She has no idea how to listen throughout the year on stuff. I pay constant attention to things she wants, and I do all my homework on the products. My wife says I buy everything I want, yet I've wanted a blu-ray player every year since we've been together, and she has never got me one. Nobody has. I have bought one for my son's room that crapped out and one that I had to return because it didn't play blu-rays. I own several Blu-rays and own a movie collection that is well over 300 movies. I might just want a freaking blu-ray player for the living room. I've got an empty wall space in my office for a picture. I've mentioned multiple times that I want a picture to go there to match the other picture next to it, but she never remembers it. I don't want to tell her because it takes all the fun out of it. I want to be surprised.
Well I am a woman and if I were married I would LOVE a Sephora gift card from my husband. But I shop there a lot and I like to choose my own gifts. I was just giving my own personal opinion. But Im not married. All he said was he has 75.00 to spend on a gift, so I thought of 2 things I would do with $75.
As a rule, I think gift cards are a cop out. It reduces the whole thing to a transaction. Same thing with asking the other person what they want directly. Not to get all weird, but part of the deal with giving a gift to someone close to you is showing that you know and care enough about them to understand what they need or what they would like. I give cash or gift cards to my nieces and nephews that I see maybe three times a year. Someone close to you deserves something more personal.
Some people aren't like that though. Though the right gift will always beat a gift card. Problem is some people are too difficult to please. My stepmom is that way.
You are reducing it to a transaction. Fine, I guess, for you but it seems kind of tawdry to me. The act of caring and giving is what it is supposed to be about, not the actual exact perfect gift. Hopefully, you have enough respect for them to at least pretend they did well. If not, fine too. I don't mean to be the Gift Nazi. I am just trying to express my opinion that the whole process in practice seems too impersonal to me, but I'm sure there are people who think all sorts of things I do are impersonal and distant. I understand what you are saying. When I say it is a cop out, I don't mean that it is beyond the pale. But I'm guessing if you really look at it, you may have affection for your stepmother, you probably don't feel terribly close to her - she isn't the first person you'd go to to confide a personal problem or something. There's some distance there - just as with my niece and nephew. I'm all about getting them a gift card. There's no point in pretending an intimate personal relationship with someone where none exists. But I hope your father doesn't give her a gift card. Also, as I kind of hinted, in my mind if the person receiving the gift is grumpy if you don't get them exactly what they had on their secret list, then they are the ones depersonalizing it by not acknowledging the thought behind the gift, and "it takes two to tango". It isn't a personal moment between you, but it is by their choice, not yours.
Gift Cards are usually not good, but occasionally they are okay. Good- A gift card to like a spa or some other place for her to get pampered. Okay- A gift card to a store you know she loves. (always better to go and get something from said store) Bad - A gift card to a generic store (i.e. amazon) Really Bad - a gift card to a cheap place (i.e. Walmart) Awful- A Visa/American Express/Mastercard gift card (its like giving cash) Even worse than that - A gift card to a store that only YOU love. For example if I got my wife a gift card for Texans stuff (my wife hates football).
I was talking about for me. I don't give her anything. My dad would buy her stuff and she was never happy. She wanted gift cards and always loved when she got them from him. They are getting a divorce right now. He didn't like the idea of giving gift cards either, which is why he tried to give gifts at first, but it wore on him. He had the same stance as you. I have that same stance. My wife only gets gift cards in her stocking, and those are always as part of a deal. I usually let my mom give her a gift card if I'm focused on her desire to buy new clothes. There are just people that aren't like you, or me. They don't understand the importance of the gift is to show you care, not to trade money.
Good - Definitely. Something for a service you have to give a gift card for. Can be a primary gift, just not every year. Okay - Victoria's secret. Secondary gift. I don't think Amazon is bad if it is specific, i.e. for Kindle books. They just also fall into secondary gifts. Bad - Cash gift card Awful - Wal-Mart. Definitely not okay to give your spouse. BTW, if you want to give cash/gc for a stocking stuffer, consider lotto tickets instead. Get 10 scratch offs and they are likely to win something. I've never met somebody that didn't like them.
I'm now having second thoughts about the Kindle Fire HD. I just don't think my lady will get enough use out of it. The size of it is the other thing...she is always complaining about having to read things on a small screen. Her current laptop is crap, so I think I am going to spend extra $$ and get her a new laptop. Just checked Fry's ad....nothing jumped out at me. Might have to head down there. One question though....what are y'alls thoughts on Lenovo laptops? They are #1 in the world now, but I've never been impressed. If you were going to buy a laptop for someone who would use it mainly for surfing the net and for MS Word, what would you purchase?
I have a Lenovo, it works just fine. Nothing to rave or complain about. It comes with a lot of added Lenovo stuff. Which I really like and comes in handy I spent too much on it though, I regret that. So get the best deal you can!
I think the Lenovo Yoga is really cool. It's a convertible ultrabook - http://www.lenovo.com/products/us/laptop/ideapad/yoga/yoga-13/ http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/07/gift-guide-lenovo-yoga-13/ I personally think that touch is a must have feature now if you're buying a new laptop.
For that I'd just make sure I got an IBM iseries processor. I'm also now a firm believer in making sure you have a number pad. I hate that mine doesn't have one, and as an accountant, it is really terrible.
Wanted to get her a divorce but they are too damn expensive. Love you dear, i was just kidding. [that's for when I accidentally leave the window open and walk away from my iPad]
Dell has a sweet 13" ultra book that is basically a 13" Mac air clone that would be my laptop of choice if I was in the market for a windows laptop. I'm might be getting my daughter one at 799 when they drop the price again in a couple days. First windows pc I will have ever bought. Not a fan of the OS but its not for me.
If you need to keep the price down, Staples has a Toshiba 15" with a keypad for $300. I bought a couple of Toshibas for my sons a few years ago. They are pretty rough on theirs and they have held up pretty well. If you can swing for a touchpad, they also have a ASUS for $550. They do have 18 month no interest if you want to pay $50 a month for 12 months. You might even find a coupon to use but I think most of their coupons exclude computer purchases.
After I told her that I didn't think she would use the Kindle very much if I bought it for her (too small...she's always complaining about display size on her mini-laptop), we went shopping and I bought her a nice sapphire and diamond ring. She'll probably get herself a new laptop after the first of the year. So there you go.....
