I buy gifts for people when I see something I think they’d like. This means that one of my Hannukah gifts for my mother will be something I purchased in Fall 2005 and set aside for this winter. That’s probably my record–14 or 15 months in advance. I also have some gifts I bought on a recent trip to Europe, and some gifts my mother bought for my Hannukah when she visited in the spring (so they won’t have to be shipped).
I take the easy way out–I order fruit and dessert baskets online from Harry & David and am finished buying gifts for 10 people in about 20 minutes. Please don’t hate me, I loathe shopping for Christmas gifts and everyone likes their gift.
I would have wrapped mine, but don’t have any labels. I usually have some from the year before, but I must have thrown them out. As insane as the stores are for putting stuff out early, I have not yet seen labels. But I suspect soon. After all, Halloween is coming.
I already bought my mom’s present, as well as wrapped it. It’s in my basement. She loves lighthouses, and I found a set of them on Ebay (kind of by accident) so we bought them. I also have started shopping for GF’s (probably buy it next month when she’s out of town) just because she’s so hard to shop for. I know she’s picked out her parents gifts from various places, just waiting on money to order them. She might be ordering next paycheck, actually.
Before we got together, I always went on Christmas eve and bought something for the people who I could remember, but often took my sisters shopping and got them something and dinner the day after Christmas or right before New Year’s…
Brendon
We just used plain shipping tags, like these, tying ribbon through the hole and doing the curly thing with it, then decorated them with gold and silver stick-on stars.