One of the signs of impending old age is that it gets to be more fun to give presents than to receive them. I don’t remember exactly when this started happening to me, but I definitely became aware of it once I crossed into my forties. To be fair, part of it is due to being able to buy pretty much anything I want/need for myself. At least anything that anyone else would ever consider buying and giving to me as gift. I’m incredibly picky about things like clothing and jewelry, so I’d rather just choose them myself. My husband and I came to an agreement a few years back (at my suggestion) that we would not give each other anything other than cards and token gifts for the standard occasions. So for my birthday this year I received a copy of Sh*t My Dad Says and for our anniversary it was a really nice mechanical pencil for doing crossword puzzles. I loved them both.
Okay, I sense the men in the audience applauding and the women groaning. But it was just as hard for me to find cool gifts for my husband as it was for him to pick something out for me. So it made sense to just cease and desist. It takes the pressure off and we can just enjoy the occasion rather than stressing out about the presents. And I do stress out about buying gifts. It’s really important to me to find gifts that suit the recipient and will be appreciated. I don’t like copping out and giving giftcards either, although I have resorted to it on a few occasions.
I purchase a lot of gifts when we travel. In some respects it’s risky, because I’m giving something that obviously can’t be returned or exchanged. But I usually do it for people I know really well and who don’t have the opportunity to travel themselves, like my mom. I’m pretty good at it, judging by the reactions. Unless I’m underestimating their acting skills.
I don’t have a lot of people to buy gifts for, so I can afford to be extremely picky about it. My brother and I agreed many years ago not to exchange gifts. My mom is really easy to buy for. My dad is impossible, of course, so I have to get pretty creative there. My brother has a step daughter and son, with three kids of their own. I buy Christmas gifts for all the members of the family and birthday gifts for the kids. (I’ve never been big on buying birthday presents for adults) The little ones are easy – the four year old (our goddaughter) gets adorable dresses and the baby gets cute baby clothes.
Their oldest son turns 13 in two weeks, which is a really tricky age. He’s obviously not a child anymore, but he’s not an adult yet either. When he was younger, I got in the habit of buying clothes for him. Their grandparents and parents always provided a lot of toys, so I didn’t really want to compete there. Plus, kids always need new clothes. Of course, buying clothes for a 13 year old is a lot harder than a 7 year old. Fortunately, he is really into skate board brands and cool shoes, so I’ve managed to keep finding things he likes. I gave him his present early this year, since we won’t be back in Phoenix until late Oct or early Nov and I thought early was better than late.
He opened the packages in front of us and almost immediately tried everything on except for the T-shirt. (black leather Converse high-tops, dark skinny jeans and a funky hoodie that zips all the way up to show a pair of sunglasses and mouth that you can see and breathe through) Judging by his reaction, everything was a hit. So my status as the cool aunt is still intact.
Now I just need to start working on Christmas presents.