I am a last minute Christmas shopper.
By last minute, I do not mean the kind that waits to shop for everyone on her list until Christmas Eve. They are a different breed... However, I have been known to stop and pick up a gift or two on the morning of the 24th.
I am always amazed when people tell me that they are done with their Christmas shopping in the weeks before Thanksgiving!
I honestly really enjoy Christmas shopping because I love the hunt for the perfect gift for each person on my list. :) One of my favorite parts of Christmas is seeing the faces of loves ones open the gifts I got for them.
I just don't have room in my brain to think about Christmas gifts until Thanksgiving is over...
So how/when do you Christmas shop?
(Thank you for the kind words and prayers for Avery. It ended up being a 12 hour bug, and she was bouncing off the walls today from the moment she woke up! I ended up feeling under the weather for most of the afternoon, but I too am already feeling much better!)
I'm a crazy person and get all of my shopping done in the last couple weeks before Christmas! :) I like to think it might change when I have more people to shop for, but I've always been a procrastinator, so we'll see! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm so happy Avery's feeling well! I hope you feel better soon, too!
Gift shopping gives me anxiety. I'm so thankful that my Dh and I are not gift givers love language...Whatever, you know what I'm trying to say...hahahaha
ReplyDeleteIt gives me great anxiety to shop for gifts...I'm horrible at it. My inlaws are fabulos gift givers. I can't even think how they do it. It just doesn't click for me. But through them I am learning....So for instance I start looking all through the year for my MIL so it doesn't look like I threw something together. Then her birthday comes and it's 3 months late and it looks like I threw it together...It just gives me complete anxiety to give gifts to others. ;)
I'm the WORSE at birthdays. I never send cards, I always forget to call...It's like a block for me. I just can't seem to do it. It's so hard. But I can handle DH's birthday but no one elses...Is there something wrong with me? :)
But I will be done this year by thanksgiving... ;)
Dh and I do venture out for Black Friday shopping. However, this is rarely for gifts. We usually have specific things in mind that we need for our house and are hoping to get great deals.
ReplyDeleteI always have good intentions of getting the shopping done early but always seem to be rushing around at the last minute including one or two more things on Christmas Eve.
My grandmother shops all year and keeps gifts in her closet for Christmas. She still takes the time to make sure every gift is personal. She says it's just easier for her and there isn't a huge blow to her bank account all at once. She said she actually has time to make sure the gift is perfect rather than rushing and settling on something last minute. She also said it's easier to stick to budget this way because she isn't rushing.
My dad's girlfriend also shops all year. However, she just buys things on clearance and puts them in a box. On Christmas Eve she goes through it and decides what to give each person. Definitely no personalization.
I HATE shopping....so does my DH. As such, my motto is get in early, get out, and not lose any sleep or stress about "did we pay too much, would it go on sale later". I put a price on my sanity of not having to go back and add that into the equation! ;) I am not kidding on how much I dislike shopping. So in order to psyche myself up I try to get as much done before Thanksgiving as possible in order to really enjoy, observe Advent. This year, I am going to really try to have it 100% done (and wrapped) before Advent starts. I am sure there will be little things I may forget, but all of the bigger stuff will be done.
ReplyDeleteThat being said - I have a running list and a set price per person on the list that we will spend. I do two sets of gifts - one for St. Nick's day for all my nieces and nephews - small, fun little gifts, and then for each of our Godchildren we do a bigger Christmas / Birthday gifts. I am big fan of getting everything at once, but I know sometimes that doesn't work out. Yes, I do ask my SILs for advice on their kids for the bigger gifts. Finally, I don't wait around until the sales. I just pick it up when I see it - throughout the year, etc.
I don't know if any of this helps, but please know this is near and dear to my heart right now. I went out and bought Christmas paper last weekend!
This post title made me anxious as I am so not ready. I am not a good gift buyer picker-outer. I don’t have that talent of knowing what is the “perfect” thing for people and I’m like Sew, gifts must not be one of my love languages. I truly HATE shopping. However, I only have a few people to buy for and I try to get all Christmas shopping done a week or two before Christmas. I’m too nervous to do it beforehand because of return policies . . . . I’m bad a guessing sizes, too. Oh, and online shopping? Best.Invention.Ever.
ReplyDeleteWow, you girls are good! I'm definitely a post thanksgiving shopper. We've started doing a lot of online shopping because of the convenience and it also saves money. What's been driving me nuts these past few years is that almost everyone now gives us a "list" of what they want, asking for our list in return. So it's just become a "you go buy this for me and I'll buy you what you want" kind of exchange. I hate that! It leaves no room for truly thinking of the other person. Anyone have ideas on how to change this mindset in family members?
ReplyDeleteSC: My mother and sister do the list thing and I LOVE them for it. It's very generic (my sister may say a sweater) and I get to pick it out, but knowing sizes and that stuff helps me (i.e., not a good shopper) out a lot.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love Christmas!!! If I am not to tired from black friday shopping our Christmas tree will go up that day!!! Mike is actually really into Christmas shopping too. He loves to look for ideas online. We have already got a good chunk of our shopping done. :-)
ReplyDeleteI am glad you and Avery are feeling better.
SC: I'm not a fan of the list either. My in-laws are big on this and it drives me nuts! It feels so impersonal. And they don't do generic lists like Ann mentioned. It will say exactly what they want down to color and where you can buy it. They expect us to do the same in return. Of I put 3 things on my list I can pretty much bank on it being under the tree.
ReplyDeleteThe only exception to this that doesn't bother me is between dh and I. Dh love gadgets and things that i don't understand. It is really helpful if he rights it down so I get the right thing. We always make our list for each other pretty big so we know it will still be a surprise because we certainly don't buy everything. Both of us also try to sneak in surprise gifts usually in each others stockings.
Karen, I agree. It's sooo impersonal! Drives me crazy. It takes away the whole purpose of gift giving.
ReplyDeleteAnn, it's a good idea to do general ideas, but for our family it turns into exacts. Not fun!
I have found cute personal gifts at boutiques....I'm not much of a boutique person...But it's an easy place to start...
ReplyDeleteIf anyone wants to know what i want for Christmas, that's a tortilla press, thank you...and a dutch overn. Thank you. ;)
I LOVE ONLINE SHOPPING!!! It is so easy and you can find such better deals than in the stores...even with free shipping. But I also like to shop around here too.
ReplyDeleteSew, you want a dutch oven???? Like the one Hebrews was talking about??? hahahahha
hahaha funny, do I need a dutch oven? I mean a real one? Some recipes call for it and I don't have one, do I need one? :) hahahahaha Just wondering. ;)
ReplyDeleteI love reading all of these!
ReplyDeleteSC and Ann, I like non specific lists too because it is so important to me that I get something that the person is going to truly appreciate.
Ann, I have never Christmas shopped online! I think that I get annoyed by shipping costs when I can go to the store and avoid that cost.
Also, that is a good point about the gift receipts.
Awaiting, how do you get free shipping?!
Karen, your Grandma sounds really good at this while still shopping early. Your Dad's girlfriend is my stereotype for shopping way ahead. :(
JBTC, I am impressed that you are already buying wrapping paper and even aspire to have them all wrapped before Advent! HOLY SMOKES! I do admire your commitment to observing Advent though. Definitely something to aspire to!
Sew, we will see what we can do about the Dutch Oven. Blogger gift list? ;)
I am almost done... with my kids anyway! They get three gifts each so I've been thinking about it For awhile. They Will all be wrapped and ready by Thanksgiving. I do almost all my shopping online.
ReplyDeleteMegan: Stores throw those free shipping codes away around Christmas time b/c they are competing with one another. I rarely pay for shipping. You can either (a) go to your favorite stores and sign up for emails; or (b) google the stores name together with "promotion code" (such as "JCPenny Promotion code"). There are websites that collect promotion codes for discounts and free shipping stuff.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like we could shop together!
ReplyDeleteI hate shopping and I am so glad I am not alone in this!! So many of you do, too!!! HA! I am a last minute type. So bad.
ReplyDeleteYep, gifts are not my love language AT ALL.
I thought by the title of the post that you were starting it! UGH! I can hardly stand the way the lights go up after Halloween now! 'Just the thought of Christmas coming gets me all sweaty and edgy - I think I need Christmas therapy. I've been traumatized by the out-of-control expectations (mine and theirs) for years now. Lord help me be a Mary and NOT a Martha this year!
ReplyDeleteI love Christmas! We have the music on now, haha. We decorate right after Thanksgiving and I've already started shopping! :)
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