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How to buy gifts that people actually want

willpatrick.co.uk

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Re: How to buy gifts that people actually want

#271

Post by willpatrick »

Afton wrote: post #224
willpatrick wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey Afton! Yes, I definitely should have talked more about this. I got close to it once or twice, but it's an omission to be sure. (I have a friend who's big into cycling and is, therefore, impossible to buy cycling gifts for because nothing will cut the mustard.) Basically, I a) wasn't able to find much in the way of research that supported what I wanted to say and b) fumbled this point and should have found a way t…

Nah, you made a thing and put it on the internet! Thanks for doing that. The fact that I didn't find it a complete and exhaustive body of work on the topic absolutely shouldn't be interpreted as a criticism of the article.

Oh dude thank you. Nothing prepares you for hitting the front page of hn when you fully expected it to just disappear. Heartrate through the roof and the sudden 'oh shit!' of wondering whether the article was truly up to snuff or not!

Re: How to buy gifts that people actually want

#272

Post by tempestn »

throwaway2245 wrote: post #212
tempestn wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with that is, when someone receives cash, they will often feel the responsible thing to do is save it. Pay down their bills or add to their investments or whatever. Or even if they don't need the money, just adding it to the bank account and forgetting about it will often be the default action, even if some suggestion came with it. But then it's just a drop in the bucket, and they don't really get to expe…

> The problem with that is, when someone receives cash, they will often feel the responsible thing to do is save it. That's not my experience of giving, receiving, or observing other people giving and receiving cash as a gift. Most people seem (to me) to feel the responsible thing to do is to use the money in the way that the giver wanted for them . Anecdote: My friend who was saving for a house received gift money f…

Certainly I agree that if someone is in real financial hardship a gift of cash is going to be better than a gift card. As for the more general case, my anecdotes differ from yours—I expect that there are plenty of people who fall into both the prefer-cash and prefer-card categories.

Re: How to buy gifts that people actually want

#273

Post by twic »

war1025 wrote: post #70
twic wrote: post #12

The main thing i learned from this article is that there's a remote controlled car that you can control with the N64! If anyone on here is wondering what to get me for christmas, wonder no more.

Was it a car that was controlled through the N64 or simply a cheap remote control car with an N64 logo slapped on it? Based on my history of gifts I've received, I would very much expect that latter.

Argh! I think you're right! Christmas is RUINED.

Re: How to buy gifts that people actually want

#274

Post by throwaway2245 »

tempestn wrote: post #272
throwaway2245 wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The problem with that is, when someone receives cash, they will often feel the responsible thing to do is save it. That's not my experience of giving, receiving, or observing other people giving and receiving cash as a gift. Most people seem (to me) to feel the responsible thing to do is to use the money in the way that the giver wanted for them . Anecdote: My friend who was saving for a house received gift money f…

Certainly I agree that if someone is in real financial hardship a gift of cash is going to be better than a gift card. As for the more general case, my anecdotes differ from yours—I expect that there are plenty of people who fall into both the prefer-cash and prefer-card categories.

Would you (personally) prefer to receive a gift card?

This thread seems to be full of people indicating that they would prefer to give a gift card against other people indicating they would prefer to receive cash (which precisely matches the parent article's points).

Re: How to buy gifts that people actually want

#275

Post by mxuribe »

pbuzbee wrote: post #45
mxuribe wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since around the time of the Great Recession, my siblings, parents, cousins, etc., and I agreed to give gifts to each other only via one of those secret Santa methods with a limit of $40/gift. This has made things so much easier! We only have to gift something to a single recipient, making it less costlier, simplifying the gift idea hassle, and allowing us to focus less on the "shopping bonanza" and more on just enjo…

This is a good idea. A "white elephant" gift exchange is another alternative, though with gifts that are desirable and not just amusing.

I've done "white elephants" at a former job (though i think they called it a "yankee swap"), and that was so much fun! It literally was the highlight of the office holiday party...not so much for coolness of any of the gifts but the fun of all the good-natured scheming! Fun times!

Re: How to buy gifts that people actually want

#276

Post by Smaug123 »

irrational wrote: post #219
cgriswald wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot to unpack here. I think a much better method is to recognize that if you have trouble figuring out a gift for a person, you either haven't put enough thought into it, or you don't know the person as well as you might like. > "I love X author" This is fine as long as you realize they probably own all of author's works and maybe even pre-ordered the latest release. Find something unique (signed copy? firs…

Authors have rivals? What is an example of rival authors?

Nassim Taleb and Philip Tetlock, for modern examples.

Re: How to buy gifts that people actually want

#277

Post by nicbou »

dheera wrote: post #169
nicbou wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly I'm not a big fan of gift cards. The point of gift giving is to show you care, and gift cards feel like you're just trying to fulfil a social obligation without putting much thought into it. I'd rather use them as a last resort, for people I don't know so well.

I'm also not a huge fan of gift cards as logically, gift cards are cash with restrictions, which is worse than cash, and cash isn't a good gift, so by transitivity, gift cards aren't a good gift. The only time I use gift cards are when it needs to be reimbursed as a business expense. Personally as a gift receiver I much prefer receiving things that I couldn't have gotten myself, and preferably edible. Simple homemade…

I still prefer gift cards, because they entice people to use them on non-essential things. I'd throw a 50€ on top of the pile, but I'd use a 50€ gift card for something nice I wouldn't buy otherwise.

Re: How to buy gifts that people actually want

#278

Post by nicbou »

nickjj wrote: post #187
nicbou wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly I'm not a big fan of gift cards. The point of gift giving is to show you care, and gift cards feel like you're just trying to fulfil a social obligation without putting much thought into it. I'd rather use them as a last resort, for people I don't know so well.

I think it depends on how you give it to the person. Think about giving someone a generic gift card without any other information vs. "Hey, I know you're looking to get into art but honestly I have no idea what type of supplies you want, so here's a gift card to buy what you want from xyz art store". I know when I was a kid getting a $50 gift card for some toy store that sold video games was the best thing ever. Your…

Totally! A Modulor (big art store) gift card would force me to buy things I don't usually splurge on. An Amazon gift card would imperceptibly reduce my next order.

Re: How to buy gifts that people actually want

#280

Post by irrational »

Freak_NL wrote: post #254
irrational wrote: post #217

Many years ago (probably about 20) my wife said she didn’t think we should give gifts to each other. Not Christmas, birthdays, anniversary, etc. Nothing. I thought she was crazy, but went along with it sure that she would see the foolishness and change her mind. Well, to my surprise it has turned out to be a fantastic idea. It totally takes the stress out of holidays and other times. If either of us wants something,…

Oh absolutely. Nothing nicer than just buying a gift for your partner when you see something suitable, and not bothering with fixed dates at all.

Oh, you misunderstood. When I said that when we see something we want we just buy it, I meant for ourselves. We don’t buy each other gifts ever.
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