Anyone else's SO do this....

thespeshulestsnowflake

novella1186 said:

Maggie0829 said:

lyndausvi said:

novella1186 said:

lyndausvi said:

Glad I'm not alone.

I've given DH underwear and white t-shirts that he wears under his chef jacket.   He's appreciative, but kind-of disappointed.  Oh well buddy, I would have given you the cool gift but you bought it for yourself instead.

One year i did buy him an Xbox.  I got it for him 3 weeks before xmas and set it up  so when he got home it was ready to go.     No way I would have been able to wait until xmas to give it to him without him buying it himself.  

He also isn't good at setting that stuff up.  It was better for him to just walk into the house have it ready to go.

One year H kept talking about how bad he needed socks, and how his ankles always get cold. So I got him some nice warm cushy socks for the winter that are the taller kind (not super tall, but tall enough to keep his ankles covered). He hated them. The other day, he took that same unopened package of socks out of the back of the closet and dropped it in the Goodwill box, while giving it a nasty look. 

I THOUGHT it would be a good gift. I bought myself a pack of socks last winter and I was so excited for new ones that I jumped on the bed and did a happy dance (I'm a dork like that). But no, apparently this is not a good gift for H at all. No practical gifts for him. And I will NEVER get him socks again. 

sorry, but that was a dick move on his part.  I would be pissed.

I agree.  I mean if they were too tall for him or they moved around a lot when he wore them and he said, thanks for getting me these but they aren't comfortable (or whatever) then that is one thing.  But to basically throw them out with a look of disgust on his face is kind of dickish.

Yeah I was not happy. He pretended to like them when I gave them to him, but I could tell by the look on his face that he didn't. Then I caught him putting them in the Goodwill box with that look on his face and I said, "I KNEW you didn't like them!" (I think they were from our first Christmas so he probably felt weird about telling me he didn't like the gift). He said he was sorry for giving them away, but it's not like I would want him to keep something he doesn't like and won't ever wear. I think we both learned something from that stupid sock incident. 

Novella, at least he noticed. My mom gifted my dad the same package of socks for Christmas, his birthday and Father's Day for almost a decade and he never noticed. He never opened the package and would put it in his cloths pile in their room. So around every holiday she'd grab them and wrap them again. She clued me in about 5 years into it.

[Deleted User]

Yes!  FH always buys things for himself.  I start on him in November to add things to his Amazon wishlist.  He'll add three things that will be "gone" within two days because his mom watches that list like a hawk because he's so hard to shop for.  But then the rest of us are left with nothing to get him.  Hopefully, now that we have a house, this whole thing will be better.  I keep an ongoing list of gift ideas for him and usually send it on to my sister so she has something to get him for Christmas.  Unfortunately they're unimpressive kitchen things like a grease strainer or kitchen timer or cake pan, but they're at least things he'd like and probably eventually use.

redheadbride15

novella1186 said:

mrscomposer said:

J is one of those people who spends two months deciding what kind of cell phone he wants before he actually bites the bullet and buys it, so who the hell knows what he wants - which means that gift cards are actually a better choice.  He's big in to concerts, though, so event tickets are a safe bet with him.

Although - @novella1186 - did you say at one point that you got your H the beer steins from GoT?  J and his brother would lose their minds with those.

Yes! I ordered it a few weeks ago and it's hidden in my office right now because H's birthday is not till September (I ordered it super early cuz I wasn't sure how things would work with overseas shipping and then making sure it wasn't broken when it arrived, etc. I wanted plenty of time for a back-up plan if anything went wrong, but it is awesome!) 

Here's the link: 

http://www.jelldragon.com/beer_mugs.htm

This website is seriously awesome. I think I need to get Viking Drinking Horns for my brothers. And quite possibly a cauldron for myself! Muhahaha!

WinstonsGirl

DH is brutal about this.  And he can afford all the toys he wants.  He has a slight Apple product addiction.  He'll always say he isn't getting the new i______ yet the day they come out I send him a morning e-mail and he replies from the line up at the Apple store.  

He's hard to buy for too, since we don't want to clutter the house with useless junk, but I still like getting him something.  He always gets mad that I'm spending "too much" on him too.  $10 could be too much in his mind

madamerwin

novella1186 said:

mrscomposer said:

J is one of those people who spends two months deciding what kind of cell phone he wants before he actually bites the bullet and buys it, so who the hell knows what he wants - which means that gift cards are actually a better choice.  He's big in to concerts, though, so event tickets are a safe bet with him.

Although - @novella1186 - did you say at one point that you got your H the beer steins from GoT?  J and his brother would lose their minds with those.

Yes! I ordered it a few weeks ago and it's hidden in my office right now because H's birthday is not till September (I ordered it super early cuz I wasn't sure how things would work with overseas shipping and then making sure it wasn't broken when it arrived, etc. I wanted plenty of time for a back-up plan if anything went wrong, but it is awesome!) 

Here's the link: 

http://www.jelldragon.com/beer_mugs.htm

Oh my god, H would LOVE those! 

H is both easy to shop for (because he wants ALL OF THE THINGS and I make mental notes), but also difficult (because he buys himself toys all the time, sometimes before I have a chance to).

I bought him prescription sunglasses for our trip to Mexico, and I was really worried he would buy some himself before I gave them to him. We're friends with our optometrist's receptionist, so she helped me order them, and I told her that if H tried to get sunglasses, to make up some lie about why he couldn't. Luckily, he didn't try to buy some himself, and he only guessed what I got him a half hour before I gave them to him.

He always complains that I am difficult to shop for, mainly because I, unlike him, do NOT want all the things. It's always hard for me to think of gift ideas when he asks, but he always tries his best. He just got me a Coach bag that I absolutely love; not something I would have thought to buy for myself, but it is now replacing every other purse I own.

justsie

FI does this exact thing. He never talks about wanting anything so his mom and I ask for a few items. He used to send us both the same list, but now (thankfully) he sends us different things. Sometimes I will have to really stop him from buying something by pointing out its on the list. A few times that hasn't stopped him. So yeah, definetly not alone in this one OP!

[Deleted User]

novella1186 said:

abcdevonn said:

FI never waits to buy anything he wants, so getting him a gift is generally impossible. I've started getting creative and just getting him weird and semi-useful things he wouldn't buy for himself.

Can you give some examples? H isn't too difficult to buy for, but both our dads do the whole buying themselves stuff we were about to get them as gifts thing, and it drives everyone nuts. For father's day, my dad got brownies. Done and done. 

Ah sorry! I was hit by a storm and haven't had power for over 24 hours!

Usually I buy FI books or other odds and ends that fall in line with his interests. For example, he was recently on a huge Wes Anderson kick, so I bought him a book that talked all about Wes Anderson and his films and his career, etc. (FI also works in TV/film so he loves anything that discusses editing techniques, which this book did). FI loves birds, so if I see a shirt with birds on it, he gets it. Or a cool old photo or painting of birds. That sort of stuff. He would never buy any of that for himself--he WOULD and DOES buy tons of photography stuff and other clothes in general, so I just have to get a little creative.

ETA: Also, Dads are impossible to buy for. Until VERY recently, my dad did not have a hobby at all. (He just bought a boat.) So I usually got him nicer shirts, which he never wears because he is an electrician and gets dirty everyday and when we go out somewhere nice he pretty much always wears the same shirt. The rest sit in his closet.