This year I dramatically reduced who I bought presents for. Buying presents was so stressful and I just dipped out. Here's what I got for the loved ones in my life.
1) 15-year-old nephew (got him in the draw) - His parents told us to get him clothes and I also added a book:
A Hawkeye shirt, as requested by his parents
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks
 |
| The books |
2) 13-year-old nephew (got him in the draw) - His parents told us to get him books and said he likes facts. I added a cooperative dice game, hoping he'll play with his cousins and/or siblings:
The Complete Book of US Presidents, Fourth Edition - Includes Biden, so it's the most up-to-date as of right now.
The Logic Puzzle Book for Teens
Scorpion Masqué Sky Team Cooperative Dice Game
 |
| Cooperative games! |
3) 17-year-old niece (got her in the draw) - Her mom said to get her stuff for her dorm next year when she goes to college. I asked my freshman seminar students what they wish they had and they gave me the most practical answers. I bought some practical stuff and will write down everything else they said on a list for her. Also, I'll give her the gift receipts so she can return it all and buy makeup if that's what she wants:
Memory Foam Mattress Topper
Portable Clip-On Fan
Fairy lights - Yes, I had to get LED. Damn it all.
 |
| Such practical gifts |
4) TJC:
Stuff from her wish list
5) Dr. BB:
Gift certificate for guitar lessons (he asked for this)
Three pairs of SmartWool socks
Two pairs of water bottles for his bike - We threw out a lot of our water bottles after the Great Mouse Incident of 2024.
6) Yoga lady - The woman who runs yoga at the student union is doing that on her own time. I think she deserves appreciation for doing something that benefits me tremendously:
A pair of SmartWool socks
7) Peer mentor - There's an older student who was assigned to help me with my freshman seminar last semester. I bought her a gift for all her help:
A small gift set of hand lotion, lip balm, and soap locally sourced
A scarf
A small set of chocolate truffles
8) FIL and his wife:
Went in with the family gift to get them a subscription for steaks or something - Dr. BB handled this.
9) Secret SANta swap partner:
You can see my gift here
10) Us - Every year I try to get the two of us a couple of presents:
Our ornament for this year is going to be the one I made with Anne
Paint the Roses board game
***************
Are you done with your shopping?
I leave shopping to others but get a few something’s for Sue. I have been know to make cards and things, at least sometimes.
ReplyDeleteLeaving shopping to others is definitely the prerogative of a man. If women didn't do it, no one would get gifts!
DeleteApparently I failed my maternal duty not buying my daughter a mattress topper for her dorm room. (She reported that everyone else had them!) So that was a great choice. Great gifts for the teen boys - I need to go check out that president book....
ReplyDeleteOh, man. I should put the list of recommendations from my freshman students in a post to help out other people.
DeleteOh, I think that is so lovely that you got your yoga teacher a gift! I know from experience how much that means. It's just such a lovely gesture. Also, holy moley, how big is your family that you got three people in a draw? Oh wait, probably you all draw three people, that would make sense. Never mind I am NOT deleting. This is a no-delete comment, Engie! Teen boys are not the easiest to buy for but I applaud your choices! I finished the bulk of my shopping in mid-October, which is unhinged, but I wanted to get it done before Italy. I did buy a few things as gifts in Italy, plus I bought my Secret SANta gift and a couple of books late Nov/ early Dec, which is typically not a time that I love to shop but it was fine. I had heard on the Wirecutter podcast about these beautiful books called Where To Go When by the Lonely Planet, and I thought those would be wonderful for my sons, who are interested in doing some solo travelling in the next few years. So I ordered those from the bookstore plus an historical fiction for my husband and just picked them up from Mosaic LAST WEEK OMG LATE. But they had to be special ordered. My husband isn't much of a reader, certainly not of novels, but I am hoping he'll be interested in this book that has to do with priests in the Sistine Chapel, since we were just there. Who knows, but worth a try.
ReplyDeleteHa ha. We have 11 nieces and nephews. Four families draw two names and one draws three. I always try to draw three because we don't actually have children to buy Santa presents and all that.
DeleteTeens are hard in general! Boy or girl! But I did put some thought into each of these gifts, so I hope they enjoy them!
LOL at last week being late. I ordered presents yesterday.
I'm ALMOST done with my shopping. Every year we do a Secret Santa at work, and every year it's botched somehow. This year, we haven't found out who we drew yet. Seriously? I see a Starbucks gift card coming someone's way.
ReplyDeleteYour gifts are good! I like how you really put thought into them and got things people want and need. And I don't think you "dipped out" of buying presents- you are gifting a lot of people!
Normally I would have added another friend, my mom, my sister, and my brother-in-law to this list, so it does seem light to me!
DeleteWait...you haven't even gotten your Secret Santa swap partner's name yet?! That seems like it's cutting it close!
These are all thoughtful, good gifts. You're a terrific gift giver.
ReplyDeleteRick and I teamed up this year and did all our shopping in two days. Only about 20% was done online. Our wrapping is done, and it's all under the tree, except for two books I'm still waiting for from Amazon. I hope they come in time.
I'm also interested in the Complete Book of US Presidents. Did you look through/read through any of it?
The US Presidents book was shrink-wrapped (my spellcheck says that's hyphenated - don't be made at me if it's wrong, Nance), so I didn't get to leaf through it. If he opens it on Christmas Day, I'll try to take a peek and let you know if it's any good. I suspect that it is quality based on the four editions, but who knows?
DeleteYour gifts are solid! My shopping has been done for a while, and I've mostly resisted the urge to top up people's lists this time. I'm growing!
ReplyDelete(Thank you for those dorm recommendations, BTW. I did not know about the foam topper thing--if all goes well, Nu should be thanking you!)
I'm going to compile the list of all the things my students said and put them in a separate post. They had some ideas of things that I never brought to college, so it was interesting to hear from them!
DeleteOooh, I would personally love that logic problem book. I LOVE logic problems. When I was in a friend's wedding, she had a little program for guests that stayed in their hotel with a 'get to you know you' newsletter about the wedding party and for my pic, she used the pic of me with the logic problems book I brought on our trip to Germany. It was the most "Lisa" picture ever. I am loud and proud about my love of logic problems and math and other nerdy pursuits!
ReplyDeleteThe cousins draw names, so Paul drew his 16yo cousin who is one of his favorite people in the world. He just wanted an amazon gift card, so I got him that + I'm going to frame a photo of him and Paul from this summer. Will drew his 13yo cousin who also wanted an amazon gift card but we also got him a micofiber towel for swim club. Phil and I don't exchange gifts. The boys are getting an assortment of small things such an Catan (Paul), a marble run (Will), a science kit (Paul), and Hungry Hippos (Will). I've been wanting to buy Catan for years as it's my husband's college friends' favorite game but we rarely host people for game night. Now that our kids are older, I really want to make an effort to host most game nights.
I love that you are giving multiple people smart wool socks! Those are my favorite! I usually get a pair from my mom or some other high quality type of sock, like Bombas. But Smartwool is my absolutely fave.
I love logic problems, too. It's my treat at the bookstore at airports to buy myself a brand new book of logic problems!
DeleteSmartwool is my favorite, too. Darn Tough is a quality sock, but the fit isn't quite right and they aren't as soft. Bombas are pretty good, too. We're so lucky to be around in a time when there are so many quality socks easily available!
As of today, all shopping, wrapping, and baking is done! Feels odd to be completely done already.
ReplyDeleteSolid gift choices!
Oh, wow! I have to admit there's still wrapping to do over here. And a trip to both our grocery store AND Costco. You're much more done than I am!
DeleteI am so impressed with your gift buying prowess for tricky ages! Smart Wool socks are a great gift too.
ReplyDeleteI felt lucky that the parents gave me ideas for the kids. They were generous in telling me SOMETHING for each of them.
DeleteNicely done on the gift purchases, and I fully support the idea of paring back. We thought we might get away with no gift exchange with my in-laws, but that fell apart and my Ted had to go shopping after work this week. Don't feel too badly for him, when one of his coworkers mentioned how 'late' it was to still be shopping, he said, 'What? We still have 6 days!' In other words, he's fine with it. Better him than me. I finished my gift shopping maybe a week or so ago, though last night I did buy some stocking stuffers while out with a girlfriend for dinner and shopping time.
ReplyDeleteI am not buying for my family anymore. It's too stressful and doesn't bring me joy. LOL. Having made that decision, everything else felt really doable! I think six days is plenty of time. I mean, I'm going to Costco tomorrow, so I am not exactly super prepared lady.
DeleteSmart wool socks are the gift that keeps on giving. Well done. I laughed at the thought of your niece returning stuff to buy makeup. I think she'll appreciate your ideas. It was clever to poll your students. As a mom of college kids, I'm curious about other responses and I hope you'll post the list. I asked my sis, Ann, what her daughter wants, because Coach is her godfather. My sis said a giftcard is fine. Huh? I prefer to buy people something. I'm going a receipt so she car return of course. My money is on my sister saying something on Christmas, "Why'd you get her that? I told you just a giftcard." That's life with my sister. In a nutshell.
ReplyDeleteI don't like giving cash or gift cards, either, but I will always include a gift receipt, so folks can buy what they want to buy if they don't like my purchase. I'm going to post the whole list of ideas for college students. My students made me laugh a lot that day.
DeleteDone with my shopping, yes. Done with waiting for Amazon to deliver my shopping, no. And I was going to say pretty much the exact same thing about Smart Wool socks as Ernie did right above me. Your gift-giving skills are impressive.
ReplyDeleteBased on the comments of this post, maybe I should just stop buying all gifts except SmartWool socks!
DeleteLove this! And all of the wool socks, haha. Not something on our Christmas lists here in FL.
ReplyDeleteWe do a lot of wish lists, which makes things really easy for us. But I have to think out of the box for my stepdad (he's getting a running belt), my SIL (I got her a hand painted ornament of their puppy!), and friends (I only buy for two friends, and do a Favorite Things exchange with book club; this year, everyone got a One Line a Day journal).
Well, I sent my husband a wish list and he didn't buy anything off of it! So sometimes that's a hit or a miss. And not a Christmas goes by that we don't both get socks!
DeleteI think it is still plenty of presents to get.
ReplyDeleteSome interesting things though. I like that you gift books to your nephews. That is what I do with all my godchildren – always books. They will appreciate it when they are older.
I usually get books for all the kids I buy for, but my niece's presents were already so expensive (and I know she won't read a book) that I skipped it for her. But the boys were already excited to read their books!
DeleteI really wish I could lighten on my gift giving, but it seems that my list grows yearly.
ReplyDeleteHow are you enjoying the Paint The Roses game?
We haven't played it yet! It's on my list for today!
Delete