Gift Buying

Can I just say first that I'm having a really hard time with the weather since I've been back in the north! I mean be cold enough for sweatshirts or hot enough for tank tops, I'm not a tshirt person nor do I plan to be, and picking a shoe? Please! Were not even a week back into real shoe wearing and my feet are covered in blisters, I'm whining and Jason is making some ridiculous suggestion about wearing sneakers and capris? I mean really? The struggle is real folks!

Anyways.....

I take gift buying extremely serious, for each and every occasion I try really hard to find the perfect gift, even if it's less meaningful but what is most wanted/needed! It's not easy and I find as the years go on it's gets harder and harder, what do you buy when people have everything?

We live in an age and day of convenience! Let's be honest for the most part if we want something we buy it, we find a way to obtain it even if it means putting it on a credit card you don't have the money to pay off (side note: don't do this, credit cards have always scared me so I can't say I'm speaking from experience but they can get you in big trouble). When people have everything the perfect gift seems a lot less attainable.

I hate giving gift cards (getting not so much) they seem so in personal and the monetary value is staring you right in the face when it's the least important thing! I feel like when giving a gift the effort is far more important then the gift itself and generally in a pinch I still manage to do quite well but lately I feel defeated!

I feel like more meaningful gifts are hard to find, people don't have the room for the things purchased, the money isn't there for extras, the effort and reason behind the gift giving has disappeared! Why do we give gifts in the first place? We give gifts in celebration! Birthday are meant to celebrate ones birth, their life and their future, that's a really big deal! My Dad is turning 60 this year and that's a big deal, no gift would truly show him how grateful I am, how lucky I feel that he is my Dad therefore I feel as though everything is completely inadequate. What I maybe failed to mention is we also share a birthday, hello best gift ever!! I mean truly how could I top my birthday on the same day as his, but a gift must be given and the reality is we live in different places and sharing our birthday in person just isn't always possible so I try to buy something extra special!

My hubby is turning 30, I also think that's a big deal (it obviously is to him as well as he's in complete denial!). Jason is the hardest person to buy for, with my dad I know I could buy/make him anything and he would love it and appreciate it because I gave it to him, Jason not so much. If Jason doesn't like something he'll tell you and I will admit over the years I tend to strike out more often then not because he has everything, our lifestyle doesn't provide the room for a lot of stuff (apartments are small, but I suppose we have the house now). It's just hard!!

Between now and Christmas I have a lot of important birthdays and I don't have a clue what to get and I hate to buy things strictly for the sake of buying something. This stresses me out! On top of that I've been on Jason to really start thinking about Christmas and start buying!

Christmas is always the worst for gift giving because it's more than one gift at a time and in my family we mostly have birthdays around Christmas! We live away and therefore we have to ship gifts which leaves us under a bigger time crunch because the postal service slows down times 10 around the holidays, especially internationally, so this year were getting a head start! Or so I would like to think!

I think the significance of gift giving is gone and we either over think it and don't put enough effort in and it shows! These things we celebrate are important and gifts aren't what they are necessarily about but if you're going to give one why not make it good?

Do you have a great gift idea? A great gift you once gave that was loved? Gifts you are thinking for purchasing for a loved one this year? How a sister out would ya!!