Christmas Shopping

Discussion in 'Shopping & Sales' started by Ken Anderson, Dec 17, 2015.

  1. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    How has technology changed the way that you shop for Christmas? For me, it all depends on whether I allow procrastination to have its way with me or not. Most years, there is just my wife and I here for Christmas, so we don't buy a lot of gifts to set under the tree. Anything we buy for anyone else, such the grandchildren, are purchased online and drop-shipped, and my wife takes care of all of that. One year, I was at the mall on Christmas Eve, frantically trying to think of something she might like.

    For the last couple of years, I bought my wife's presents online far ahead of time, and had them ready. This year, I put it off and had to drive to Bangor today to go shopping. Being just over a week before Christmas, I expected things to be busy at the mall but it wasn't, really. I found a parking space near the door and had no one in line ahead of me at any of the places I went.

    As a pleasant surprise, I found that I had a Sears card that I didn't remember that had a lot of points on it, so I didn't have to pay anything for what I bought at Sears. I was going to buy her a new ring at Sears since I know she's been wanting one, but two salespeople were hovering over me like they expected me to break the glass and run off with something, so I gave up on that idea. I opened a Penny's account for the 20% off there, and found one that I think she'll like.

    I have been joking about buying her a snow shovel so that she could take over shoveling the driveway and sidewalks, and I bought one, wrapped it up, and put it alongside the tree, since it won't fit under. She'll figure out what it is quickly enough and be mad at me until Christmas, but that's okay. I also bought her some nice gloves, a couple of pairs of warm socks, and a wrap (that was more expensive that I thought it was going to be) to go along with the snow shoveling theme. The ring is at the bottom of the box that has the socks in it.
     
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    Last edited: Dec 17, 2015
  2. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    I'll mention this because I just thought of it, and it fits with the Christmas Shopping heading. When we were kids, my father would give us each a hundred dollars to go Christmas shopping for everyone else in the family, and the more conscientious of us would have saved some money throughout the year as well, since there were seven of us in the family, counting our parents, and a hundred dollars didn't go quite that far even then. One year, one of my older brothers (three years older than me) spent the hundred dollars on stuff for himself, wrapping it up and saying it was from Santa. I think he was hoping that no one would notice that he had an unusually large number of gifts for himself and that no one had gotten anything from him, but he was busted.
     
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  3. Holly Saunders

    Holly Saunders Supreme Member
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    Oh yes I definitely don't trawl the shops anymore looking for Christmas gifts...I tend to buy just about everything online..altho' I may pop into a department store earlier in the year and buy something to put away fro Christmas..but this close, definitely no..everything is bought online, one.. because being employed I just don't have the time or inclination to battle with crowds on my days off, and 2 because it's soo much easier, to look and read reviews about an item and search for the best prices online. Also because my immediate family live abroad, it's so much easier and cheaper to get gifts sent directly to them from an online source..
     
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  4. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    I only buy for the grandsons and those I bought at the beginning of December on Amazon and shipped to Illinois

    Was going to get my daughter's sons, the two oldest some kind of gift card but my daughter said not to get them anything, they don't need it and I do....they are just happy that grandma is coming and will make them big breakfasts.
     
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  5. Ruby Begonia

    Ruby Begonia Supreme Member
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    Online and Costco. I don't have many to buy for. I picked up deals on a few items at Costco as I was there for some grocery items anyway, got a few things online and now just need to pick up 2 Starbuck's gift cards.
     
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  6. Corie Henson

    Corie Henson Veteran Member
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    Although it's over, the memory of my Christmas shopping still lingers. We were in Hongkong in November and I did some shopping there for the Christmas gifts particularly the small items. In December, we had a trip to Singapore and I did likewise, buying some gift items in the biggest mall called Mustafa. And before Christmas, I went to the local mall here to finish my shopping list. It was tiring but the purchases in our trips abroad definitely lessened the burden of my Christmas shopping.
     
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