and received only one gift. There was something like a $30 limit on it too. But there aren't enough of us left for that any more.
  
  I'll probably just give out cookie plates and bottles of wine again.

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  Nov 18, 2007 5:32 AM GMT

  MG, that sounds like the kind of gift that I'd like!
  
  Last year, I made new rules for Xmas:
  
  1. Gifts are for kids only, 13 yrs or less. (So far I only have my 2 year old godson and some friends' toddlers that qualify.)
  2. Kids will receive their gifts on the 6th of December (St-Nicholas Day) and it is their parents who will determine if they may unwrap their presents on the 6th, 24th or 25th. I don't really care; so long as I get a glass of wine & two spice cookies, they can open them later and thank me by phone.
  3. Any gifts given to adults, for special favours or services, are to be given personally (when possible) and discreetly (in private) – enough already with the show-and-tell one-up-manship. And if your "on a diet" during the bloody holidays then stop bitching and give me back the damn kuegelhopf – someone with grace and tact will surely appreciate the work that goes into making them.
  4. I can get whatever I want or need myself so if you really must get me something make it edible, drinkable or legible – and don't expect me to open it in front of others, either.
  5. If we can't agree to do anything as a family other than sit at the table for eight hours moaning about how xmas sucks now (since everyone turned into brainwashed materialistic zombies)... or... fall apart sobbing (because there really were no gifts last year, like we all agreed; sorry you had over a thousand dollars worth of merchandise wrapped and stashed under your bed "just in case")... then... I'll no longer be attending "family xmases" – I'll gladly limit myself to playing the Sinterklaas on December 06, enjoying the wine & biscuits, and being at least 3 000 km away come December 24.
  
  *arches an eyebrow*

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  Nov 18, 2007 5:32 AM GMT

  I don't like receiving gifts.However, I like to give gifts. But this year it is hard for me to go shopping because i don't know what to buy specially for my boyfriend. Any Ideas?

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• art_smass
  
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  Nov 18, 2007 5:53 AM GMT

  I once bought a friend of mine a carton of cigarettes and a big bottle of scotch. He looked at me like I was crazy when he first opened the gift, and a moment later he said "Well, it's probably the only thing I got that I don't want to take back."

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  Nov 18, 2007 5:57 AM GMT

  For many years - over a decade and a half - I was totally estranged from my family, so no gifts.
  
  The gifts I did get professionally, were returned professionally, but didn't really mean much.
  
  The gifts I received from a couple of my close friends were always the highlight of my season; but I always was kind of embarrased by my return gifts, I just never thought they were as good.
  
  Now I have my partners family to contend with, and they are consumate - total - partiers and small gift givers. every single gift is so thought filled it's actually embarrassing.
  
  I love it.
  
  I actually love the holidays again because they seem to have so much fun together.
  
  

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  Nov 18, 2007 6:59 AM GMT

  When I see something in a store or on line that makes me think of someone I pick it up if I can afford to. And I hoarde it. That way, when the holidays come round (including our Dec. 1 anniversary), I don't have to worry about last minute shopping.

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  Nov 20, 2013 5:40 PM GMT

  Haven't started it. It's nearly December!

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