I also do this. I'm hard to buy gifts for (I tend to be very picky and have generally expensive hobbies), so I think it's polite.
UKCasual
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See I'd consider myself quite easy to buy gifts for but that's just because I'd be genuinely excited to just get a a gift card to a yarn shop or something! But my family don't consider gift cards as "real" presents, so I have to get more specific.
My list is:
Weed
Rum
And it has been for 20 years.
Just buy me one of those please, I never have enough of either and I'll really appreciate it.
Nobody ever buys me weed, so I get my own for Xmas and drink all the free rum, or "Christmas Spirit" as I call it
I respect the elegant simplicity.
I'm hard to buy for as I just get what I need during the year when I need/want it and not really fussed about unnecessary crap so everybody just buys me rum, it's great! Means I don't have to buy any myself for a few months and they sometimes get me nicer or more interesting stuff than I'd buy myself. My wife often gets me a rum advent calendar which is great to find new rums!
Yup this exactly. I remember my friends got me a fancy rum for my birthday so I cracked it there and then and poured shots. Good times!
My mum still likes to buy her adult kids something, although usually we direct her to an Amazon wishlist we use as a sort of 'I want this, I'll buy it eventually...maybe' list.
She's going to spend the money, she enjoys doing it and as much as I don't ask for it, it doesn't hurt to have something to open on the day, especially as all of our money goes on the two kids.
Yeah that's basically how I treat my list, I'll occasionally get to treat myself to something from it but it's just a general "if I had the disposable, this would be mine" list.
Easy to fill up with things at all different price points because I've got way too many hobbies, although sadly nobody has gone for the "I would like to meet a sloth" item yet. Maybe one day!
Last year my 5yo niece asked for a pikachu, so of course I looked at my mom and asked santa the same thing. Easy list making
We kind of do this, but a bit less formal. The way I see it, if you don't have some kind of list, you end up buying crap you don't want for each other. Better to either agree not to gift or provide a short list like you do. I'm in my 50s, so I'm definitely not a kid anymore!
Exactly! My mam is the type to go out in the January sales, buy a load of pointless tat that catches her eye, and keep it in a cupboard all year until finally just giving it out at mostly random to her various children and niblings. The list sometimes feels like I'm being a bit demanding, but on the other hand it does help cut down on the amount of random pink makeup bags, gross year-old hot chocolate sets and non-vegetarian snacks despite the fact I've been veggie for 25 years she seems to send over ever year.