Really, there are very few people that buy anything for me anymore. But I am very easy to shop for… anything horse related, or with my dog breeds on it, gift cards, etc, I’m golden. What DON’T I want?
Flower arrangements. To me that screams of a gift with no thought put into it at all. The giver doesn’t even see that damned thing, they place a phone call and flowers show up on my door. (Yes, there is a certain person that does this EVERY HOLIDAY/BIRTHAY.)
One thing I DO manage to do is not buy everything I want right away. At times with my husband I’ll say “THAT! I want that. Get me that for Christmas.” and sure enough, there it is 6 months later. Usually it’s things that I’d like to have but don’t need, like figurines. We even keep amazon wish lists for each other to look at if we’ve forgotten. Now if only the relatives would get on top of this and stop giving me lotion sets and other crap I’m just going to toss.
I think that I’m the easiest person or the hardest person in the world to shop for due to my interests. I do cat rescue, give me litter boxes or kitteh beds. Heck, just go to the thrift store and buy me a bunch of towels, I always need towels.
I do fussy needlework. I’d consider my work and technique to be very advanced, I have been doing this for a very long time and have all of the tools I need. Of course, I have wants…but they are very specialized. Yes, I do use gold tipped needles, but only in certain gauges. So, don’t try to buy that stuff for me. Unless you are my BFF who also does fussy needlework and knows what I have as well as I do, don’t buy me that stuff.
Don’t buy me a popular book for a gift date (birthday, Christmas, whatever) that you know that I’ll enjoy because by the time you give it to me, I’ll have probably have gotten it from the library.
Apparently, buying used towels is too boring or something because many people give me books or needlework supplies.
That’s what my wife says, and it’s true. What I really need is more time. I like books - but I own over a thousand I haven’t read yet. I like puzzles but there are about 30 piled up. At a certain age you don’t want more stuff. Netflix does fine for movies to watch.
At this point I truly would rather give.
Yes, I am called hard to shop for, and I am hard to shop for in general. I don’t really like things, so getting me a thing is hard to do. I’m not really acquisitive. Like some up thread, I just tend not to buy things. I have a couple of gift cards from last Christmas that I haven’t used yet.
I love when people donate in my honor. That makes me happy.
That is certainly true for my family.
My husband is even harder to buy for than I am and we came to an agreement a couple of birthdays/Christmases ago that we’d no longer buy each other Stuff, since we have pretty much all the Stuff we need. Now we just go out to lunch at a much nicer/more expensive restaurant than we’d normally choose. We both enjoy this enormously, much more than any gadgets or trinkets we might otherwise choose for each other.
This, a thousand times. There’s nothing that I really need (if I need it I’ll get it myself), and my wants are almost always tiny to nil. My extended family does a Secret Santa, and each of us sends out a mass email stating what we’d like “Santa” to consider for us. It took me almost two weeks to write my list because I couldn’t think of anything I truly wanted.
This too. I still have unused gift cards sitting in my desk drawer from 5 years ago because I couldn’t, and still can’t think of what I’d want to buy with them.
Yes. Events are good presents, since they don’t take up space. We gave our daughter a high end cooking class and our son-in-law a super flight simulator event for their birthdays, their apartment being very cramped. They gave us a Groupon for a 12 course tasting menu at an excellent restaurant. It is a great way to try out stuff.
Yeah, this is my problem too. I’m lucky enough to have family and friends who, by and large, know at this point that it’s better either to get an exact specific thing that i’ve asked for (and usually been kind enough to check with me to make sure) or just get some general vouchers than go “Well, I know he likes this, i’ll get something to do with that!”. I do have an aunt and uncle who are determined to keep the surprise and so get everyone things they think people would want and certainly nothing that someone’s asked for, and they generally get it wrong every year (and not just for me). But hey.
I’ve been hearing this from my family for years. I don’t collect anything in particular, don’t use perfumes or wear jewelry much and have very limited storage space.
I try to help by announcing random things to my husband, who can then spread ideas around when my relatives call him, since they always do. Simple things like, hey these potholders are looking all raggedy, or I heard so-and-so has a new book out, gee these slippers are getting rather worn, etc.