Boston Nesties
bostonbaker
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Poll: Holiday Gifts
I know I'm probably a little early with this poll but I am so bored and the board is so slow.
Have you bought any Christmas/Hannukah/etc gifts yet? If so what?
Do you exchange gifts with coworkers? If so, what are you doing this year?
Does your extended family do a Yankee swap type exchange, or a gift for every person from every person/couple?
Any gift ideas that you are psyched about this year and want to share as inspiration for the rest of us?
What was the best gift you ever gave someone?
Re: Poll: Holiday Gifts
Have you bought any Christmas/Hannukah/etc gifts yet? If so what? Yes. I was out shopping one day and saw a marble cheese board that was perfect for my mom. She has been wanting one for a while so I scooped it up and am saving it for Christmas. I might give it to her for Hannukah (my family celebrates both) so she can use it for entertaining for (almost) all of December. Also, technically DH and I already gave each other our big Christmas gift, since we agreed to make our vacation in September be our birthday/anniversary/Christmas gifts for the year.
Do you exchange gifts with coworkers? If so, what are you doing this year? Yes, we usually exchange small things like candy or gifts under $10. I've been baking cookies and putting them in holiday tins as gifts for the last few years and I think I'll keep up with that this year.
Does your extended family do a Yankee swap type exchange, or a gift for every person from every person/couple? A gift for everyone from everyone. It is out of control.
Any gift ideas that you are psyched about this year and want to share as inspiration for the rest of us? No, but I'm hoping someone else has one
What was the best gift you ever gave someone? Non-material, I came home and surprised my mom Christmas eve, the first year that I was supposed to spend it with DH (then FI)'s family. She was sooo down about it that we decided a week before to book me a plane ticket and not tell her. I showed up at 10pm just as she was leaving me a sad voicemail about how it just wasn't the same without me there. She went from depressed to ecstatic and was sooo thrilled. She said DH "saved Christmas" by sending me home for her. For a material gift, I'm not sure. I'll think about it and edit my response if I come up with something.
Aww, baker, that gift to your mom was so sweet!
Have you bought any Christmas/Hannukah/etc gifts yet? If so what? Sort of. I'm planning on crocheting a few gifts this year and I've been working on this one afghan for nearly a month now. I'm pretty sick of it, I have to admit, but I'm the type of crafter that needs to finish one project before moving on to the next, at least as far as yarn work goes.
Do you exchange gifts with coworkers? If so, what are you doing this year? Nope. I pretty much have always worked with all guys in a pretty buttoned-up industry so it would come across as a little weird to exchange gifts.
Does your extended family do a Yankee swap type exchange, or a gift for every person from every person/couple? This is a sore point with some of the kids in the family (the kids being my generation). One year we decided that we should just do Secret Santas for the extended family and that way we wouldn't have to get gifts for every aunt and uncle, cousin, etc. Great, except that my mom decided it was inappropriate for us not to get gifts for our aunts and uncles so now we do both the SS and buy presents for the "adults."
Any gift ideas that you are psyched about this year and want to share as inspiration for the rest of us? I think I'm getting DH a speed light for his D-SLR, which he'll be psyched about.
What was the best gift you ever gave someone? Hmm, I don't really know. Maybe the year I bought DH (then just BF) a PDA and did all the research on it myself. He really wanted one but had no idea what to get and was so psyched when he opened the box. Oh, he was pretty jazzed about his miter saw last year too.
Have you bought any Christmas/Hannukah/etc gifts yet? Technically yes. If so what? The gift I gave DH (iPod Touch) at our anniversary was also a Christmas present. Other than that, no.
Do you exchange gifts with coworkers? No. If so, what are you doing this year? Our boss usually takes us our for lunch one day before Christmas.
Does your extended family do a Yankee swap type exchange, or a gift for every person from every person/couple? My dad's side picks out of a hat but we usually don't see them for Christmas since they are far away so we usually don't participate. On my mom's side, she doesn't exchange presents with her siblings but the aunts & uncles buy presents for the neices & nephews. My grandmother buys for everyone, haha.
Any gift ideas that you are psyched about this year and want to share as inspiration for the rest of us? I think I need a new winter coat and boots. I have no idea what we're getting anyone. My immediate family minus my mom all have birthdays in the fall so I'm just getting over having to think of things for their birthdays.
What was the best gift you ever gave someone? I don't know. I usually try to listen for when someone says 'I want this' without having to come right out and tell me what they want. Now that I don't live at home it is a lot harder to be sneaky.
Awesome post, thanks!
Have you bought any Christmas/Hannukah/etc gifts yet? If so what? Nope
Do you exchange gifts with coworkers? If so, what are you doing this year? Ugh, I hate this! So the first year at my job I had no idea people did this and I ended up with lots of great things for myself and nothing to give out. So the next year, I did too much and bought for pretty much everyone (mostly little stuff, but since I was expecting big things from some I did bigger things for them).
Then last year, I did NOT want to get anyone anything. Seriously. I had no money, my family wasn't even exchanging gifts, but felt like I needed something because they people in my office are big spenders and into showing off their money even if it is to give a gift. So I bought like 5 $10 dunkins gift cards and just handed 1 to each person that gave me something. luckily, everyone ended up keeping gifts to a minimum. this year i'm not buying for anyone except maaayyybee my boss.
Sorry, that ws long, but I always get so worked up about the pressure hahaha!
Does your extended family do a Yankee swap type exchange, or a gift for every person from every person/couple? We usually do gifts for everyone because we aren't a huge family and everyone generally just buys small stuff for each. But last year both my immediate & extended family on my moms side did secret santa and it was heavenly to not have that expense! we still did full gifts on my dads side, but my brothers, DH, and I split the cost of all our gifts so it wasn't bad. We didn't do any gifts with DH's family last year.
Any gift ideas that you are psyched about this year and want to share as inspiration for the rest of us? I highly recommend the limited gift secret santa route! and because we're doing this I haven't thought of any gifts yet. i got my cousin apples to apples last year and it was HUGE hit at the family party.
What was the best gift you ever gave someone? Maybe the sun glasses i got DH years ago. he still loves them and wears them all the time, so they've gotten a ton of use. i'm really a terrible creative gift giver, so nothing really stands out as really special.
Do you exchange gifts with coworkers? If so, what are you doing this year? We did a 'Secret-Santa' type swap with a small group of us last year with gifts under $10 (or was it $20... not sure) Not sure if we are doing that again this year, but it was fun.
Does your extended family do a Yankee swap type exchange, or a gift for every person from every person/couple? No, because we don't really celebrate the holidays with extended family.
Any gift ideas that you are psyched about this year and want to share as inspiration for the rest of us? No, but expect there will be "Our First Christmas" type stuff for/between me & DH, even though we've been together for many years.
What was the best gift you ever gave someone? Not sure...
That happened to me my first year here, too. I had no idea people would be giving gifts and was caught completely off guard! I think it's really sweet, and my group at work is very friendly with each other so it's not too weird, but it is still hard to think of what people might like. That's why I stick with food -- we all love to eat! I think your DD gift card idea was really smart.
Have you bought any Christmas/Hannukah/etc gifts yet? If so what? No... I started asking DH what he wanted for the holidays because I'm stumped. I kind of don't care about anyone else! (Did I say that outloud... oops).
Do you exchange gifts with coworkers? If so, what are you doing this year? Sometimes a yankee swap but we donated to families in need last year. My group tends to give homemade gifts to eachother (food or alchohol). I was going to make vanilla extract but I haven't motivated yet.
Does your extended family do a Yankee swap type exchange, or a gift for every person from every person/couple? Every person/ couple to each other (for DH's Christmas). For my family's Hanukkah, we tend to try to do group gifts (everyone chips in for 1 present to each).
Any gift ideas that you are psyched about this year and want to share as inspiration for the rest of us? Nothing at all. I need inspiration. DH needs nothing (well maybe some clothes).
What was the best gift you ever gave someone? DH loves maps so I cut up a large map & framed it in 9 equal frames- looked cool. I usually hit MILs gifts spot on... and we gave my BIL an awesome gift which he proceeded to drop and break within an hour of having (valued over $200- and he's 37, not 12).
I'm a little cranky! I think I need to get out of work!
ETA: Sorry to come off snarky about BIL- I don't care about the amount I spend on a gift, I'm just at wits end with him (so is his wife & the ILs)... and I was feeling a tad bit snarky!
I really like that idea!! We have a bare wall in the den, I'm going to suggest your map thing to DH, I think he'd like it- or maybe in his office.?
Great idea! I should just get onto my parents' computer and print off all of their photos to 4x6s and put them in a box for my mom. She isn't good with computers and always complains about digital cameras because her photos get "lost in the computer" and she can't look at them whenever she wants.
I stole the idea from a catalogue! I bought the map for like $8 on amazon... and frames from XMas tree shops. I can take a pic of it if you want
Have you bought any Christmas/Hannukah/etc gifts yet? If so what? Not yet
Do you exchange gifts with coworkers? If so, what are you doing this year? When I worked in an office we did Secret Santa which was a lot more like playing pranks with ridiculous gifts. It was a lot of fun. Now I don't have any co-workers.
Does your extended family do a Yankee swap type exchange, or a gift for every person from every person/couple? My family does a Yankee Swap....Last year for the first time we did a secret santa with H's sisters and their SO's and it was so much drama and disaster...everyone complained about something. Two of his sisters thought it wasn't fair that they would not be receiving lots of presents....then one of his aunts got upset that she was not included in it so we put her in last minute, and then everyone complained about the possibility of getting her.
Any gift ideas that you are psyched about this year and want to share as inspiration for the rest of us? I just saw something today in a Costco coupon book that I want to get H. It is an organizer for lots of small tools and building supplies.
What was the best gift you ever gave someone? Hmmm....I have given some pretty great gifts, but they weren't for Christmas. The best gift I have ever given was when my granddad turned 85 I took about 400 photos and sent them to a company that scanned them all and put them to DVD with music I picked out. The first photos were him getting married, and then went on to include all of his children and all special events and holidays up through his newest grandkids. He said it was the most special gift he ever had.
Have you bought any Christmas/Hannukah/etc gifts yet? If so what? I bought my sister a pocketbook.
Do you exchange gifts with coworkers? If so, what are you doing this year? No
Does your extended family do a Yankee swap type exchange, or a gift for every person from every person/couple? A gift for every person.
Any gift ideas that you are psyched about this year and want to share as inspiration for the rest of us? hmmm I have no idea I don't even know what I want yet
What was the best gift you ever gave someone? An album of b-pics
Have you bought any Christmas/Hannukah/etc gifts yet? If so what? Just bought the first one tonight haha - a shirt for DH.
Do you exchange gifts with coworkers? If so, what are you doing this year? It's just me and my dad. The first year I worked for him I gave him a small gift at work from me and Billy (this was before Gracie). Last year I didn't though.. not sure if I will this year. Only if there is something specific I want to give him, like the first year.
Does your extended family do a Yankee swap type exchange, or a gift for every person from every person/couple? No.. On my mom's side we only see her sister and her three kids, so there aren't a lot of people. On my dad's side it's just my grandmother and aunt, so we all do gifts there too. On DH's side we only celebrate with his dad's side, so again, not that many people.
Any gift ideas that you are psyched about this year and want to share as inspiration for the rest of us? I am getting DH the ice cream maker attachment for the stand mixer, I'm really excited about that!
What was the best gift you ever gave someone? Totally corny - DH and I always say the best gift either of us ever recieved was each other. We met on Christmas :-)
Have you bought any Christmas/Hannukah/etc gifts yet? If so what?
Not a one. Although I am going to a wine tasting tomorrow so I may pick up a couple of bottles of wine for my boss and DH's boss
Do you exchange gifts with coworkers? If so, what are you doing this year? See above for bosses. I usually bake pistachio cranberry biscotti and make little cellophane bags with a few pieces for the people in my group and people who sit in my area. It's a lot of people so I can't do $$ gifts.
Does your extended family do a Yankee swap type exchange, or a gift for every person from every person/couple? My extended family is huge. I have 4 aunts, 3 uncles and 17 first cousins so we don't do extended family gifts. BIL and SIL are kind of tight for cash so we agreed to only buy gifts for my niece and nephew and not exchange gifts between the adults. We do buy for our parents though.
Any gift ideas that you are psyched about this year and want to share as inspiration for the rest of us? I honestly am not inspired yet
What was the best gift you ever gave someone? IWe bought my parents tickets for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular last year and my mom LOVED the show. I think she's wanted to go since she was a little girl.
Have you bought any Christmas/Hannukah/etc gifts yet? If so what? I bought my mom a purse at my store several months ago
Do you exchange gifts with coworkers? If so, what are you doing this year? Nope, I usually bake cookies or something for everyone. Oh, and at my last job, we always adopted an "angel" from the angel tree in the mall and bought toys/necessities for a needy family.
Does your extended family do a Yankee swap type exchange, or a gift for every person from every person/couple? My stepmom's family is huge so we do secret santa but I buy a present for everyone on my mom's side.. Dh's family doesn't do a gift exchange.
Any gift ideas that you are psyched about this year and want to share as inspiration for the rest of us? Nope, I hope you all have some inspiration for me!!
What was the best gift you ever gave someone? I bought my stepdad a really nice swiss army knife for his birthday this year, I couldn't think of anything else and figured he could always use one and he *loved* it.