Hard to shop for


Trigonography's avatar
Just ranting... :P but there are people for whom it's very difficult to shop for! Anything they want, they get for themselves, and you don't want to get them something they will never use. Their interests are so highly out of your knowledge that you hesitate to get them something that they'll consider junk, even if it looks good to your untrained eye. (Computer Scientists, Medical Professionals, and Electrical Engineers, I'm looking at you. You perform deep magic indeed.)
Shopping for kids is easy. Kids appreciate doodads and trinkets, and you can always go back to the crap you thought was awesome when you were a kid. (Books, games, LEGO sets, and cool rocks! Haven't met a kid yet that doesn't love a good piece of fluorite or a book about making explosives out of household items.)
Even worse are the people that want "gifts from the heart" not realizing how long it takes to knit something or to make a decent set of hand-thrown coffee mugs. I suppose I could make something quick and low-quality, but as an engineer I think I'd rather pull out my toenails with a pair of pliers. On that front, I settled for stuff other people made by hand (it helps that they're talented classmates, but still!)

Arrrgh. This would be a lot easier if I remembered to start looking earlier in the year.
Comments60
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Penhuin's avatar
A card with a twenty dollar bill.
GoGo-T-W's avatar
My husband is hard to shop for. I keep telling him he needs to stop buying stuff for himself so I (and others) can give it to him. It's practically impossible to surprise him, too. And I can't just give him food or cash, I usually have to spend his money anyway.
Pynasta's avatar
My mom used to sew stuffed toys for a living, I found her shelf of supplies this year! Woot!
I started out making well thought out nice things for my friends, but then after I'd finished... Oh my, I don't have any gift for my brother.

So I took the furriest fabric I could find, cut out a round-ish thing, and ya know, stitched around the edge and pulled the thread so you get this pouch like thing.... Stuffed it, closed off the hole in the bottom, and slapped on some eyes.
Ta-da! Super adorable furry squishy thing!

I just make something weird for people I don't know what to give to. Works wonderfully, even people you didn't think would like that love them!
Trigonography's avatar
:D That reminds me of the year I made a pillow for my brother out of the loudest, most hideous orange-brown-blue stripey fabric imaginable. He used it for years.
Pynasta's avatar
Excactly! He was probably really happy for that, he wouldn't have used it that much without appreciating it.
3wyl's avatar
Just give them money. :shrug:
MasterInsanity's avatar
I'm the easiest to shop for in my family. If it's pretty and all together useless, chances are I'll love it and add it to my collection of useless pretty things.
HaruShadows's avatar
Gift cards that's what I tell them for me so they don't have to make a fuss on a gift.
Uranus-seventhsun's avatar
I stopped buying gifts for people last century. Christmas is just a commercilism gimmick; Santy Claus et all are successful advertising gimmicks from the last century or two, yet people call it 'tradition'.

I just go to church. :shrug:

Granted, I live overseas, and the last set of gifts were from all over Europe and Asia (including an original painting of Fuji-san from Japan).

I imagine shopping for engineers is a nightmare; they prolly already have the latest gadgets (if they hadn't built it themselves)

Just give 'em cash or chocolate. I'm no fan of gift cards; they tend to have limits and conditions.

Yeah, kids are easy to please, if they are brought up properly, that is.
Trigonography's avatar
Yeah, it's gimmicky, but it's also worth the time and effort, seeing as it's close family. I see no reason to be sour because of the commercialism; no one in my family would look down on me if I didn't get them something, knowing that I'm on the budget of an unemployed college kid. I do this because I love my family and I want to give them presents-- and Christmas is a good time to do it, since we'll all be in one place. The commercialism will be there no matter how we feel about it, so we might as well enjoy ourselves and make the people around us feel noticed and loved.

My mom's side of the family does insist on homemade gifts to prevent people going crazy over the holiday; it's a good idea, I'm just a chronic procrastinator and really, really bad at finishing projects. Every year I swear I'll get started sooner... and every year, I forget about it until two weeks beforehand.

Fortunately, none of the kids in my family are really spoiled. My paternal grandma started the tradition of getting them a book and writing a personal note on the inside cover about how she enjoyed it and what she got out of it, and it can make an otherwise meh book special.

Still, I'm thinking this year might be Scones For Everyone year. Or maybe IOU's for gutter-cleaning.
Uranus-seventhsun's avatar
I've had serious culture shock coming home from Korea to be greeted with all the madness. I can't phase out noise pollution very well, so I thought I was going mental. I wanted to run back to Korea. Back then, it just had Chrissy trees two weeks before the day. Now, it's caught up to the West, but I live in the country, so no hoohah. It's so nice to have Chrissy without the fuss.

Scones for everyone....they will appreciate it. It's nice getting someone something you know they'd like. When you don't know what somebody wants or needs is the problem, then it feels like an obligation, and a gift in obligation is not a gift, so I don't bother. What are IOUs?

I used to enjoy Chrissy with family; before the drama set in. I do not want to listen to my siblings bitch about my mother, and vice versa. When things are good with the family, everything else doesn't matter. There were good times.

A homemade gift...wouldn't know how to make one. :lol: Your granny's idea is fantastic, only nobody in my family reads apart from me. :D

I think lots of people procrastinate; it's just so stressful, and it always comes too soon (even when you have a grand time).
Abridgedfoamy's avatar
i made all my friends and family bobbleheads this year
LoboSabio's avatar
Whenever I have to shop for a person like that I just ask them what they want with the caveat that if they fail to provide me with an idea I'm going to get them something really weird, like an anatomically correct chocolate heart. And then go through with it if they fail to cough something up.
Trigonography's avatar
Hee! That's a pretty good way to go about it, I guess!
CrimeRoyale's avatar
Get them a gift card.

And inb4 "GIFT CARDS AREN'T GOOD GIFTS!" go fuck yourself. A gift card to somewhere they don't like or won't go is a shitty gift. A gift card to somewhere they love and go to often is just fine.
Pinkmitten's avatar
If it is a gift for a woman, you can't go wrong with perfume or a nice small shoulder purse.
GoGo-T-W's avatar
I think that perfume is probably one of the worst things to get someone because you can never tell if they're going to like the smell and sometimes if they can even wear perfume.
Pinkmitten's avatar
Depends if the person buying the gift has a good sense of smell. :lol:
GoGo-T-W's avatar
What one person likes to smell is not always what another person likes to smell.
I absolutely hate one of the most popular scents Bath and Body works sells.
Pinkmitten's avatar
I mean like Macy's perfumes. They are top quality.
GoGo-T-W's avatar
Sounds expensive. I just don't think perfume is the way to go unless you already know they want it.
Pinkmitten's avatar
I knooow, they are so damn pricey but it's kind of worth it. :noes:
View all replies
cake-fiend's avatar
Can't tell if serious...