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Do you prefer store-bought gifts or handmade gifts?


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With the holidays approaching, I was wondering what people preferred receiving store-bought gifts or handmade gifts. Also, do you prefer giving store bought gifts or making gifts for others?

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Depends. My family when I was in my teens did a homemade only gift xmas.. and honestly I think most of us just threw the stuff we got away. That isn't to say I don't give most xmas gifts away to goodwill, because I do. But unless something is useful or incredibly appropriate for the recipient, I feel like most gifts are just junk that will get tossed. If not right away, it'll sit in one spot unused for a year or two and then get tossed.



I think the emphasis on homemade stuff over store bought to combat the commercialization of holidays is overrated and mostly misguided. If you want to get someone a gift, put some thought into it and get the most appropriate thing you can, regardless of the source. If you think that means getting an organ cluster from an endangered species in Madagascar, so be it. If it means buying a pair of Nikes from Walmart to make your loved ones eyes sparkle, more power to you.




I like to give books that I know the recipient will never read, along with a smug and condescending glance that imparts the same.

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I agree with Larry. I know I can absolutely guarantee that I will receive an Amazon.com gift card from my brother, some sweaters from my mother, and my grandmother will most likely knit me slippers. I can buy whatever I like from Amazon, I'll wear the sweaters that my mother gets me since I don't really shop for clothes, and I wear the hell out of the crocheted slippers from my Nonna, since I'll be getting another pair the next year.


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Handmade doesn't necessarily equate to 'homemade' and whatever that implies.



If you don't already know it, there is an amazing online site called "Etsy" where you can buy just about anything that you can think of. Or have it made if it doesn't already exist.



A lot of really beautiful and unique stuff.


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I think it all depends. I ask my kids to draw cards for their grandparents, aunts amd uncles and we give hand made xmas cards.

For my parents and my grandmother I make a basket up with different herbal teas and home made biscuits (cookies) and other yummy goodies I know they like.

But otherwise its store bought gifts for us. My siblings and their partners and I do a KK and write a wishlist with a set price over under $30 that way we don't spend a fortune and we know we will be getting/ giving something thays wanted.

My kids and neices and nephews are all very vocal about what they want so there will be no thrown away or given away.

Hubby and I just say what we need from the other one and go buy them together so its not surprise pressie or anything.

Usually I think store bought wins over home made unless you are very talented at kniting/building/ something useful.

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I don't really care for impractical stuff. I wear some scarves that I knit, I use an afghan that a family friend made for me, and I have my own artwork on the walls. I like food. I have an active dislike for tchotkies and things that clutter up the place for no good reason. I have zero shelves of things that aren't dishes or books. Ironically, I tend to make such things and then give them away. Or make them and put them in a box.



It felt irritating this past weekend when I was working an art and craft sale (I will never get talked into that again, it was about the least fun weekend I've had all year) and people would ask me a lot of questions about my work and say how pretty it was and then not buy anything, but I realize that I wouldn't have bought it either, no matter how amazing it was, because I don't display things that other people made unless there was special meaning behind it (a yearly xmas gift is not special meaning). I send along a stream of things to my mother, who likes handmade things, but I buy my parents cheese-of-the-month every xmas, which is the greatest gift you can give a person.

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I'll throw in my opinion.

I do both. I crochet and knit, and have done the former for about 25 years at this point (the latter I taught myself a few years back). I typically make the kids of all of our friends special winter hats (since they usually outgrow what they got the year before)- in their favorite colors or special designs. I make my sister a scarf every year because she loves scarves. And my mother and mother-in-law typically get something handmade, but I ask them what they want. I make my own family hats and scarves, but I don't usually save them for Christmas.

Everyone else usually gets something store-bought. My nephews get clothes, for example. I really don't care what I get these days...I don't mind if it's handmade or store-bought, as long as it's useful.

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What on Earth are you all talking about?? I love presents. Bought with labor of work ($) or labor of hand (made) or labor of mind (listening to my crazy ass and giving me some advice) every one of them says "I was thinking of you."

Gifts are great. Happy Holidays you Scrooges.

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I don't appreciate useless craft gifts. I'm glad you have a hobby but that doesn't mean I want to wear your crappy knitwear or display your sophomoric "art". Especially since your "gift" is actually just an excuse for you preen and bore me for hours about your hobby. Why don't you train as a tailor and then let's talk about a hand-made gift.



On the other hand, I love to receive homemade gifts from my son: a card, a sketch, even a video story he records.



But it's not just home-made gifts. Most gifts are crap. My parents and siblings have hardly bought me a decent gift that I can remember. I would be perfectly happy with a single paperback novel or even $10 donated in my name to dig a well in Africa. But instead I get ugly, ill-fitting clothes or over-powering aftershave (which I have never used) or silly attempts at whimsical toys. At some point it just shows that you are paying zero attention to the recipient.



I enjoy when I can connect with my parents and siblings over the holidays. I just wish they would listen about not needing to bother with gifts. It's about spending time with them, not the reflexive compulsion to throw a gift at everyone.



My wife's family just give each other cash and gift certificates. It still seems strange to me but they all enjoy each other's gifts much more than my family. And I enjoy the Amazon gift certificate I always get.


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I don't appreciate useless craft gifts. I'm glad you have a hobby but that doesn't mean I want to wear your crappy knitwear or display your sophomoric "art". Especially since your "gift" is actually just an excuse for you preen and bore me for hours about your hobby. Why don't you train as a tailor and then let's talk about a hand-made gift.

Haha, I feel now like I need to clarify that I have an art degree and am paid for my work, even though it's not my main job.

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I don't have a carpentry degree, I am a math teacher, but I have always been pretty handy and good at woodworking. Like Eponine, I have sold a lot of woodworking/crafting items. Even though I have made a lot of the wood furniture in our house, I really appreciate the bookshelf my friend made us for our wedding (something I could have made myself).



We tore down the barn where my grandpa grew up two summers ago and I have used the reclaimed wood to make things like picture frames, chests, bookshelves, signs, crosses, etc. that I think are meaningful to my mom, aunts, cousins, uncles, and grandpa. I know my mother appreciates those things a lot more than a store bought gift.



I also make traditional longbows (flatbows technically) starting from a live tree. There are a lot of bowhunters in my family and I have given them as wedding presents or graduation presents. Again these are items that I have sold for up to $300 so they seem to really be appreciated by the recipient. Of course I know my audience pretty well and am pretty certain of whether or not they would want the item I am making.



Sometimes I am asked if I can make something and how much it would cost, then lo and behold it shows up as a gift instead. I find it a little awkward to charge family/friends for handcrafted things


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It depends. If someone makes something, it does feel like they really thought about me, instead of just picking up a bath set from the supermarket. I hate bath sets. I don't tend to have baths, I have sensitive skin, and I'm allergic to lavender, which seems to be in every bloody bath set I get.



But if someone spends some time choosing a gift, from my wishlist or a store, and genuinely thinks I'll love it, then that's great too.



My friend's mum knitted me a scarf last year. I hadn't received something like that since my Nan died, and I love it. She put in all my favourite colours, and scarves are always useful. I wish I was any good at making stuff. My SO and I made each other anniversary cards last year, and picture collages or word clouds are something I'm good at, and like to give to people.


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It depends. If someone makes something, it does feel like they really thought about me, instead of just picking up a bath set from the supermarket. I hate bath sets. I don't tend to have baths, I have sensitive skin, and I'm allergic to lavender, which seems to be in every bloody bath set I get.

But if someone spends some time choosing a gift, from my wishlist or a store, and genuinely thinks I'll love it, then that's great too.

My friend's mum knitted me a scarf last year. I hadn't received something like that since my Nan died, and I love it. She put in all my favourite colours, and scarves are always useful. I wish I was any good at making stuff. My SO and I made each other anniversary cards last year, and picture collages or word clouds are something I'm good at, and like to give to people.

I hate bath sets, too XD

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I'm like a lot of the others -- I don't really have a preference on an inherent basis, but I do prefer to avoid useless clutter. But as Lily says, any gift is something nice and thoughtful that the giver didn't have to do, and I appreciate it regardless.

My birthday and the holidays are coming up, and people are starting to ask me what I want. I'm at the point in my life where if I need something I've probably already bought it, and even if not I feel super tacky saying "buy me this." I still haven't really figured out how to reply to these questions. I maintain an Amazon wishlist, but even providing that link feels kind of no-class.

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I prefer store bought gifts to buy and receive. I just can't recall a handmade gift that I've gotten use out of.



However, I wouldn't be opposed to a nice painting. Unfortunately, I'm not chummy enough with any artists that would consider making me a Christmas gift.


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I'm like a lot of the others -- I don't really have a preference on an inherent basis, but I do prefer to avoid useless clutter. But as Lily says, any gift is something nice and thoughtful that the giver didn't have to do, and I appreciate it regardless.

My birthday and the holidays are coming up, and people are starting to ask me what I want. I'm at the point in my life where if I need something I've probably already bought it, and even if not I feel super tacky saying "buy me this." I still haven't really figured out how to reply to these questions. I maintain an Amazon wishlist, but even providing that link feels kind of no-class.

My SO's brother hates Amazon wishlists. I think they're extremely useful - there are always books I want that I haven't managed to pick up yet, or DVDs that I haven't been bothered to buy. It also provides a variety of gifts that people on different budgets can buy, plus it can stop you getting two of the same gift. And it eliminates the whole "you're so hard to buy for, I have no idea what to get you!" bullshit.

My birthday is a week before Christmas, so people have a whole years' worth of items to choose from.

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The only people with whom I exchange xmas presents of any substance are my parents. I don't have siblings, my husband's parents and I exchange something like chocolate or wine (which are wonderful gifts, IMO), and we might get a $10 Hanukkah gift if we have a holiday dinner with his extended family. I might give something small to a few friends (I'd be glad to give you an origami ball since I don't know what to do with the damn things :) ) but nothing expected or large.


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I hate bath sets, too XD

People love Christmas shopping for me, because I love bath sets, or.they can always buy me.a book :p I'm easy to shop for really because I don't care what I get.

In terms of buying stuff for other people, I generally try to go for something I know will be appreciated. For example, I know my Nanna loves a handmade card and boxes of homebaked goods, but I traditionally buy my parents a classic book each, plus some other bits and pieces they need

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