My bf is not what I would call picky, but he does a lot of research and he is carefully selective about which types of items he gets. So when it comes to cooking or DVDs (2 of his passions) - I would prefer to just have him get them himself or tell me exactly what to buy. (I should point out, though, that he maintains a decent Amazon wish list if I decide to go there.)
But I think trips are awesome, because they are memories we can share together that I know he will enjoy.
As someone myself who often appears “difficult” to buy for, I would rather have the memories than the “stuff.”
I’m buying him a Droid phone, and paying for the internet access charges too. He knows about it; we can’t get it until the 19th, when he’s had the old phone a year. He doesn’t need it, but he wants it and that’s good enough for me.
Me, I 'm not getting my husband anything. We had a family gift exchange at st Nick, and I made sure not to draw his name out of the hat. He only wants game related stuff, and I would just end up giving him money, which is kind of pointless. He drew my name though. I had given him a foot long list of stuff I’d really, really like him to do. Like getting me internetradio in the kitchen, not just behind the PC. We already have a music installation there, so it would just have been a matter of some clever wires, and my husband is an Electronics Whisperer. Instead, he gave me an atrocious necklace.
When I was married to Grumpy, I gave up trying to give him ideas - I just started handing him layaway receipts. Then he could just pay the balances on what he wanted to give me.
I’m buying my wife a certificate for a spa day. Massage, facial, pedicure, the whole nine yards. She really likes that sort of thing, and we’ve got all the stuff we want.
[ul]
[li]An iPhone[/li][li]A docking station/alarm clock for her Zune[/li][li]A season pass to Knight’s Action Park (our local minor-league water park that she loves to hang out at on summer weekends)[/li][li]Focus on Disney Dreams calendar[/li][li]A new blanket (her old one is threadbare)[/li][li]Random painting supplies[/li][li]Grumpy Old Men and Grumpier Old Men (two of her favorite movies) on DVD; right now she only has worn-out VHS copies[/li][/ul]
Shirts, a Steve Pinker book, a hilarious Secrets of the Ninja book by Ashida Kim, and a bathrobe. Possible one or two other things I can’t remember stashing around here someplace. Hope I find them by Christmas.
I forgot- we’re deliberately doing a very low-cost Christmas this year all round. It’s rather nice. Less stressful.
I’m getting him a couple of cool t-shirts from Threadless, plus a book on Jewish pirates that was the topic of a CS thread a couple of months ago.
He’s blissfully easy to shop for - as long as it involves robots, pirates, ninjas, Spongebob Squarepants or any combination of the above, he’s a happy camper.
I got him a sewing machine. For the past year, he’s been designing and making these adorable little plush dolls. He’s very creative and he’s got a good eye for it–but he’s been making them by hand. His stitches are always even, but it takes him like 1 week to do what should take a day with a machine. Hopefully, he likes it. What so I know about buying sewing machines? (Hint: nothing).
An umbrella with a katana handle - she’s a swordswoman who lives in the rain-belt
A nice watering can/ pitcher from Lee Valley Tools
A jigsaw puzzle roll-up-and-store-away felty mat from Lee Valley.
I’ve also done the shopping for me:
Lockpicks
New pocketknife [H1 Salt from Spyderco]
and
An Order of the Stick (Roy) t-shirt
I bought a Keurig one-cup brewing thingie for him and the whole family. (Please comment on this if you have one. I’m hoping it works well.)
I also bought him a maze puzzle, some shirts, a CD, and earbuds. Plus trinkety stuff for his stocking.
I don’t have much money this year. He asked for a kids “grow a geode” kit (haha) so I got him one on sale for $10 today and a used Xbox game that looked cool, Ninja Gaiden or something? I wrapped it already so I forget. Those combined were about $30 and I will probably spend $20 more but not sure on what yet. He has a lot, lot, lot more money than I do (I pretty much have none nowadays) and spoiled me rotten last year with an iPod touch, but this year I’ve got no idea what he’s gonna get me. I didn’t ask for anything, but I did tell him no DVDs and other stuff like that. I’ve been broke all year and would rather get clothes/useful stuff or be able to go shopping.
I really wanted to buy him a Wii or PS3 but I haven’t been able to find a job yet, and my savings aren’t anywhere big enough to spend that much. My whole budget for everyone is less than that.
So far, he’s getting a Doctor Who TARDIS USB hub. He doesn’t need a USB hub as far as I know, but I’ve observed he likes to collect nerdy computer accessories. My other choice was a Star Trek replica phaser, but that doesn’t have much functionality.
I’ll also be making him a mix CD. Plus maybe some cookies from Hawaii.
Mariokart for the Wii, a sweater, the newest DMB CD, and new stuff to wear when he goes running - a t-shirt and sweatpants.
He’s tough to buy for because there’s nothing he needs, and all his hobbies are over my head in computer geek land. If I bought him some neat computer gadget or some hardware to use on tech projects he’s constantly working on, he’d probably be a little disappointed because he’d know I spent too much on it, since I don’t know all the ins and outs and where to get the best deals on the right stuff. Sucks.
