The winter holiday season is here, and so is the Major Spoilers Holiday Gift Guide! But not all gifts are welcome, and some prefer to buy their own gifts. Which brings us to the Major Spoilers Poll of the Week (suggested by Twitter Follower – @J_Michael_T).
[poll id=”209″]
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17 Comments
I tend to focus on my daughter for the holidays and don’t expect or usually want much of anything for the holidays. I just try to give her the best holiday I can.
The people who give me gifts are mostly non-geeks so if I want a geek gift I have to specify the gift or get a gift card.
My kids, nieces, and nephews are now old enough where they want $$ so they can choose their own gifts (and thus avoiding the awkward “what, more socks?!? Thanks Uncle Michael…” moments).
I however prefer gifts from my kids as I enjoy the memories that are eventually associated with them.
PS If you can, follow the Major Spoilers crew on Twitter. It’s a great time for all!! Today’s #5#!&my4yearoldsays was classic!!
I tend to buy what I want for myself so I don’t really like getting gifts. One they are never something I’d actually want, and I’m a difficult buy.
I prefer cash only because 9 times out of 10 I have already purchased the item I want. Leaving me receiving something I have already purchased.
Gift cards are nice but I shop in several places when I compare prices so it’s a bit harder to use. Also, you never use the whole gift card of the universal types and they don’t give change.
I’m pretty damn indecisive when it comes to answering “what do you want for birthday/christmas?” so the general rule of thumb is to ask for a gift card. That said, I often forget about gift cards until six months or more have gone by, so… I ask for gift cards, but maybe an actual gift would be better in hindsight.
A gift card with this exception. I want them all from the same store and at this point, I do not care what store. There is nothing worse then asking for gift cards, telling people where to get them from, then getting one from best buy, one from Wal-Mart, one from Lowes, one from ect, ect, ect.
Just one store people, is that too much to ask?
It depends, if I have something I like that is within the budget I’ll ask for an actual gift, if not I just ask for money.
Also for years I was into TCGs and as Rodrigo can attest it’s easier to get money and buy the cards you want then asking for them: “Yeah I want the Birds of Paradise foil 10th edition, no not that one, that is clearly a 9th edition…”
In recent years the gifts I want are very specific, hard to find, or digital downloads. So I would rather just receive holiday cards with money to buy them myself than to make my family figure out how to get them.
I actually want a gift, it might just be a hark back to childhood.
I work pretty hard keeping an up to date, organized, and prioritized Amazon wish list. And no one seems to care. #firstworldproblems. As such, I still like to get the perfect thing I want, or conversely, the perfect thing I was never aware of.
Cash has been my standard for the last 15 years, I don’t particularly like anything, and the few things that I actually like are so specifical that I couldn’t expect anybody to chose other than myself.
I was watching an episode of Dilbert last week and one of the messages of the episode is that a gift card is just money, except not as good because you can only spend it in one place and it has an expiration date. Usually I have to say what I want. there’s no surprise but at least it’ll be something I wanted.
I may be in the minority that actually like gift cards.
Some thought has to be put into it so it’s a bit more personal than just cash because you need to think a little about what the person likes/wants/needs and where they like to shop. And the risk of getting the wrong thing is pretty low.
Actual gifts are great but I just buy myself what I want that’s within reasonable gift price. Most of the other things I want/need are either hard to find or just too expensive (that’s why a Kitchen Aid stand mixer has been on my wish lists for many, many years in a row).
Nothing for me, thanks. I enjoy giving gifts to my family and I’ve reached the point in my life that if I really, REALLY want something and need it I can get it myself. Family members usually give me money or gift cards and I normally turn around and give that to my wife to pay bills or I give the gift cards to my daughters so that they can get stuff. The last “fun” gift I got was several years ago when Reggie Parks, Dave Millican and others gave me an exact replica of the NWA World Heavyweight Title (which was eventually used on a couple of TNA PPVs when Jarrett borrowed it from me and then Antonio Inoki’s Dojo in LA wanted to shoot some video). To my that’s the apex of “geek” and would be hard to top. Yes, I still have it and it’s on display in my office.
@Sam, I was gonna ask about the minority who actually likes gift cards. I feel like I must be missing something, because I cannot see why anyone would want to give or receive any gift card from any store. And I’m not buying the “it’s kind of personal” argument, because no, it’s not.
But then I voted for getting nothing, because if I want something, I will buy it for myself.
We’re is the “all the above” option?