Touchy Topic Tuesday:
Gift Cards For Christmas?
Gift giving is the name of the season.
Many people love to scale the malls and the sales, searching for that perfect gift. A lot of people have something specific in mind when they think of a person.
In my family, we draw names each year. If I choose my mom, my sister, or my oldest brother, then I know exactly what to get them. If you asked me to make a list of things they might like, it'd take me just a second to jot down a page full of ideas for each of them. The HARD part is picking ONE.
If I pick out my dad's or my youngest brother's name...well, I'm at a loss. I know my dad is very practical. He'd prefer shoes. Or tools (if you can find one he doesn't already own) or a bill paid. It's very hard to be creative there. And it's also difficult to get him to tell you what, exactly, he needs. My brother is a great big dork- in the most entertaining and wonderful way possible. But he already has every single movie known to man downloaded to his computer. He already has just about every xbox game there is. Heaven knows what to get him.
Recently, I read a list of the 10 worst Christmas gifts you can get someone. On the very top of that list was a little piece of plastic, it can be as valuable as the buyer prefers, but only to precise stores, and, it's called a gift card.
Gift cards, according to MSN Today, were named as the absolute worst gift one can give. And cold hard cash actually came in further down the line. Apparently, a gift only is actually a gift if it took a lot of thought and knowledge of the person receiving the gift and their inner most desires.
So....basically, if you don't know a person well enough to buy them something specific, and be sure that it's exactly what was the main characters in their very own personal visions of sugar plums, then you'd probably better not get them anything at all.
All or nothin'.
Honestly, I just have to say that I disagree with this. Now, it's not something that I am very seriously passionate about, as I have been about some of my Touchy Topic Tuesdays, but I do still have an opinion, and as it seems to be something that people have viciously varying opinions about, it's up for debate.
I am not a hard person to buy gifts for. I'm sure that if any of the people I mentioned were easy for me buy for drew my name, they'd have a very simple time picking something out for me that would just make my heart flutter. Particularly my mom. And my oldest brother has a knack for getting me into fits of giggles.
But there are people who just don't know me that well. And when it comes down to it, if someone were to ask me what I wanted or needed this Christmas, i would tell them that I really need some clothes for after the baby is born. You know, like things I can wear that aren't maternity clothes? I need new jeans as I wore my old ones to threads. I need nursing shirts. I need things that are going to help me feel pretty and cute and stylish instead of frumpy mommyish. But if i were to tell someone that, I would probably be pretty terrified of what I might receive and have to wear in order to NOT make them feel bad. Not to mention, I have absolutely NO clue what size I'll be right after i have this baby. I'm HOPING that I'll do what I did with my last 3, and go back to being my old size 4 pretty quick. But there's no guarantee. And I want things in MY SIZE.
How to get around that?
A gift card sounds lovely.
Not only that, but I am a very very crafty person. I am always creating. If I am not making something, my life feels a bit empty. It's just a habit and obsession of mine. Would it be acceptable and even appreciated for someone to go out to a craft or fabric store and buy me supplies? Probably, because I'm really good at taking stuff that I had no previous affiliation for and throwing it into something awesome. (Yes. I have a big head about this.) BUT, it would, admittedly, be much more satisfying for me to be able to buy the things that I already had in mind for my ongoing projects.
Once again, a gift card would be delightful.
So, really, if you're one of those people who is just an amazing gift giver, and you seem to just always be able to foresee what someone would be thrilled to get, then DO THAT! Because it really IS always awesome to get something and think "WOW!!!! You really know me so well!" - and it's also such an excellent feeling to GIVE that kind of gift. When you can see on a person's face that you did so incredibly well that it left them speechless. BUT, if you don't have any clue, then don't shrink away from the gift card. It has much more meaning than just "I don't know you very well."
**********************************************
Okay, everyone!!!! Let us all know how you feel about gift cards for Christmas, both giving and getting!!!
