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Christmas shopping for the family time!
schattenjaeger
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
This is always a hassle since they're fairly uncooperative on discussing their wants and needs >_< Our family, in the past, has a bad habit of going overboard on Christmas. In the past couple of years thanks to some convenient and timely-discovered limestone deposits, my parents have some serious disposable income and I have a bad feeling it's going to be of comical proportions this year. WELL, I'll not be caught unprepared! I have a few ideas for everyone, but I'd appreciate your thoughts if you have any.
30 year old sister - She and her boyfriend are fresh from grad school in some English-related subjects, so needless to say she's dirt poor, so much so that she insists we not be extravagant with her gifts because she was so limited with hers. Unfortunately I can't follow the temptation to shame her with something fancy absurd because she's flying in and is size-limited on what she can bring back! Obviously big into reading, particularly early 20th century American lit (Dos Passos, and uh, them other fellers) and mystery novels. And of course other books, but those seem to be her particular favorites. She is also writing a young-adult sci-fi novel and has been reading some young adult novels; she's a big fan of Harry Potter and His Dark Materials, I think. Unfortunately, she apparently owns basically every book in all of those genres, and has read them multiple times. I almost always go reading-related with her gift and usually fail, so I'm thinking this time I'll take advantage of their poorness instead and get them like an internet TV box..thing (like...a Roku?) and a six-month streaming subscription to Netflix since they don't have cable. Thoughts? I think I can catch her by surprise with something like an anthology of short stories, she only has a couple of those (instead of every one ever), if anyone has any suggestions. She got a Kindle last year from my parents, I fear she doesn't use it much though.
Mother - She's an IT person and big into playing piano. She recently got a 2000 dollar electronic grand piano (limestone, huh. Who'd have thought?) She's really good, but I don't think she'd like a book of straight classical music. She always gets things like jazz composition/hymnal medley books. I was actually thinking of getting them a SSD for their PC. She'd know what to do with it, but just to check, would using that be a big inconvenience? I think the idea is to install the OS on the SSD, would she be able to do that easily and keep all their files and programs, or would I burden them with having to reinstall everything? Any other suggestions? Like books for my sister, getting music for her doesn't seem to work out all that well, so I thought this year I might exploit the technology angle more, if anyone has any other suggestions? Their PC is otherwise quite beastly.
Father - Often the hardest. He has been restoring an old car for, oh, years and years, but we've milked that for gifts for most of those years, and he's almost done now anyways. He went through an ebay phase several years ago where he collected a lot of WW1 memorabilia (gas masks, helmets, pictures, diaries...). I think he's over it, but if there is anything that jumps to mind that would interest a person with an interest in WW1, that'd be good. OH, duh, within the last couple of years he's started playing FPSs again (I remember watching him play Doom as a little kid). He's been playing MW online, and of course sucks, but he likes it and obviously wants MW2. What's the opinion on BF3 instead (just to catch him by surprise)? BF3 being just a little less mainstream than MW2, I think/hope the crowd might skew a little older too. OH and another idea, back in the day he played games like Doom with an old three-button joystick (it was a different time! And he's old...) When he started playing MW he was sorta annoyed at having to use the keyboard and mouse. I wonder if he'd like something like a gamepad...
And of course, everyone is getting one of these as a stocking stuffer:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/kitchen/e845/
30 year old sister - She and her boyfriend are fresh from grad school in some English-related subjects, so needless to say she's dirt poor, so much so that she insists we not be extravagant with her gifts because she was so limited with hers. Unfortunately I can't follow the temptation to shame her with something fancy absurd because she's flying in and is size-limited on what she can bring back! Obviously big into reading, particularly early 20th century American lit (Dos Passos, and uh, them other fellers) and mystery novels. And of course other books, but those seem to be her particular favorites. She is also writing a young-adult sci-fi novel and has been reading some young adult novels; she's a big fan of Harry Potter and His Dark Materials, I think. Unfortunately, she apparently owns basically every book in all of those genres, and has read them multiple times. I almost always go reading-related with her gift and usually fail, so I'm thinking this time I'll take advantage of their poorness instead and get them like an internet TV box..thing (like...a Roku?) and a six-month streaming subscription to Netflix since they don't have cable. Thoughts? I think I can catch her by surprise with something like an anthology of short stories, she only has a couple of those (instead of every one ever), if anyone has any suggestions. She got a Kindle last year from my parents, I fear she doesn't use it much though.
Mother - She's an IT person and big into playing piano. She recently got a 2000 dollar electronic grand piano (limestone, huh. Who'd have thought?) She's really good, but I don't think she'd like a book of straight classical music. She always gets things like jazz composition/hymnal medley books. I was actually thinking of getting them a SSD for their PC. She'd know what to do with it, but just to check, would using that be a big inconvenience? I think the idea is to install the OS on the SSD, would she be able to do that easily and keep all their files and programs, or would I burden them with having to reinstall everything? Any other suggestions? Like books for my sister, getting music for her doesn't seem to work out all that well, so I thought this year I might exploit the technology angle more, if anyone has any other suggestions? Their PC is otherwise quite beastly.
Father - Often the hardest. He has been restoring an old car for, oh, years and years, but we've milked that for gifts for most of those years, and he's almost done now anyways. He went through an ebay phase several years ago where he collected a lot of WW1 memorabilia (gas masks, helmets, pictures, diaries...). I think he's over it, but if there is anything that jumps to mind that would interest a person with an interest in WW1, that'd be good. OH, duh, within the last couple of years he's started playing FPSs again (I remember watching him play Doom as a little kid). He's been playing MW online, and of course sucks, but he likes it and obviously wants MW2. What's the opinion on BF3 instead (just to catch him by surprise)? BF3 being just a little less mainstream than MW2, I think/hope the crowd might skew a little older too. OH and another idea, back in the day he played games like Doom with an old three-button joystick (it was a different time! And he's old...) When he started playing MW he was sorta annoyed at having to use the keyboard and mouse. I wonder if he'd like something like a gamepad...
And of course, everyone is getting one of these as a stocking stuffer:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/kitchen/e845/
schattenjaeger on
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For mom? Well, I know you said the piano is electric, but does it have a metronome? http://www.amazon.com/Wittner-801M-Wood-Metronome-Mahogany/dp/B0002F748O/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1323820139&sr=8-13 I always loved having one as a kid learning piano, and I feel that there can be some that are super classy and will look awesome on a grand piano. Or maybe a piano light? Or something similar that will make her piano the star of the room. perhaps a piano blanket to cover it from dust when it's not being used?
For dad. Sigh. Dads are always the hardest. My father has been given food for the last few Hannukah's because at least then I know he'll eat the present and not let it just sit there. To me, your ideas of a gamepad or something sound good, but I know very little about FPS playing, so probably best for somebody else to tackle that one.
Hope this helps!
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lonelyahava, you've effectively solved my sister for me as she does love coffee, which I had forgotten, and the idea of Scrivener is a good one!
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