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Exchanging Gifts is Stupid (1 Viewer)

fantasycurse42

fantasycurse42

Footballguy Jr.
Watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and my wife is just running through a list of #### we have to buy everybody. Honey, just order it on Amazon, I don't give a ####, I'm just trying to relax.

It hits me, this is stupid. Outside of your kids and wife, buying everyone gifts is just dumb. What a waste of money, if I want something for anyone in my house, I'll just buy it. Receiving all these gifts for my kids that they have no need for is pointless. Furthermore for every 10 gifts received from someone outside of my wife, maybe one is useful. 

Solution: If we must exchange gifts and go through with this stupid process, we should all just give each other Amazon gift cards. It shows I remembered you and now you can buy something you need instead me and you exchanging useless garbage. 

 
I'm in a constant rotation of exchanging gift cards with my family.  I asked all of them if they would like a donation to charity in their names instead, but they prefer the giftcards.  Oof

 
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fantasycurse42 said:
Watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and my wife is just running through a list of #### we have to buy everybody. Honey, just order it on Amazon, I don't give a ####, I'm just trying to relax.

It hits me, this is stupid. Outside of your kids and wife, buying everyone gifts is just dumb. What a waste of money, if I want something for anyone in my house, I'll just buy it. Receiving all these gifts for my kids that they have no need for is pointless. Furthermore for every 10 gifts received from someone outside of my wife, maybe one is useful. 

Solution: If we must exchange gifts and go through with this stupid process, we should all just give each other Amazon gift cards. It shows I remembered you and now you can buy something you need instead me and you exchanging useless garbage. 
Click to expand...
Solution: stop sending gifts to people you don't see when they open said gift

 
My best buddy went to opening day this year and got super drunk.  His wife got a picture of him passed out in his seat in like the 4th inning and sent it to me.  I made a queen-sized quilt out of it with the words "FAMILY IS EVERYTHING" across the bottom.  Now that's a Christmas present.  :thumbup:

 
Amen.  Gifts are for kids.  I do a donation in my dad's name and I buy my mom a gift card b/c that's what she tells me she wants and she's into the gift giving thing and that's it.  I don't even care about giving gifts to other kids other than my own.  My kids get enough crap from my wife and I and the grandparents.  They don't need anything else.   

 
NutterButter said:
Amen.  Gifts are for kids.  I do a donation in my dad's name and I buy my mom a gift card b/c that's what she tells me she wants and she's into the gift giving thing and that's it.  I don't even care about giving gifts to other kids other than my own.  My kids get enough crap from my wife and I and the grandparents.  They don't need anything else.   
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In our family gifts are for the under 25 year olds who are present on the 25th (and 24th, because Denmark).. It works brilliantly

 
My wife and I stopped exchanging gifts years ago. I'll occasionally get her something small but there's never any issue if I don't.

 
Love doing the santa thing w my kids. That is it.  I can't tell you how many other presents are "needed" that have nothing to do with Christmas mornng with the kids, but the answer should be zero. 

 
Even worse than Christmas is the wasted crap of gifts that are exchanged at kid's birthday parties.  Any school kid that throws a party gets 15-20 cheap ### gifts that don't get used or are just saved for when there is the next party to get passed on.  My wife and I got sick of it a few years back so we talked to our kids and now they request gifts for charity.  One year it was gifts for kids at the local children's hospital and my daughter delivered them to the hospital.  We also had kids donate food and treats for the local animal shelter.  Our kids get plenty of useless gifts from family members and this avoids a bunch of cheap toys gathering dust in the house.  It also helps to install a sense of helping others in our kids.

 
I made a declaration to all family members some years ago that if they feel compelled to get me a gift for any occasion, it must be a consumable item. So I am happy to receive:

Alcohol

Food

Concert tickets

Cash (gift cards are okay i guess)

 
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belljr said:
Serious question.    What's the point of donating in someone else's name
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It could be someone has lost a family member and the organization is fighting for others or perhaps it is just an organization the person cares about greatly.   For me it's a matter of letting that person know that I support them.

 
Baloney Sandwich said:
Even worse than Christmas is the wasted crap of gifts that are exchanged at kid's birthday parties.  Any school kid that throws a party gets 15-20 cheap ### gifts that don't get used or are just saved for when there is the next party to get passed on.  
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Yes and no - yes for the reasons you described, no because Christmas hits you with all this garbage at once (outgoing and incoming).

My older son has a birthday a few weeks before Christmas - we donate most of his presents to some toys for tots program.

 
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My mom ends up just sending a check to buy stuff for the kids.  This year I told her to just send less and we would spend it on stuff for the kids and thats it.  No need to really do much for my wife and I.

Finding something for them is nearly impossible.  Im going to try and find some nice pictures of the smokey mountains and knoxville (they lived in Knoxville for about 8 years and loved the mountains...before moving back to Wisconsin).  Between that and some Calhouns BBQ sauce (my dad loves it on its own or as a base to alter it a bit to his own taste for things).  I guess that will work this year.  Last year was BBQ sauce and just a bunch of "Tennessee" stuff.  Whiskey, cracker barrell Tea bags and corn muffin mix...that sort of stuff.

Mom isn't in the best health...I thought about some tickets to their performing arts center...but she seems to be getting cranky and hating crowds like that and getting up and down stairs.

 
Women love shopping. My female coworkers, ex-wives, daughters, nieces all love gift exchanging.  I've come to enjoying rhe challenges and economic benefits of re-gifting. 

 
popeye said:
It could be someone has lost a family member and the organization is fighting for others or perhaps it is just an organization the person cares about greatly.   For me it's a matter of letting that person know that I support them.
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So why not just donate.   I'm confused why it's in person A name.  I donate to my charities because of my personal reasons but never did it in someone else name 

 
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fantasycurse42 said:
Solution: If we must exchange gifts and go through with this stupid process, we should all just give each other Amazon gift cards. It shows I remembered you and now you can buy something you need instead me and you exchanging useless garbage. 
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Agreed.

I hate small business owners, and retail shopping centers.  I can't stand going to stores, and finding things.  Should only take one Christmas season of everyone getting Amazon gift cards to eliminate all the brick and mortar stores, then we can film zombie movies in some of these malls, and convert the rest to paintball arenas.

If we can do this on Valentine's Day, we can also get rid of these annoying florists I see occasionally.

 
What about secret Santa? In my office one year, we had to immitate the giftee before giving the gift and people had to guess. It was fun, but there is potential for embarrassment. A few coworkers gave gifts outside the official exchange, which was just icing on the cake for me.

 
I refuse to exchange gift cards with people. I try to think of thoughtful gifts and it's usually not a problem. Batting pretty high % with the wife. 

This year for my racist dad I made a donation to the NAACP in his name. He should be getting the certificate this week. 

 
belljr said:
So why not just donate.   I'm confused why it's in person A name.  I donate to my charities because of my personal reasons but never did it in someone else name 
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Essentially the gift to the person is the donation to something they deeply care about - a show of support.

 
Baloney Sandwich said:
Even worse than Christmas is the wasted crap of gifts that are exchanged at kid's birthday parties.  Any school kid that throws a party gets 15-20 cheap ### gifts that don't get used or are just saved for when there is the next party to get passed on.  My wife and I got sick of it a few years back so we talked to our kids and now they request gifts for charity.  One year it was gifts for kids at the local children's hospital and my daughter delivered them to the hospital.  We also had kids donate food and treats for the local animal shelter.  Our kids get plenty of useless gifts from family members and this avoids a bunch of cheap toys gathering dust in the house.  It also helps to install a sense of helping others in our kids.
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Great idea. I'm taking this. :tup:

 
jamny said:
My wife and I stopped exchanging gifts years ago. I'll occasionally get her something small but there's never any issue if I don't.
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My wife and I finally stopped this year.  Getting gifts for her was always the major stress of the holiday. It's really not a gift if she shows me what she wants in a catalog and I buy it for her! 

Our son and DIL had a baby boy on the 22nd (our first grandchild - yeah!  Look at me ...), so I did get some prints of the early pics for her to bring to the family Christmas Eve gathering and framed a couple of 5x7" prints for her (and for our kids).  DIL cried a few happy tears when she opened and saw her framed pics.  A true gift can stir emotions in that way.  

 
Amen.

I'm an adult. When I want something,  I buy it. I basically need to stop making purchases in October in order to have a list of 5 or 6 things for my family to buy me in december

 
Got the wife a dooney "weekender" bag that she loves and a le cresut braiser. Big hits. Christmas is fun if you do it right. 

 
Capella said:
I refuse to exchange gift cards with people. I try to think of thoughtful gifts and it's usually not a problem. Batting pretty high % with the wife. 

This year for my racist dad I made a donation to the NAACP in his name. He should be getting the certificate this week. 
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I seriously considered a donation to the Clinton Foundation in my mother-in-law's* name but my wife talked me out of it.  

*My mother-in-law, who is otherwise a very caring grandmother and super helpful and kind, actually thinks Hillary has personally murdered people and is involved with pizza gate. 

 
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I am the youngest of 5 and my wife and I last year said we are done. Every birthday, we would all exchange the same Walmart, Target., etc gift card. What is the point? We indicated we would continue to buy for the younger ones (under 18) for their birthdays, but the rest of the family can go pound sand. It did not go over well and we have found ourselves not invited to some get togethers because of this decision.

 
Capella said:
I try to think of thoughtful gifts
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This is the key. If you can come up with thoughtful gifts, and not just random/generic stuff, for people you care about, exchanging gifts is worthwhile. Otherwise I'd prefer to skip it, it becomes stressful trying to force yourself to come up with thoughtful gifts for everyone, and also if/when other people pressure you to tell them things you want. As mentioned several times already, at this stage of my life, if I want something I'll get it myself when I need/want it. Pretty much all the other adults in my life are in the same place. By and large, the gift giving thing isn't fun, it's become a compulsory chore. It can make the holidays unenjoyable.

 
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Wife and I went shopping day after Christmas and dropped/spent a lot. We got exactly what we wanted and went shopping together. We do that outing to the mall about twice a year tops. 

 
fantasycurse42 said:
Watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and my wife is just running through a list of #### we have to buy everybody. Honey, just order it on Amazon, I don't give a ####, I'm just trying to relax.

It hits me, this is stupid. Outside of your kids and wife, buying everyone gifts is just dumb. What a waste of money, if I want something for anyone in my house, I'll just buy it. Receiving all these gifts for my kids that they have no need for is pointless. Furthermore for every 10 gifts received from someone outside of my wife, maybe one is useful. 

Solution: If we must exchange gifts and go through with this stupid process, we should all just give each other Amazon gift cards. It shows I remembered you and now you can buy something you need instead me and you exchanging useless garbage. 
Click to expand...
Exchanging gift cards is even more useless and stupid.

"Hey, here's some money for being my friend. You can only spend this money at one store. Also I bet you will give me back the same or similar amount of money, probably with a similar restriction that it may be spent only at one store."

 
Otis said:
Exchanging gift cards is even more useless and stupid.

"Hey, here's some money for being my friend. You can only spend this money at one store. Also I bet you will give me back the same or similar amount of money, probably with a similar restriction that it may be spent only at one store."
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Especially if they're under $500.  Amirite?

 
Otis said:
Exchanging gift cards is even more useless and stupid.

"Hey, here's some money for being my friend. You can only spend this money at one store. Also I bet you will give me back the same or similar amount of money, probably with a similar restriction that it may be spent only at one store."
Click to expand...
We (my siblings and SOs) haven't exchanged gifts in a few years.  For some reason my sister thought it would be great if we did a "white elephant gift card exchange".  

Oh yeah. Total blast.  I can't begin to describe how fun it was to buy a Nordstrom Rack card and get a Chipotle one in exchange.  

The memories will last a lifetime.  (Single tear runs down my cheek)

 
Otis said:
Exchanging gift cards is even more useless and stupid.

"Hey, here's some money for being my friend. You can only spend this money at one store. Also I bet you will give me back the same or similar amount of money, probably with a similar restriction that it may be spent only at one store."
Click to expand...
An Amazon gift card is the equivalent to cash IMO.

 
fantasycurse42 said:
An Amazon gift card is the equivalent to cash IMO.
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Ah yes.  The one way we can make this exchange even less personal and thoughtful.

"Here's twenty five dollars for being my friend again this year.  

Cool, here's twenty five dollars for you as well."  

Anything we can do to make this more like paying a utility bill, ammiright?  Unless you're giving to a grandkid or niece or something, or it's a wedding, giving another grown human cash in a card for a present is embarrassing.  

 
fantasycurse42 said:
Watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and my wife is just running through a list of #### we have to buy everybody. Honey, just order it on Amazon, I don't give a ####, I'm just trying to relax.

It hits me, this is stupid. Outside of your kids and wife, buying everyone gifts is just dumb. What a waste of money, if I want something for anyone in my house, I'll just buy it. Receiving all these gifts for my kids that they have no need for is pointless. Furthermore for every 10 gifts received from someone outside of my wife, maybe one is useful. 

Solution: If we must exchange gifts and go through with this stupid process, we should all just give each other Amazon gift cards. It shows I remembered you and now you can buy something you need instead me and you exchanging useless garbage. 
Click to expand...
I get why it was cool for a long time to exchange gifts.  But it has totally outlived its usefulness.

Whenever my wife gets me a gift it's like "aww crap, now I have to think of something to get her (and it better be cool)".

 
Reg Lllama of Brixton said:
We (my siblings and SOs) haven't exchanged gifts in a few years.  For some reason my sister thought it would be great if we did a "white elephant gift card exchange".  

Oh yeah. Total blast.  I can't begin to describe how fun it was to buy a Nordstrom Rack card and get a Chipotle one in exchange.  

The memories will last a lifetime.  (Single tear runs down my cheek)
Click to expand...
Ha, we do one of these every year.  The women in the family take it super seriously and care.  All the guys painfully sit through and just pray they can get a bottle of booze worth about the same as what they spent on their gift. 

I got hosed this year.  I gave a $30 gift card to Fogo de Chao and wound up holding a $18 dollar bottle of whisky at the end. Yay. 

 
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