How to buy presents
Magazines are awash with gift ideas at this time of year. But by understanding HOW to buy for loved ones, the WHAT becomes much easier.
We’ve all got one. Actually I have three – which is why I come to be writing about this topic now, as I like to claim a certain level of expertise on the subject. That is: the person who is really difficult to buy presents for.
Now this can be for a variety of reasons, the simplest being that they have everything they want already. You can break this down further - many older adults feel they have everything they need; others are wealthy enough to buy what they want moments after the realisation that they have spotted a gap in their possessions.
Then there are the others - the men - and as I live with three I feel qualified to say that it often is men - who decide they want something and buy it. Just like that. My husband has literally come home from work on 23 December with a thing he has just bought himself. I, on the other hand, will stop buying books, notepads and pens from about September so that if someone enquires what I want I can be sure to offer up an affordable solution.
It’s not as greedy as it may sound. At 56 I don’t want what I don’t want. I’d rather give a focused answer, and know I will love the result, than feign delight at a thing I don’t. I’m also equally happy for everyone to club together to buy the one thing I will love and use forever rather than 10 smaller things I won’t. My 22-year-old son is the same, and while he slightly broke my heart when he announced he no longer wanted a Christmas stocking it was for the same reason; he wants the thing he wants and can’t be bothered with the rest of it.
So after years of agonising, I have come up with a system. This was also honed in response to years of magazines telling me what to buy for the foodie (if it’s any good or remotely affordable he’s already got it) the gardener (likewise) the fashion lover (almost impossible to second-guess the nuances of what will please and what will offend). I never fall into any of those categories, unless you count friend over 50 and even then I’ll probably dislike it on principle.
This, then, is my system and it works for all budgets. So you can breathe already.