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Our large and now growing extended family has finally this year after many years of persuasion, decided to go from individual gifts to doing a small and inexpensive round robin gift exchange for the adults and a select number of gifts for all the children. I was so loving tired of getting 3 pairs of woolly socks, a new wallet and watch, some dumb gag gift, ect every year so, hopefully this year will be a bit more joyful only having to pick up two generic fun gifts for the round robin, and a gift each for my niece and nephew.
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Dec 4, 2017 18:16
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| # ? May 15, 2024 06:01 |
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I'll get my parents something individual and maybe if I see something when I'm out and about that seems perfect for a friend I'll grab it but for the most part we don't really do christmas shopping. Have a big christmas dinner with all the friends over but gently caress consumerism. Me and my wife don't even really get each other anything for christmas or birthdays, maybe some flowers or something, usually just a nice dinner. We're just lucky that that's the family dynamics/culture and none of my friends have really been into getting presents for each other. I feel really bad for those big upper middle class families where it's expected every single friend and extended family member and oh my god my co-worker has a baby now we can't forget her either all need to have presents bought and wrapped and the present must be of the correct monetary value based on their relationship. I assume those are the people I see running around stressed as hell shopping every day in December? I knew a family, firmly working class bordering on poor, that were extremely into christmas. Their definition of christmas shopping was that you were not done until all your credit cards were maxed out, so these guys would spend THOUSANDS a year on christmas then spend the rest of the year paying it off. There was some minor drama after their credit card got some sort of automated increase, which meant by the rules of christmas they needed to spend a thousand more to max out the card. It was hard on them, but they adjusted their lives to afford their new mandatory spending target. To not max out the card would be against the spirit of christmas, and trying to lower their limit back down would also be very scrooge-like.
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Dec 4, 2017 18:47
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Baronjutter posted:I knew a family, firmly working class bordering on poor, that were extremely into christmas. Their definition of christmas shopping was that you were not done until all your credit cards were maxed out, so these guys would spend THOUSANDS a year on christmas then spend the rest of the year paying it off. There was some minor drama after their credit card got some sort of automated increase, which meant by the rules of christmas they needed to spend a thousand more to max out the card. It was hard on them, but they adjusted their lives to afford their new mandatory spending target. To not max out the card would be against the spirit of christmas, and trying to lower their limit back down would also be very scrooge-like. hosed up if true.
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Dec 4, 2017 19:06
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Baronjutter posted:I knew a family, firmly working class bordering on poor, that were extremely into christmas. Their definition of christmas shopping was that you were not done until all your credit cards were maxed out, so these guys would spend THOUSANDS a year on christmas then spend the rest of the year paying it off. There was some minor drama after their credit card got some sort of automated increase, which meant by the rules of christmas they needed to spend a thousand more to max out the card. It was hard on them, but they adjusted their lives to afford their new mandatory spending target. To not max out the card would be against the spirit of christmas, and trying to lower their limit back down would also be very scrooge-like.
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Dec 4, 2017 19:12
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withak posted:hosed up if true. This is a thing, working class often = poverty culture, which isn’t the insult it sounds like but rather a phenomenon where any money that comes in is immediately spent because, “Hey, who knows when the chance to do something nice for ourselves will pop up again? Yeah, the money isn’t actual cash but funny money with predatory terms, so what? That poo poo is dischargeable in bankruptcy anyway, which looms over us like a storm cloud 365/24-7.”
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Dec 4, 2017 19:13
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His Divine Shadow posted:Speaking of retail. This weekend we did our yearly Christmas shopping, which entailed going into the city and a lot of the more "upscale" shopping malls downtown, and drat it's such a depressing place to visit. This is bougie paradise apparently, glitzy shops and restaurants and all that kind of stuff people are supposed to like and want from life. Except me apparently. To me everything felt wrong, or crass, like I was in some kind of 80s movie about future capitalist dystopian societies. A pervading, dread sense of "keeping up with the joneses" perhaps how I'd describe it. Horrible feel to the place. So what you're saying is Christmas is alive and well? Close the thread folks, retail is alive!
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Dec 4, 2017 19:24
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SpaceCadetBob posted:Our large and now growing extended family has finally this year after many years of persuasion, decided to go from individual gifts to doing a small and inexpensive round robin gift exchange for the adults and a select number of gifts for all the children. The adults in my family started pooling it all into one single big item for a certain amount to avoid all the sock-presents and shopping. Then we decided people could just get it themselves. Then we scrapped the fixed dollar amount. So now everybody just buy a special thing they want and show and tell it.
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Dec 4, 2017 23:46
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If you don't like Christmas gift exchange, don't do it. Presumably you are an adult, time to start defining and enforcing boundaries on your time and effort. To me the whole endeavor is obviously net negative on utility so I don't do it.
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Dec 5, 2017 00:26
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- hi
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My family instituted DIY Christmas and it's the best thing to happen to my family since my parents decided not to get a divorce.
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Dec 5, 2017 03:34
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HEY NONG MAN posted:My family instituted DIY Christmas and it's the best thing to happen to my family since my parents decided not to get a divorce. how does that work? I'm intrigued. my thing has always been trying to get someone something they'll use every day.
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Dec 5, 2017 03:35
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The basic premise is that you only give gifts when it's something you yourself made. My family is fairly crafty so it works.
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Dec 5, 2017 04:51
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This is my wife's first Christmas so I have to catch her all up on the lore. She didn't know about Mrs. Claus until this morning!
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Dec 5, 2017 04:57
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Mrs Claus is a no good ho.
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Dec 5, 2017 05:00
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Cicero posted:This belongs in the BWM thread: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3819120 This has got to be somewhat common. I know at least two people who do this every year. It might be more for all I know, but these are the two who I'm close enough with that they're comfortable blabbing about their finances to me. One guy routinely pushes himself to the point where he's stressed for months after Christmas about the possibility of an unexpected $100 expense completely destroying him.
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Dec 5, 2017 05:13
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HEY NONG MAN posted:Mrs Claus is a no good ho-ho-ho
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Dec 5, 2017 05:33
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Paradoxish posted:This has got to be somewhat common. I know at least two people who do this every year. It might be more for all I know, but these are the two who I'm close enough with that they're comfortable blabbing about their finances to me. One guy routinely pushes himself to the point where he's stressed for months after Christmas about the possibility of an unexpected $100 expense completely destroying him. We limit our gifts to 20-30 euros per person and then usually it's for each others kids, not the adults. I also make some stuff myself sometimes, like end grain cutting boards.
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Dec 5, 2017 07:06
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christmas is an evil holiday
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Dec 5, 2017 07:14
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Gumbel2Gumbel posted:how does that work? I'm intrigued. DIY Christmas or divorce?
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Dec 5, 2017 07:19
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pokemon posted:christmas is an evil holiday Well yes, it's a holiday to capitalist jesus birthday.
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Dec 5, 2017 07:52
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pokemon posted:christmas is an evil holiday We're evil people,so that's fitting.
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Dec 6, 2017 21:37
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Today I went into a Kohls for the first time in years because they've now become a drop-off point for free Amazon returns. Weird to see a dying department store strengthen Amazon's power even more. However if you return anything to Amazon, they give you a free 25% off coupon to Kohls and we ended up buying some coats for Christmas gifts so I guess the system works?
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Dec 19, 2017 22:26
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Yeah it looks like the current phase of Amazon expansion is assimilating b&m retail chains. This is probably fine.
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Dec 20, 2017 00:12
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FCKGW posted:Today I went into a Kohls for the first time in years because they've now become a drop-off point for free Amazon returns. Kohl's is one of those places you don't buy anything with less than a 25% off coupon, usually see 30, 40, or more.
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Dec 20, 2017 00:15
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Sears continues to flail:http://fortune.com/2017/12/14/sears-die-hard-amazon/ posted:Sears Holdings said on Thursday it has begun selling jump starters, battery chargers, and maintainers under its DieHard brand on Amazon.com, its latest move to squeeze out whatever value it can from its once dominant brands while its retail business continues to free fall. Toys R Us is more accepting of the writing on the wall: http://fortune.com/2017/12/18/toys-r-us-closing-stores/ posted:Toys “R” Us Inc., which filed for bankruptcy in September, is considering closing at least 100 U.S. stores in the face of weak holiday sales, according to people with knowledge of the situation.
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Dec 20, 2017 01:44
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Toy R us are going into administration in the UK in January and everything is being shut down. 2600 unemployed, but the reason it’s January and not now isn’t because of Christmas, but because they need to sort out their pensions which is slightly less poo poo for them.
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Dec 20, 2017 08:39
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learnincurve posted:Toy R us are going into administration in the UK in January and everything is being shut down. 2600 unemployed, but the reason it’s January and not now isn’t because of Christmas, but because they need to sort out their pensions which is slightly less poo poo for them. Funny thing, Toys "R" Us is doing just fine in Denmark (Franchise), probably because it's much safer to buy toys in a store, where you can actually get a feel for it. I bought a nerfgun for my nephew a few months ago, and it was a normal day, full of people. So yeah, funny thing.
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Dec 20, 2017 13:26
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I suspect toys R us in the U.K. are operating at a massive loss as they are only to be found on those big trading estates and usually have a big Argos (box warehouse thing) next door or within driving distance. Check out toys in real life, pop next door to Argos and pick it up cheaper or order it to your house from your phone - oddly enough Argos are even beating amazon at their own game by being cheaper on many items and doing same day delivery. Amusingly, they even sell Amazon’s own e-readers and tablets and match the discounts.
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Dec 20, 2017 13:49
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K-Mart is a perfectly functional store chain in Australia. Franchisees may thrive and perhaps outlive the mothership if their management and conditions are better. Reminds me that we're seeing a ton of franchise food places shut down in Australia because of horrible exploitative behaviour from the owning company. I miss Donut King.
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Dec 20, 2017 15:03
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How much longer until parents can apply their newborn children with Amazon Prime like it's Social Security? Is six months too young to burn a
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Dec 20, 2017 15:11
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We bought all my son's toys at Toys R Us this year. It was more fun to go to the actual store and get a feel for the toys and you knew they weren't some weird knock off (he wanted some Power Ranger Ninja Steel stuff). I guess I'm saying that I don't want our TRU to close, because I like it.
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Dec 20, 2017 15:48
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RagnarokZ posted:Funny thing, Toys "R" Us is doing just fine in Denmark (Franchise), probably because it's much safer to buy toys in a store, where you can actually get a feel for it. I bought a nerfgun for my nephew a few months ago, and it was a normal day, full of people. Same here in Iceland. I don't know about their profits, but every time I've visited the store is full and looking healthy (or as healthy as a giant retail space can appear, lol)
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Dec 20, 2017 15:53
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What are the stores like in places where they're successful? I feel like an issue with the North American incarnation is they're all giant, standalone stores located in the precise middle of Assfuck Nowhere. You can't just pop in as you're doing something else, and it lacks the versatility of something like WalMart or Ikea that makes it a worthwhile place to bother going. If the stores were smaller and located in malls or near other shops, they'd probably be much busier.
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Dec 20, 2017 15:57
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UK: Picture a parking lot slightly outside of towns and cities, or next to existing shopping centres (malls) with big box shaped buildings on 3 sides of it.
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Dec 20, 2017 16:06
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Every Toys R Us I've ever seen in the US has been in a standalone building just a lot or two away from a major shopping center or mall. It'd surely be a lot more convenient if they were attached to the mall, sure; but I wouldn't characterize it as them being out "in the middle of nowhere".
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Dec 20, 2017 16:12
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Inescapable Duck posted:K-Mart is a perfectly functional store chain in Australia. Franchisees may thrive and perhaps outlive the mothership if their management and conditions are better.
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Dec 20, 2017 16:39
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biznatchio posted:Every Toys R Us I've ever seen in the US has been in a standalone building just a lot or two away from a major shopping center or mall. It'd surely be a lot more convenient if they were attached to the mall, sure; but I wouldn't characterize it as them being out "in the middle of nowhere". I've mostly seen them in strip malls with other big box stores. 
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Dec 20, 2017 17:05
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Making a special trip to a toy store doesn't make sense in modern parenting. If the kids want something specific, order it online. If you just want to reward them by saying they can pick something out, the supermarket has toys. Why would you subject yourself to a big box store full of toys and the inevitable tantrums? RIP Toys'r'Us.
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Dec 20, 2017 17:25
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The supermarket doesn't have toys. If they do the toys suck and are garbage tier.
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Dec 20, 2017 17:51
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Is there an equivalent in the US to Canadian Tire? They have a bunch of toys and stuff, but also other things which are useful. As much as they piss me off sometimes, there's a lot of stuff you can buy there if you need it.
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Dec 20, 2017 17:55
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Depends on what you mean by 'supermarket'. And I'm not sure the Australian experience translates to the American one. Though I've mentioned that when it comes to brand name toys, a Barbie, Transformer, or My Little Pony ordered from Amazon isn't going to be any different from one you buy in a store as long as it's the same name and line, the majority of toy brands are pretty good at branding and marketing, and kids have nothing better to do than browse online catalogues to figure out exactly what they want.
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Dec 20, 2017 17:56
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