Author Topic: Christmas Presents You Just Don't Want to Receive  (Read 10960 times)

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Christmas Presents You Just Don't Want to Receive
« Reply #75 on: 09 October, 2019, 06:54:16 pm »
I am rich and choosy enough to buy these for myself most of the time.

I can be very picky about details that can change anything into a FAIL if they are wrong. Many potential donors don't know these details.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Christmas Presents You Just Don't Want to Receive
« Reply #76 on: 09 October, 2019, 07:01:30 pm »
Hmm, that's not what I was thinking of. The act of getting something for someone just because, rather than due to Christmas, birthday, etc, is likely to show more that you're in that person's mind and to be a better gift because it's prompted by its fitness for you, rather than for the occasion. Of course there are still bound to be occasions when it's just offloading some other unwanted item...
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Christmas Presents You Just Don't Want to Receive
« Reply #77 on: 09 October, 2019, 07:24:34 pm »
You have a point; my point is few people REALLY seem to be in my mind, which is a shame.

barakta

  • Bastard lovechild of Yomiko Readman and Johnny 5
Re: Christmas Presents You Just Don't Want to Receive
« Reply #78 on: 09 October, 2019, 10:56:28 pm »
I have managed to persuade most people not to buy me stuff cos I don't want for much and I don't want pointless tat.

I don't really do gift giving, I'm not very good at it, and definitely don't have the spoons (energy) for shopping for anything beyond my own adult basics.

I do however do "I saw that and know X will like it" gifts. If/when I see them and am confident they'll be genuinely enjoyed.

Torslanda

  • Professional Gobshite
  • Just a tart for retro kit . . .
    • John's Bikes
Re: Christmas Presents You Just Don't Want to Receive
« Reply #79 on: 09 October, 2019, 11:38:08 pm »
Funny that this thread should be revived today. I've just this morning been working on a feature on how to do Christmas properly, with a section on gift-giving. The last line of this paragraph seems especially apposite for this thread...

Quote
AVOID HOBBIES
If someone has a hobby they really know about, resist the temptation to buy them anything to do with it. Someone who loves watercolouring in their spare time probably already has all the paints, brushes and paper they need (unless they specifically ask you for more). And novelty items linked to someone’s hobby, or job, feel destined for the attic or charity shop.

The only exception to that rule that I've found is that you can never have too many clamps.

You are Norm Abram AICMFP
VELOMANCER

Well that's the more blunt way of putting it but as usual he's dead right.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Christmas Presents You Just Don't Want to Receive
« Reply #80 on: 10 October, 2019, 07:50:18 am »
Never heard of him. tappity tappity... American TV. Right.  I wonder where he heard it.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Redlight

  • Enjoying life in the slow lane
Re: Christmas Presents You Just Don't Want to Receive
« Reply #81 on: 10 October, 2019, 03:17:44 pm »
Anything.

I'm not anti-Christmas, or anti-gift. It's simply that I don't want any more stuff other than what I deem essential and which I get myself when I need it.  In fact, I have begun giving away stuff so that there is as little as possible left for other people to have to deal with when I die. 

Mrs Redlight gets it, and has a similar attitude, although she is partial to jewellery (!) but it's an annual battle with my mother who cannot cope with the idea that I am perfectly content to spend Christmas having a pleasant time with the family without feeling hard done by if I haven't unwrapped something. The same applies to my birthday.

I understand her consternation. She grew up during WW2 and in the following years Christmas was a time when you might be given something that you truly wanted or needed and wouldn't or couldn't buy for yourself. Now we live in a world of affluence and easy availability and it seems that people end up desperately trying to think of things to want in order to satisfy society's expectation that they must receive. The result is the tat that fills the shops and the hideous catalogues that start arriving at the end of August. Consumerism for its own sake.

So, nothing for me, please.
Why should anybody steal a watch when they can steal a bicycle?

ian

Re: Christmas Presents You Just Don't Want to Receive
« Reply #82 on: 10 October, 2019, 03:39:44 pm »
Every year my wife and I agree to buy no presents. Then she buys some. Little things, she says. Which means I have to find something.

Honestly, we both have everything we want, and if there's something we need, we'll just buy it.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Christmas Presents You Just Don't Want to Receive
« Reply #83 on: 10 October, 2019, 04:55:08 pm »
Every year my wife and I agree to buy no presents. Then she buys some. Little things, she says. Which means I have to find something.

Honestly, we both have everything we want, and if there's something we need, we'll just buy it.

Well, quite! That's why I go for the edible.