Christmas Genius?Follow

Perhaps I'm not the only one to have thought of this, but I have never heard of anyone else doing something similar.

I have a problem. I see Christmas gifts as being primarily for close family and friends, and consequently I only go out and buy gifts for close family and friends unless I have been specifically informed I need to include additional individuals. This puts me into some messy situations where a coworker, acquaintance, or someone I barely know buys me a present and I have nothing to give them in return. This puts us both in an awkward situation, and it a political nightmare to manage. Maybe you have this problem as well.

I've come up with a solution though, which I will be implementing this year. On-hand gift cards. "Giving gift cards? Wow, you think that's clever Allegory?" Why yes it is. Sure gift cards have been around forever, but what I'm doing is buying gift cards with no particular person in mind at all. I may not even use them all or indeed any of them. I simply buy several gift cards in various denominations and store them inside an envelope with a generic Christmas card in my glove compartment. Whenever I receive an unexpected gift I simply remark "Oh, I got you something too," head out to my car, sign "to: person-I-barely-know," and hand over an approximately equal value gift card.

This way I am always prepared for a gift ambush, and best of all I lose nothing if I overbuy. Whatever gift cards I don't use at the end of the holidays I can simply spend on myself.

Edited, Dec 17th 2010 5:58pm by Allegory

Except that I always still have that choice. The gift cards are for situations where I don't want to make that choice for whatever reason. If my boss were to get me something and I got him nothing in return, it could damage our work relationship if only minorly. If some second cousin I barely see happens to pass me a gift at the family Christmas party, then I'd rather not like deal with that awkwardness in front of the rest of the family.

I lose nothing by doing this. I can only gain.

Edited, Dec 17th 2010 6:06pm by Allegory

No I don't. I don't spend any money on someone that I don't want to spend. If I don't want to trade gifts with someone then nothing is forcing me to use the card and I don't lose any of the money I spent on it. If it's a situation where I do want to trade gifts, but didn't expect to have to do so--for whatever reason (invent whatever you fancy)--then this way I'm not screwed.

I've gained an option and given up nothing.

Edited, Dec 17th 2010 6:12pm by Allegory

In the sense that buying absolutely anything is losing money, yes. But that's not really a meaningful way to put it. I am not losing money, I am spending it. I want to give this person a gift, for whatever reason, but previously I would have been unable to.

That's clever, Allegory. I would just make sure these are all places that I would like to shop at, too, so if I end up with a surplus, I can still use the cards at the end of the holiday season.

I'm a little sad this year, because with the recession, so many people have said, "I can't afford to give anything this year, please don't get me anything." I enjoy buying gifts for people usually, so that sort of bums me out. But I feel obliged to at least give them a card. I spent $40 on cards at Walgreens yesterday. Le sigh.

I thought it was a stupid idea right up until this post. If this works for you,, then great.

If I did this, it would probably be all gas and grocery cards.

Also, you should check out Groupon for gift certificates and whatnot. I got a $50 GC to a restaurant for my Godparents for $25.

Gift certificates or cards are a good idea. The person getting them can get what they want. It beats trying to figure out what they want.

I boycotted Christmas a few years ago partially to avoid this very issue. I make it very clear to people that I'm not celebrating, and I will not be dispensing gifts, and would appreciate it if no gifts were given to me. I used to enjoy Christmas until it became a three month marketing campaign, now it just disgusts me.

It wasn't nearly as bad as it's gotten in the last ten years.

The party I just got back from, everyone gets a gift. Even strangers that are brought by friends. If you plan ahead, it's easy to buy little gifts for those situations.

I got a slinky.

And as long as you buy gift cards to places you shop anyway (or just generic money cards), you can't "waste" money because you can just turn around and use any unused cards on yourself.

It IS genius! :P

Make sure the cards do not have activation fees if you do this.