Sunday, December 18, 2022

Adult gifts

In my wife’s family, we decided years ago to have the adults draw names and just get one person a gift (everybody buys for all the kids). To facilitate this, we all send out a list of things we’d like, and this is the worst part of Christmas. 

I just have no idea each year what to ask for. I spent a solid hour h  free other day Googling “gifts for Dad” to figure out what I might like to receive on Christmas morning. Because I definitely want to receive a thing or two on Christmas. 

The problem with gifts for adults, I think, is that as an adult, if you want/need something, you either buy it for yourself or there’s a reason you don’t, such as it being ridiculously expensive. Like, a cooling mattress topper sounds super cool, but at like $800+ for something I’ve never even tried out? Yeah, no. I’d LOVE to have an in-home sauna but, again, very expensive. A new laptop? Yes please. Oooh, or recording equipment to put together a home studio. Or home gym equipment… the list goes on, of things I’ll neither buy myself nor request as a gift. 

I finally came up with three things: new sweatpants to support my work from home lifestyle, wool socks, and an Audible subscription. 

I’d love to get something totally unexpected yet absolutely perfect, but I’m not expecting it any more than I’m expecting to share cookies with Santa. It’ll still be a great Christmas, I’m sure. 

4 comments:

  1. Online classes maybe? I'm taking a sculpting class.

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  2. Very hard for me too, though I'm not a dad. I usually just end up throwing more books onto my wish list.

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  3. I feel like this is the same problem I have with certain people every year (my mom being one of them). They don't want anything but they do want a present, and I can never manage the "totally unexpected yet absolutely perfect," it's more like "items get left in a bag that sit in the hall for years." I don't know how anyone does an unexpected perfect gift and it is NOT my knack at all, unfortunately. Especially since I'm weird and I have a better nose for finding gifts for weird people than for normal people that I dunno, just want a Starbucks gift card, except I'd get shamed for buying Mom a gift card.

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  4. I have the same problem and try to put items on my Amazon wish list to help people shop. My hsuband always gets me soething cheap from the list and that's all. My son finds wonderful things not on the list--he has a wonderfully creative mind. I always have problems buying something for my husband, because no matter what it is, he never looks at it, reads it, wears it, etc. It sits in a box under his bed

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