Holiday Shopping!

It's a little early, but with the kid around complicating the shopping thing, I'll be starting early this year.

Who are you buying for? Any purchases made yet? Or ideas of what to get anyone? Where are your favorite places to shop - in person or online?

Also, everyone with little ones, when did you start getting gifts for family members "from" your kids? Did you do it from their first holiday, or only when they were old enough to know better?


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I'll be buying for:
Daughter
Boyfriend
Mom
Dad
Brother
Aunt
Grandma
Best Friend
Possibly 2-3 other friends
Boyfriend's parents - although I may just get them framed pictures or something from Lillian and cookies or whatever and skip a real gift from me
Boyfriend's 10 yr old sister

So far I have no ideas for anyone. My family is hard to shop for.

I'm probably just going to do gifts for the immediate family, my boyfriend, and possibly the grandparents, especially if we'll be seeing them over break.

I got the Game of Thrones book series for my brother, a backpacking water filter straw thing for my sister (a bit of a joke, albeit none-the-less useful, because she and my BIL don't have one and wound up carrying enough water for a 22 mile day-hike over the summer... talk about a lot of water weight on your back!)

I'm planning to burn all of the old baby video cassette tapes from way back when to DVDs. They've been sitting in a box now for ~10-15 years because we have no way to play them... I'm hoping to edit and compile some of the best clips into a single DVD and either put it to music, or something of the sort... If this works, I'll be doing it for the parents and grandparents. If I don't find time to do the edited video, I'll probably just give my parents the burned (unedited) DVDs, but I'm really hoping to be able to edit them.

Of course, this involves waiting for Thanksgiving break to roll around because a friend of mine is the one that has the equipment to make the cassette to DVD conversion and his hometown (i.e the current location of the equipment) is ~10 hours away from school. I also need to find access to a better quality video editor (as opposed to Movie Maker), so I need to get in touch with a friend to help with that too. I'm hoping that it's not as much of an ordeal as it seems, but I think it'll be appreciated.

Not a clue as to what to do for the boyfriend yet, though I probably shouldn't post even if I did, because while I don't think he's ever been on chaz, he knows it's my guilty pleasure and I'm sure it'd be the day that I posted his Christmas gifts that he decided to make an impromptu visit to the site. Despite that - if you have ideas, I'll take those!

I say this every year and never do it, but I am going to bake and box and hand those out! I spend a ton every year on everyone and just can not do it this year with all the money we are putting into the house right now.

My dads sides is huge and usually end up buying everyone something plus the kids. Then there is still my moms side and the husbands as well. Then work friends and friends etc. I could spend thousands.

I am possibly getting Bazinga or Avalanche beer glasses for my roommate. Other than that, probably no one. I don't really celebrate Christmas.

I don't think we're really doing Christmas this year :-/ it's a bad year for finances, so...

Regardless, I'll do something with my ferrets, and potentially just go away somewhere myself to get out.

With 4 kids to buy for and extended family I do all my shopping on Kijiji and also the FB garage sale sites and mom swap sites. We have no issues with getting used things that are in great condition. For example Doug's main gift this year is something he has wanted since I met him. A hunting bow. I got an older style one that is worth about $700 with all the extra arrows and so on for only $75. He has no idea. I was also able to get my daughter almost the entire Warrior Cats novel set for $10. She is an avid book reader. I have been buying since the spring because we had 3 b-days just this month(Dedrick 9, Ronan 6 and Nico turned 1) and also Isabeau's b-day (15th) is in November. So been buying for Christmas and B-days. Still a ton more to do but those sites give a much wider selection then any store. I have gotten things for outside of Canada that people have gotten on vacation or from moving here. All in excellent condition. All Nico's b-day toys were used yet no one knew till I said so. It is the perfect way to get a lot more for a lot less.

All our local friends get baking for Christmas. So the only other people to buy for is my dad and his family and that we have to ship to them.

I have a few little things for my mom and dad... by and large people are getting handmade gifts this year though.

In my dreams I get a cool, well-paying job, and I can buy my family all sorts of fabulous gifts they deserve.

We have a lot of September and October birthdays around here, so I haven't even started thinking about Christmas yet. Will definitely be buying something for my mother, father, grandmother, and sister. Will probably also get something small for one of my roommates, and put together a gift basket for a good friend.

Josh
Josh's parents
Brother
My mom
Maaaaybe my sister?
May do something small for friends, but idk yet. Money's kinda tight atm.

I'm only buying for 4 of my bestest friends this year.

We don't really do family gifts because I only have one family member here in the same country and we're not close.

For one friend I've bought a ring and a 10 year anniversary..friendiversary? bracelet

For the other 3 I have no idea and I'm starting to freak out because I like to finish all christmas shopping before the end of November so I don't encounter the christmas rush!

I am in such a Christmasy mood today haha. Must be the snow! I was listening to Christmas music earlier this morning even lol. I wish Halloween would hurry up and go so that the Christmas season could start. It's my favourite.

I got most of my Christmas shopping done a few months ago already. I have to try and exchange the one I got for my mom though, because I think I got the wrong size, so I am going to see if they have the other size still. I hope so, because I can hardly wait to give her this gift. She's going to love it!

I'm not really sure who else I should shop for other than my dad and brother (I think they're the only ones I have left to get for). I love Christmas, but sometimes I'll buy stuff for friends who didn't get me anything (which is totally fine - I prefer giving) and then they feel bad that they didn't get me anything, and I don't like making people feel awkward by accident. So I'm still deciding if I should get/what I should get for a couple of people.

Usually I just buy for close family, family kids and a few friends. Coming up with ideas is always hard. I try hard to give things that I know people really want/need/will appreciate, but some people are hard to shop for.

SO and I will probably get each other something or do something together and call it our X-mas gift.

I may get one gift for my mom and stepdad, instead of getting them each a gift.
Same for my brothers. They're young and I don't see them that often. I feel like most of the things I've gotten them have been wasted. (I got my oldest brother books 1-6 of the Percy Jackson series and he hasn't touched them.)

As everyone else has said, money's tight. If I could think of something I KNEW they wanted/would love, I would get it. But most of my family are kind of 'meh' about gifts. Gift cards or small things tend to be what we give/get.

Gwen will obviously get something

SO's family may get something. I'm not sure if we're going up to WI this year but if we are, I would like to get them gifts.

I will also be getting one of my friends something as she's helped me through a lot this year.

Oh and I can't forget my Secret Santa person!

I only but for immediate family...

Mum, dad (or combined!), brother & sister in law, and nephew (can't wait, it's his first Xmas, sadly he will be in china ) , sister. She has a boyfriend, but I haven't met him yet so don't feel obliged to buy him anything!!! And of course my own boyfriend, and the dogs.

Hoping to get most of my Xmas shopping done in copenhagen if I can!!

Me tooooooo ugh. I haven't listened to any Christmas music yet... yet. I've been good this year. But I can't wait. I love Christmas.

im with most people. not buying anyone anything, including myself, because no money. i hope to enjoy a decent birthday dinner on the Eve, if i can find any open restaurants, but other than that, i will be doing nothing special. i dont have any friends in this state, and i dont have any family at all anymore and as im typing this i realize how pathetic i sound all of a sudden. oh well.:rofl1:

My list.
- Falon
- Matt
- Siblings
- My Mom and Dad
- Matt's sister
- Nephew
- Matt's Mom and Dad
- Matt's Grandpa
- One friend

The only gift that's a no brainer is a hoodie for Matt. I get him one every year. Everyone else I have NO idea. And really, Falon is probably getting the gift of wrapping paper and boxes. She'll be 8 months old and I'm not into wrapping presents that I'll be unwrapping again later. She will get a stocking though.

The friend is probably getting a handmade gift cause she's entirely knitworthy. Siblings are probably getting gift cards (all of them).

Ugh, that's really all I can think of right now. I hate Christmas shopping for Matt's family, his Mom gets us SO MUCH STUFF and it sort of feels like a competition - even when I'm not participating.

ETA: Oh yeah my parents and Matt's parents are probably getting calendars or books with baby photos. I've been waiting for YEARS for that easy present. ONE PRESENT DOWN.

we pick things up as we go to odd and unusual places. Like, we bought some jelly for a bunch of people from a booth at the local flea market. The people make the jelly themselves and sell it there. We got some yarn, goat milk soap and lotion, gloves and a stuff animal border collie (hey, it was black & white and my neice is too young to know the difference!) from the NYS Sheep & Wool Fest.

Online we ordered some spices from a spice house in Chicago. My mom was complaining to me that her jar that we got her 3 or so years ago is almost empty, so we picked some up for her and some other spices for my BIL.

So yeah, we just pick up odds and ends from different festivals and fairs that we have around here. We like to go into NYC and shop at their Christmas markets, but that can add up quick, so we'll probably stay local this year.

Gift to Zachary: We are going to Peru. Done. We can buy each other llamas.
Mom & Dad
Sister
Mom & Dad (in laws)
Brother in law
Best friends (2)
Bestest friend coworker (1)
Last year all the cousins and spouses/significant others threw names in a hat and bought for one person. I loved it. It was awesome. I hope we repeat that game. Much simpler.

I'm just buying for my family. I don't have a lot of money to buy for everyone in my life. But I wish! So I will just buy for my my mom, dad, my brother, our pets and my brother's dog this year. Everyone else will be getting Christmas cards.

I'm buying for siblings, parents, coaches, and pets. Possibly friends, idk yet. Normally do it at the last possible moment.