[Al_U_Card]

I had almost the same experience, but it was with a Jehovah's Witness (or maybe a Mormon, I lose track of the "good" times...lol)

[Rain]

I normally give gift cards for xmas : P
Recipients are free to buy whatever they want on sale if they like.

On the very rare occasions where I choose a store gift, I look for bargains always. Regifting is okay in my books!

I mean, all of us posters are at different economic points, I don't know if this question, posed to us all, will help your individual decision making.

[Al_U_Card]

Gift cards give them your money up front (they get the interest).
Many stores "charge" a processing fee for each "use" of the card and many times some money is left on the card and not used. Caveat emptor.

[kenberg]

Someone mentioned to me the other day that at their family Christmas everyone gives everyone else a gift card. Seems you could simplify this further. Everyone could give everyone else twenty dollars. If you want to go big time, everyone could give everyone else a hundred dollars.

Actually this sounds sort of like the government. Except I got this lump of coal.

[Winstonm]

In this environment you want to make sure the company will still be in business for a gift card to be used.

[Rossoneri]

It depends on the utility derived and the indifference curve of the individual.

[TimG]

kenberg, on Dec 18 2008, 07:26 PM, said:

Someone mentioned to me the other day that at their family Christmas everyone gives everyone else a gift card. Seems you could simplify this further. Everyone could give everyone else twenty dollars. If you want to go big time, everyone could give everyone else a hundred dollars.

Is this as silly as it sounds, or am I missing something?

[jdonn]

TimG, on Dec 18 2008, 10:03 PM, said:

kenberg, on Dec 18 2008, 07:26 PM, said:

Someone mentioned to me the other day that at their family Christmas everyone gives everyone else a gift card. Seems you could simplify this further. Everyone could give everyone else twenty dollars. If you want to go big time, everyone could give everyone else a hundred dollars.

Is this as silly as it sounds, or am I missing something?

It depends if symbolism and/or tradition matter to you. Of course it's silly on a financial basis, but some might say it's silly if that's all you worry about.

BTW to your earlier question of what would possess someone to spend $700 on a coat, you could ask a similar question in reverse. As long as you and your family aren't in financial danger, what would possess someone to let something as trivial as money stand in the way of what you want?

[JoAnneM]

These haven't been the answers I expected based on my question but it has been really interesting reading everyone's replies. Mostly we think we are a pretty savvy, and sophisticated group, from what I read.

One answer did make me think back to my childhood. My father was raised on a farm; a plantation in fact. But even though his parents were very well off he never received a Xmas or birthday gift while he was growing up, until he was 12 when his father gave him a shotgun.

When my father became a parent his happiest times were our birthdays and Xmas because he made them so special for us. We were not overindulged, but we got presents and some were from him and my mom, and some were from Santa. I don't think he ever forgot that lack in his own childhood that was probably just part of a lifestyle, but to a kid was just pure rejection.

[kenberg]

TimG, on Dec 18 2008, 10:03 PM, said:

kenberg, on Dec 18 2008, 07:26 PM, said:

Someone mentioned to me the other day that at their family Christmas everyone gives everyone else a gift card. Seems you could simplify this further. Everyone could give everyone else twenty dollars. If you want to go big time, everyone could give everyone else a hundred dollars.

Is this as silly as it sounds, or am I missing something?

Compared to what?
Everyone giving everyone a hundred dollars certainly sounds silly.
Is it more or less silly than everyone giving everyone else a gift card without first agreeing on the amount?
I was merely taking what appeared to me to be silly to what seems to me to be its logical conclusion.

Now actually I think the person who told me her family just all give each other gift cards for Christmas may have been exaggerating a little. I like to think so.


Anyway, Christmas can get a bit weird. I enjoy it, I really do, but when I find myself thinking along the lines of "Good grief, what on earth can I possibly get for old so and so, or young so and so, that he could possibly want" then maybe it's time to rethink what it is I am actually doing with the opportunity for Christmas giving.


I am not all that generous a person and so this effort is a little strange for me.

[TimG]

jdonn, on Dec 18 2008, 10:22 PM, said:

It depends if symbolism and/or tradition matter to you. Of course it's silly on a financial basis, but some might say it's silly if that's all you worry about.

I readily admit to being a crank when it comes to Christmas. But, I don't see how doling out an agreed upon amount (whether it is cash or a gift card) serves any purpose. In my mind, the best gifts are thoughtful. There is no thought, symbolic or otherwise, in buying the prescribed gift card and handing it out on Christmas Day.

[TimG]

JoAnneM, on Dec 18 2008, 10:45 PM, said:

When my father became a parent his happiest times were our birthdays and Xmas because he made them so special for us. We were not overindulged, but we got presents and some were from him and my mom, and some were from Santa. I don't think he ever forgot that lack in his own childhood that was probably just part of a lifestyle, but to a kid was just pure rejection.

JoAnne,

I suspect your father showed you how much he cared for you in many ways besides the gifts you received on your birthday and Christmas. I bet life with your father was special year round. And, that if he had never given you a gift on those days, you would still have had special days with him, just perhaps not on the same date every year.

I also doubt that birthday and Christmas presents from his parents would have been a cure to the rejection your father felt as a child.

Tim

[Lobowolf]

JoAnneM, on Dec 18 2008, 10:45 PM, said:

These haven't been the answers I expected based on my question but it has been really interesting reading everyone's replies.

With respect to your original question, I think it's a function of whether and to what extent people have been hit by the economy. I think people who have been hit noticably will spend less than normal and take advantage of the reduced prices on the items they're used to buying; people who haven't been hit, or at least not very hard, will spend the amount they're used to spending, and enjoy the extra quality it brings them.

[Codo]

TimG, on Dec 19 2008, 01:37 PM, said:

JoAnne,

I suspect your father showed you how much he cared for you in many ways besides the gifts you received on your birthday and Christmas. I bet life with your father was special year round. And, that if he had never given you a gift on those days, you would still have had special days with him, just perhaps not on the same date every year.

I also doubt that birthday and Christmas presents from his parents would have been a cure to the rejection your father felt as a child.

Tim

Tim maybe you do not see the value of gifts.

My story is:
My brother in law is very generous to his family. So he often bought a very expensive and very big gift for his kids.

My wife loves to go shopping on flew markets and bought "hundreds" of little gifts for our kids there. The overall value was smaller compared to what her brother did.

But our kids loved to unwrap these many many gifts. And his kids stood there and had been a little jealous because they had unwrapped their one big gift in 30 seconds. To give someone one gift shows that you care. To give someone several gifts works even better (for kids, not for grown-ups).

I belive that parents can make many "special days" for their kids outside of birthday and christmas- and of course they should. But these days are special on their own and I do understand Joannes father. His father did not care for gifts on these special days. That was a mistake he did not want to repeat.

[kenberg]

Maybe I was a weird kid. OK, skip the maybe. Presents were sometimes a source of conflict for me.

First the good news: Some gifts made a real impression. My parents rented out the small living area on the second floor of our house to a woman and her two kids after she left her troublesome husband. Either for my twelfth birthday or for that Christmas (they are a week apart so my memory muddles) I received a set of boxing gloves from her. They got a lot of use. Thank you Marie.

However:
Kids may be self-centered but they also have a pretty strong sense of fairness. I was always more than a little embarrassed by the fact that there were more presents under the tree with my name on them than there were for my parents. I wanted them, but I was embarrassed. A further problem was created by my mother giving me some money so I could do my Christmas shopping. Of course I used the money for presents. Well, mostly. I would ride my bike downtown and shop but Bridgemann's made really good malts and they got some of the cash as well. I doubt that my mother minded (no doubt she knew, mothers know everything), but I minded. O Lord, save me from my love of malteds, but not yet (Saint Augustine?).

Christmas can be a time to reflect on the meaning of it all. Or a really good chance to score some malts.