10 on the 10th... on the 9th

 Oh I am so excited about today's 10 on the 10th post!  While I can't claim that Christmas is my favorite time of year Q&A posts definitely fall under that category!  I love writing them and I love reading them as I always learn so much more about the writer.  I hope you feel the same.  


This month our questions are all about gifting! Do you enjoy buying gifts?  I do, for the most part, and I enjoy wrapping them and anticipating people's reactions when I give them their gifts. 


1. How many gifts do you purchase in the holiday season?  This is a tough one... I set a price limit for each person which sometimes is just one gift or can be a set of small gifts.  So rather than a gifting # I thought I'd write out who I buy gifts for.  My husband, my 3 boys, our 4 sets of parents, our 11 nieces and nephews, and I like to make something for our siblings & spouses or buy a small family gift even though we did agree years ago not to exchange gifts among adults... yeah, I'm bad at following rules.  So that adds on another 4-8 people.  Those 27 are waaay whittled down though; when the boys were younger we also had 5 sets/sides of grandparents to buy for and we used to exchange gifts with my husband's 4 step brothers and their kids so we used to buy gifts for over 20 nieces and nephews. 


2. Who is the hardest person for whom you buy presents?  My husband's father and his wife are really tough to buy for and this is the last year I can use my typical fall back-- photos of the kids and a calendar of family memories from the year.  With the boys all off and out of the house so much it was nearly impossible to make a calendar this year with photos of them.  

3. How do you respond to a gift you really don't like?  I almost always just smile and say thank you; after all it's the thought that counts and I don't want to hurt anyone's feeling or make them feel like they wasted their time and money.  But that can depend on the giver too; my mother in law can usually tell and will hound me to get me to admit whether or not I really do like the sweater or other item she picked out for me... and I have caved a time or two and admitted that it's not quite my style.  Normally she's right on the money though!  

4. What kinds of gifts do you consider to be the best to give or receive?  Anything handmade, personalized, or that has special meaning.  I also love to give and receive experience type gifts-- we've bought family gift memberships to the zoo and to museums before that I really hope those families enjoyed many times through the year. 

hand stenciled kitchen towels

fleece scarf

Dry- erase Christmas countdown sign. 


5. What kinds of gifts do you consider to be the worst to give or receive? Ones that clearly show the gift giver does not know us at all or ones that are quite obvious were free with purchase and then just gifted to us (no joke I once got a Budweiser soft sided cooler when I was in middle school!).

6. What gift would your never give ever? Fruitcake?! LOL  I used to get a loaf each year when we were newly married and I hated the stuff. 

I never did like cherries... 

7. What is your process for selecting a gift? Typically I make sure to have an idea for each person on the list before I head out shopping (or head online to order it).  I jot down notes whenever someone mentions something they'd like or wish they had.  I also think about what things they might need/want and would never buy themselves.  Mostly I ask myself how much I see them using or wearing or enjoying said item. 

8. What is the best gift you've ever gotten? Well, it wasn't a Christmas gift buy my husband did buy me a new car the week before our wedding as a wedding gift.  That was pretty amazing! 

9. What is the best gift you've ever given? One year we gifted our boys a Disney trip.  We planned the trip out for February and wrapped a paper with a photo of the magic kingdom and simply wrote "We're going to Disney World." They were small and I wasn't sure they were going to be able to read it.  But as soon as Ian opened it; Alec read it aloud and they all started whopping and jumping around.  

Taken on that February trip (I'm 90% certain)

10. Would you ever or have you ever re-gifted something? I used to be the queen of regifting! LOL.  But with essentially having 4 separate families it was rather easy to do; people from my dad's side of the family would never come into contact with people on my husband's mother's side of the family so a toy that was given to one of my boys that they were never going to use could easily become a toy for one of their cousins or even one of their school friends (who had different tastes).  Often though I took those unopened toys down to Toys for Tots or some other donation center though. I don't mind being given a re-gifted gift either if it's something I genuinely like and will use. 

Linking up with: On the Edge, 











Comments

  1. What a fun post- to read your answers and to think about about mine would be. You guys buy for a lot of people! It's good that you've whittled it down some. We have done the same thing with adult gifting- we just buy for the kids but then some people we exchange with don't have kids so then we buy them presents since they buy our kids presents; it gets to be a lot. You are so creative- love your handmade gifts. I'll bet the recipients like them. My mom used to make fruitcake. I loved it. When I saw those plastic tubs of bright green and red fruit sitting out, I knew we were in for a treat ;).

    ReplyDelete
  2. We did that with a Disney Cruise as a gift and my kids were so confused! lol.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL! That is so funny. My kids were confused for just a moment until they looked up and saw me smiling so hugely at them.

      Delete
  3. I love buying gifts for people but hate wrapping them. I always struggle to know what to buy my dad, he hates receiving gifts and has everything.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't mind wrapping anything squared or rectangular but I had odd shaped gifts that don't wrap well or that won't fit in gift bags.

      Delete
  4. My hubby is the hardest to shop for but nowadays I don't have many to shop for. Nowadays for my parents it's money or gift cards because they are paring down and don't want stuff.
    www.chezmireillefashiontravelmom.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. See.. now my in laws don't want gift cards or money either! LOL.

      Delete
  5. This was fun to read!

    ReplyDelete
  6. We only buy gifts for the children in the family. For the adults we do a secret Santa. So, set a price limit ($50) and buy a gift that can be for anybody, wrap it, and stick it in the secret Santa pile. We draw numbers to determine who picks from the pile first. The first person can pick any gift. The second person can pick a new gift from the pile or steal person one's opened gift. If a person's gift gets stolen they get to pick again. It goes like that until all the presents are gone. It can become amusing, and its a lot of fun.

    Great post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We used to do a yankee swap for the adults in my husband's family (with a $25 gift limit) too (that's what we call what you just described). It is a lot of fun.

      Delete
  7. This was a great post. I loved reading the stories. A middle schooler getting a budweiser cooler?? Crazy.
    I agree that handmade is the best. There's just something special about it.
    XOOX
    Jodie

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love the throwback photo. I hate fruitcake so I would never give it or want to get it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The ones we were gifted were soaked in rum too and neither my husband nor I like alcohol so it was doubly gross for us. LOL.

      Delete
  9. Gifting experiences is always so fun!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes! I love gifting experiences whenever I can. I think those memories are much more meaningful than most traditional gifts.

      Delete
  10. What a fun post and throwback photo. Thank you for your #weekendcoffeeshare.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love receiving handmade gifts! My MIL in the queen of making things and I treasure them! I can't tell you how many pairs of slippers I've literally worn through that she has made me! It was fun to read this!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh gosh, I was worn out reading the list and the number of of people that you gift at Christmas!! Quite a while back, we stopped the 'giving adults' in the family anything, and then the nieces and nephew and then it became the grandkids (and they were EASY to buy for as little ones. I loved that time. Now, sadly, we gift each some money in a card for enjoy at after Christmas sales. I am in awe of your organisation and lists!! #weekendcoffeeshare

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL! It's the problem with having a huge family!

      Delete
  13. Wowza! You buy for a lot of people and consider it whittled down!! I loved reading your answers, though! I totally forgot about it and kept thinking something was happening on the tenth...now, I know!!!

    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha! It really is a lot but all our kids were born all around the same time and we just could not come up with a way to not exchange gifts with them all.

      Delete
  14. Lovely to read! A lot of presents to buy. Enjoy your weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Wow your Budweiser gift as a middle schooler is quite something! Lol. Your tree is lovely, btw!

    I love when people gift us experience gifts! I try to give them as well, they are some of my favorites. I totally forgot about them when I was writing up my post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, even then I knew that wasn't appropriate! LOL.

      Delete
  16. Great post! I also love experiences as gifts. I'm at a point in my life where I don't need more stuff (except for books--and really, they're experiences too). I have few people to buy for anymore, so I don't do much holiday shopping. My husband and I usually travel somewhere right after Christmas, so that's our present to each other.

    ReplyDelete
  17. That was a fun read Jo - and I just want to add that I dislike fruitcake intensely too. I'm feeling very lazy with my gift giving compared to yours (and what mine used to be). Now I just buy for my husband and for our two grandgirls (plus we gift both of our adult children with a chunk of cash to spend on something they want to indulge in). It makes for a much easier Christmas shopping list these days!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That does sound like nice and easy Christmas shopping.

      Delete
  18. Wow! You have so many people to buy for. I only buy Christmas presents for my children, hubby, and grandchildren. I can't stand receiving re-gifted gifts. My MIL was the queen of that. I find it so offensive, that someone gives you something they got for free as a gift. If you want to give something away you don't want, fine, great idea, but don't give it as a gift as something that cost you nothing isn't a gift at all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think sometimes that's all people can afford though; I did it a lot when our boys were little because our funds were stretched to the limit then (plus so many of the parties they got invited to were for kids we hardly knew).

      Delete
  19. I couldn't agree with you more on the fruitcake LOL. If I give food gifts, it's either something I know the recipient enjoys like brownies or I give a container with a variety of cookies (chocolate, sugar, oatmeal, etc) so hopefully there's something in there they like. Fun read!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, we used to give out cookie tins to family members that we did see at Christmas parties but didn't exchange gifts with and we always made sure to give an assortment of cookies, fudge, and candies so at least there would be something for everyone in them.

      Delete
  20. I always enjoy learning about people to find were quite alike! Have a great day.

    ReplyDelete
  21. We were given a hand painted wall wine rack a couple of Christmases back from a family member on my husband's side. It took us the LONGEST time to figure out what it was, and then we had a good laugh because we don't drink ANY alcohol, or allow it in our home..and we realized they really don't know us at all, other than we see them every Christmas. It's one of those things we'll remember and laugh about for a long time because we were both like "Oh, that's nice, thank you" and literally didn't figure it out until a day or so later.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh that is too funny!! Yep, we've definitely had a few gifts like that (we are a bit abnormal in that we don't drink coffee or alcohol and have certainly been gifted things to go along with both!).

      Delete
  22. This is such a fun post! I prefer experience gifts too over things. Otherwise, we do lists for family because I hate buying things for people that they don't want/like. I'd prefer to gift them something that they really do want. Hope you had a great weekend!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I love when someone has a list or gift idea ready for me!!

      Delete
  23. When I go Christmas shopping I get so distracted finding things for myself! We don’t have a very big family, there is about 15 of us in total on my side. And we don’t really see much of my husbands family. So even though I left my shopping until late. I have managed to get on top of it this weekend.
    Ruth@playworkeatrepeat

    ReplyDelete
  24. What a fun post, Joanne!
    I'm not a fan of fruit cake either. I always find them a tad too sweet.

    Hugs and blessings!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I just can't get past all the cherries and nuts; I'm not a fan of cherries at all.

      Delete
  25. I love the idea of gifting an experience..like a zoo or museum membership.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is so fun since they can use them over and over again all year long.

      Delete
  26. Even with a whittled down list, your shopping list is still quite long. Its a good thing you enjoy the experience. I think regifting gets a bad rap but it seems super practical to me. If no one is going to be hurt, etc....why wouldn't you want to pass something along rather than let it set unused, etc etc? But I have to agree, a free gift with purchase is usually super obvious and super cheesy!?! That family photo at Disney is priceless!!

    ReplyDelete
  27. FIrst off, I'm mad...I missed 10 on the 10th...Booo. I kept checking but never saw the questions and forgot. I would've had fun with this one! Loved your answers. I do NOT like fruitcake

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh that is a bummer; I subscribe to Martha's blog so that makes it easier to see the questions. She usually only posts them a few days ahead of time.

      Delete
  28. Y'all have a lot of people to buy for! I thought mine was long, but you may have me beat!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Share Our Lives: 5 Items I Can't Live Without

Prime Purchases in February 2023

Let's Look At... Our Grocery haul