Present giving/receiving "hits"

[Apple]

What are some of your present "hits"?

If someone says they want something, and it is reasonable, I get it, whether or not it seems "special" to me.  Just found out recently that a present I bought my brother, 20ish years ago, at his request, when I was a teenager is still one of his favorite things.  A broiler pan.  He now uses it to roast coffee, and says it's perfect (he also pointed out that he got it from me).  When he requested it I just went with it, and I'm now glad I did!

For my son, it has been tickets to go see a Broadway musical (on tour).  Also, salted licorice (popular in Finland).

My teenage niece has asked for duck meat from my sister (her husband hunts ducks).  Very simple, but it would make her happy.

[msventoux]

It might be sad, but the presents I've received that I've kept the longest and used the most are a cordless drill,  a shop vac, and a vacuum sealer.   

I've received other "nicer" things through the years, and I did appreciate those as well, but these were pretty simple, somewhat unconventional things that I've used repeatedly and they've made my life easier.  A lot of the other gifts have been broken, gotten "lost" or just shoved aside and forgotten about.  Depending upon the personality of the receiver, the seemingly mundane gifts ultimately mean more than the flashier conventional gifts. 

[cronewitch]

I have had better luck with useful gifts but mostly my gifting has been abject failure as well as getting tons of gifts I didn't want.

My major success is buying things for my ISO like jeans and shirts. He hates to shop so when I first knew him he had two pairs of jeans and saved his heavy flannel shirts for deer hunting. Now I order him jeans on line delivered he has probably 5 new pair unopened and I have three pair in the trunk that are 2 inches too long and can't return, I might sell them or donate. He has about 10 pair of jeans in various states of decay so something to wear fishing, yard work or dressier occasions and dozens of shirts. Last year I got him a custom made log bed but he was with me when I ordered it so it was just what he wanted.

[Deleted]

Very few that I can remember.  My Ex really liked to just pick out what I gave him- no surprise there.  The times I tried to surprise him with something it wasn't a hit.  DH and I don't exchange gifts much but a couple of years ago he was mentioning that he still missed the cast iron pans his former GF took with her when they broke up.  (She cleared her stuff out of the house when he wasn't there, with his agreement, and he thinks maybe she felt they were hers because she was with him when he bought them!)

So- I got on e-Bay and found a set of Griswold cast iron pans from the 1950s.  DH got an attachment for his drill to scrub off the rust, re-seasoned them and we use them daily.  There IS no other way to make cornbread!  Bonus:  my mother told me my great grandmother and her sister worked as servants in the Griswold family home in Erie, PA.

The only other great hits were the Nintendo items I got DS back in the Bad Old Days when I was still married to the Ex and we were living in a war zone.  I always made sure we were on necessary waiting lists for the latest- Nintendo 64 was a big deal one Christmas.  I also remember being on a bus into NYC to see The Nutcracker when DS, looking out his window, saw a Nintendo game he really wanted but hadn't been able to find in a store we passed.  We had time before the performance so we backtracked and, sure enough, he was right.  He had to give up video games in college- they took over his life- but they provided an escape when he badly needed it.

Ah, but The Nutcracker reminds me- one year we brought the son of DS' caregiver with us as our guest.  He'd taken dancing lessons so he was fascinated with it.  He also insisted on visiting the highest balcony at Lincoln Center during intermission.  Hey, why not?  He practically had to be peeled off the edge of the balcony (we were in the first row of a lower one) after the performance.  The next year his parents and little sister joined us (at their expense).  Everyone should have a chance to be with someone experiencing The Nutcracker for the first time.

What a great topic.  Gift cards are convenient and easy to use, but they don't inspire the same joy.

[skubikky]

Ah, the Nutcracker, yes.
When I was a kid, my Mother's cousins had a subscription to the NYC Ballet.  I remember being taken to see the Nutcracker at the NY State theatre at Lincoln Center.
Years later I took my daughter and my niece to see it at the Eastman Theatre here in Rochester and also at the Hummingbird center in Toronto.   I never tire of it.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Best gift I ever received was the iPad TD gave me when I started my medical nightmare.  Between hospital stays, rehab, waiting for appointments and treatments, it saved my sanity.

Probably my best present hit was the DSLR camera I bought him.  It has gone everywhere we have gone.  A secondary advantage is that I just pay attention to what accessories he wants and those become presents.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Nov 15, 2016 9:13:18 GMT -5 skubikky said:

Ah, the Nutcracker, yes.
When I was a kid, my Mother's cousins had a subscription to the NYC Ballet.  I remember being taken to see the Nutcracker at the NY State theatre at Lincoln Center.
Years later I took my daughter and my niece to see it at the Eastman Theatre here in Rochester and also at the Hummingbird center in Toronto.   I never tire of it.

We have season tickets to the ballet in Seattle, but The Nutcracker isn't included in our package.  We will be going this year, but we don't go every year.

[wvugurl26]

One of the best was last year for my dad. AC/DC was touring and it was on his bucket list. I bought tickets for him. Then I paid an artistic poor college student $20 to paint a lightning bolt and the band logo on a mini stainless bucket I bought at Lowe's. I lined the inside with the tickets and stuck a package of candy in the center of the bucket.

This year I have no idea. I found a bird book he wanted and ordered that. I try to pay attention to things people mention but some years are better than others.

I've never seen The Nutcracker. I'm away the weekend it's playing locally.

[dee27]

At this stage of our lives, DH and I do not need things, and we enjoy experiences with and without the kids. One thing we do each year is go to a jazz, Christmas concert. The music is lively and uplifting and the audience is as much fun to watch as the performers.

[flamingo]

The best gift I've given DH - a bobblehead of himself. He loves that thing! I sent in pictures and so not only does it look like him, it's dressed like him too 

For my dad, every year I take him to a live sporting event. This year it's a college football game. He's never seen them play live, so he's pumped. Fingers crossed it doesn't snow on us!

My mom is a tough one, but I did get her a set of peacock salt and pepper shakers she likes. She always points them out to when I'm there, so I guess those were a big hit. And those were only $6!! 

DH and I haven't gotten each other gifts in a long time; we typically take a vacation together instead. Bc he is AWFUL at gift giving. He gets me what I want, but I ask for things like socks or new slippers, then pick them out and he buys them   He admits I'm a much better gift giver. He thinks quantity over quality and then I end up with a bunch of dollar store junk I'll never use. Tho I do tend to save it and gift it back to him when he is least expecting it! LOL

[quince]

I knit my parents stockings and filled them. 

[cktc]

I can be pretty good with sentimental gifts if I know people well. I actually made my former SIL cry at least 3 times with gifts. Painted a picture of her pooches, found a family tree frame and filled it with photos when she adopted her daughter, and got her an Armenian fairy tale book from a visit to Armenia.

With my DH, the biggest hit so far, I had some shot glasses engraved with his military unit from his deployment to replace the one that was accidentally broken.

I also like to give experiential gifts. Got my ex a trip to Atlanta for Prog Power. Used to give nieces and nephews annual zoo passes.

Favorite gift I've received in recent memory, my current SIL made an album of family pics of DH while I was pregnant with DS. Their parents had divorced when they were kids and DH didn't have any photos from his childhood. 

[Deleted]

One memorable gift in the "Experience" category: last year DS said he and DDIL were thinking of flying to visit my parents in Myrtle Beach over Christmas. I thought that was a wonderful idea and asked DS if they planned to get a separate seat for our granddaughter even though she was under 2 years old. Of course not. (The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?) I told him we'd buy the third seat so they could all stay sane. Well, a few months later they found that seats were $600 each. DS asked if I'd pay for one and they'd buy a second. (Yeah, the apple doesn't fall far.... ) Sure. We also sprang for a room at the hotel where we were staying. The few days before we arrived, DS and DDIL stayed with my parents. They spent the night we arrived in the hotel and then decided they really wanted to stay with my parents (who felt the same way). So, the hotel room went empty till the last night, when it was very convenient because I got them to the airport for a very early flight home.

What wonderful timing. DS and DDIL had figured they might be expecting, or have, a second one by this Christmas (the new baby is due in November) so they wanted to do it last year. My mother got to see that DGD really WAS the cutest, smartest and nicest of all her great-grandchildren and spend time getting to know DDIL. They had very similar values- I was the weird one in the middle with the career. And now Mom is gone. I am SO glad we were able to help them make that trip.

[weltschmerz]

People keep giving cologne I don't like, sweaters I hate or gift cards I don't want.

I love the butcher's cleaver I asked a friend to get me and I use it all the time.

[CCL]

Nov 16, 2016 18:28:22 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

One memorable gift in the "Experience" category: last year DS said he and DDIL were thinking of flying to visit my parents in Myrtle Beach over Christmas. I thought that was a wonderful idea and asked DS if they planned to get a separate seat for our granddaughter even though she was under 2 years old. Of course not. (The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?) I told him we'd buy the third seat so they could all stay sane. Well, a few months later they found that seats were $600 each. DS asked if I'd pay for one and they'd buy a second. (Yeah, the apple doesn't fall far.... ) Sure. We also sprang for a room at the hotel where we were staying. The few days before we arrived, DS and DDIL stayed with my parents. They spent the night we arrived in the hotel and then decided they really wanted to stay with my parents (who felt the same way). So, the hotel room went empty till the last night, when it was very convenient because I got them to the airport for a very early flight home.

What wonderful timing. DS and DDIL had figured they might be expecting, or have, a second one by this Christmas (the new baby is due in November) so they wanted to do it last year. My mother got to see that DGD really WAS the cutest, smartest and nicest of all her great-grandchildren and spend time getting to know DDIL. They had very similar values- I was the weird one in the middle with the career. And now Mom is gone. I am SO glad we were able to help them make that trip.

I remember when you posted about that trip and thought it was a great idea.

[cronewitch]

I have switched almost entirely to cash. For my niece this year I gave her 3,000 in $100 bills first part of November as her Christmas gift. I got my thank you note already. She got a washing machine, paid for soccer and is shopping for her kids. She told me she had ran out of money and put off her hair cut until after payday and couldn't afford to groom her dog but did it anyway so they were short of food doing pantry. So for her that seems like a perfect gift. Her brother helps her budget and told me she figured out she could live on her income without the child support she doesn't get but it is tight. I told her it was her Christmas gift so make it last until Christmas.