This particular Christmas gift giving was the pits!
Number One son and his family came over for dinner and celebration.
After dinner, the gift exchange consisted of exchanging gift cards!
No thought,no planning,no supprise. Just buy a card for everyone.
Hell, you can even get them at the market.
No need to even go to the mall! Never again!!!
I'm not even sure how this "tradition" began. I think it just sort of evolved over the years as the grand kids got older. Well, they don't really want for anything, soooo.....
Next year, no gifts for anyone. My wife and I are going to sponser a needy family intead of ever having another gift card exchange!
Roger that! I hate gift cards.
I still have two from last year.
This year the only thing I got was a $50 pre-paid Visa gift card.
I decided to use it to buy myself the eleventh Dr. Who sonic screwdriver from Amazon.
I wouldn't mind to have a model of the TARDIS as well.
(only a Dr. Who geek, a.k.a. a "Whovian", could appreciate these)
They keep declining saying the name doesn't match. Well, yeah. What name exactly am I suppose to put down?
Nice gift there!
As a member of the younger generation (33) I will say that I like gift cards. I am difficult to shop for and have my own personal taste in clothes, which can vary some, as well as when there is something I do desire I am quite particular about it. That being said my wife got me a large thermos and it was just the ticket, I didn't even mention wanting one beyond not wanting to drink the coffee at work (I prefer the good stuff from home).
I always ask for lowes gift cards . I have built up a nice set of tools this way over the years. This way I can pick the tool and quality . I love gift cards. I really dont need anything anyway and its all about the company and time spent .
Yankee Swap
We've pretty much transitioned over to what we call a Yankee Swap (for the adults anyway). Everybody puts a gift under the tree, draw numbers and open gifts in the order of the numbered drawn. If you don't like your gift, you can trade with someone else who previously have opened a gift. At the end, #1 get his/her pick of the litter. Loads of fun!.
Yankee Swap
"Yankee Swap" AKA here as a "Chinese Christmas"
at work we used to do cheap presents, usually a sort of gag gift.
last year one of the office gals and the secretary decided we should "upgrade" to gift cards for $15 or less. WHAT THE WHAT? you don't find many of those cards....but i found one at one of the local sex shops for $15. that sucker changed hands fast until one of the road stripers decided he could find something there for his wife.
i'm assuming she enjoyed the gift!! 😉
Yankee Swap
The Juelson clan has always written down what they REALLY want/need for Xmas. That said, I have a pile of nieces and nephews that I haven't a clue what to get them, so yeah, I cop out and buy a handful of $20 gift cards, usually for fred Meyers, but a few "prepaid Visa cards. Keep a couple around in case I forgot somebody! Our office does the "Chinese Auction"/"Yankee Swap", lot of fun, we keep it at $20, so it's not too expensive. Interesting gag gifts and of course, alchohol is a favorite, usually gets consumed before the recipient gets it home! :beer: :good:
-JD-
Yankee Swap
We call it dirty Santa , I am always screwing with my brother in law , he was hugging a micro brew 6 pack he got and I swaped him a vase for it , big laughs .
> Next year, no gifts for anyone. My wife and I are going to sponser a needy family intead of ever having another gift card exchange!
If you do sponsor a needy family boost their psyche and give them a well funded gift card and let them buy the gifts for their family themselves.
> If you do sponsor a needy family boost their psyche and give them a well funded gift card and let them buy the gifts for their family themselves.
I would say not. Take them out and let pick what to get and pay for it then.
My experience has been with gift cards is you get it close to a zero balance and can't buy anything. Those couple of dollars are just stuck there and nothing much you can do except buy something else for that exact amount. I would hope they would have changed that by now but I really don't know.
Yankee Swap
AKA The White Elephant gift exchange. I find that painful, frankly. They do that at work but I never bother to participate because I don't need anymore worthless junk. If I am going to give a gift then it is for one person.
I like gift cards especially to BevMo. Give as much as you want then I can kick in more to get the bottle I really want.
If there is a few bucks left, you just tell the cashier to put what they can on the card, and you pay the rest with cash. Sometimes (like if it's generic VISA card) you have to know the exact balance to tell the cashier, which you can get by calling, but for the most part, they can just swipe the card and apply the balance.
E, did you catch this article in wired magazine online? It's about a guy who built a model tardis with augmented reality. Yeah, apparently there's an app for that.
I was there last Saturday.B-)
Thanks Andy. That is cool and something I've been thinking about doing myself.
However, I haven't done any balsa wood modeling since the late 70s with my train layouts and a few airplanes.
I did get notified today that my sonic screwdriver has left the facility (i.e. shipped) just today!! I guess they finally accepted my Visa gift card. Now I can't wait.
I did some poking around for a model TARDIS and found one that is a USB expansion hub.
I don't have enough left on the card to get one. Rest assured I will.
Talk about the ultimate geek toy!!!
E
