For the last several years my adult niece and her brother, my nephew, have gone shopping together on “Black Friday”, sometimes starting out very, very late on Thanksgiving evening after their respective kids are in bed or in the wee hours of Friday morning, first catching a light breakfast and some coffee before hitting the sales and they seemed to have had, or have made it, a lot of fun.
This year however my nephew told his sister that he wasn’t going out, said that he found that he gets much better deals on-line. I’m not sure if my niece and her husband went out or not, they were still debating when I left their house at 11PM last night.
FWIW I’ve been doing all my Christmas shopping and also for the kid’s birthday gifts on Amazon for the last 4 years now.
My family doesn’t exchange gifts among the adults - thank goodness, (excepting for husbands and wives exchanging something small with each other on Christmas morning) but between my niece and nephew, I have 6 young great nieces; 1 - 9-year-old, 4 - 8 year olds including my niece’s triplets and one 6-year-old. I also have a college age great niece and a recent HS graduate great nephew. And 5 of the girls, the 9 and the 4 8 year olds all have their birthday’s within two weeks of each other.
Shopping on Amazon makes it all so much easier for me.
Since we do a “family” Christmas gathering either right before Christmas or in between Christmas and New Years at my nephew’s house with my niece’s and nephew’s family and all the grandparents and me and their “uncle Ed”, my nephew’s best friend, I try to make sure I “even out” my gifts especially among the 6 younger ones, I try to get them something individualized but also kind of the same. And trust me, little girls even at that age are highly competitive and will figure out if you spent a significant amount more on one kid vs. the other.
Two years ago when I asked for Christmas gift suggestions my niece suggested to me that her girls could use new winter boots. My nephew’s wife said her girls could too.
So after getting all their sizes, I went on Amazon and found a really cute brand of boots, sort of like Uggs but less expensive but also very highly rated via the reviews. I found 6 pairs of boots, and in 5 different sizes, and in 6 different colors and patterns so that each girl got a pair of boots in her favorite color and or style that matched her taste and individual style. I ended up ordering using two different Amazon vendors, but if I had had to go to brick and mortar stores, I doubt I could have even found them, live alone in all the variety of colors and styles and in all the right sizes for the right kid without running myself ragged.
The same thing last year, I found the cutest outfits, a brand called Jelly The Pug – leggings and tops but very different and distinctive and rather “girly”. I also got each girl a pendant, all the same brand but each one a bit different – a cat for Vivian, a dolphin for Lilly, a star for our diva Helen and so on.
This is the outfit I got for one of the triplets Madi and yesterday when I went to my niece’s for Thanksgiving dinner, Madi greeted me at the door and said, “look what I’m wearing – you got this for me and I wanted to wear it for you!” My niece told me that Madi would wear it every day if she could. I was pleasantly surprised that a year later, after many wearimg and washings they were all still holding up and still fit.
I messed up on ordering one of the outfits, I ordered the wrong size but it was so easy to return and re-order via Amazon and with my Prime account, still free 2-day shipping and got it delivered just in time.
As to the older “kids” – Amazon gift cards. I order them and have a link sent to my email account so I can print it out at home and put it in a nice Christmas card. The one in college loves it because she can order some of her text books used on Amazon and the “boy” loves it because he can order what he wants because I would have no idea. He has even ordered some parts for his Jeep on Amazon.
I also like that I can send their mom’s links to what I am thinking of buying the younger ones and get their feedback before buying. Like the time I sent my nephew’s wife a birthday gift idea for then 7-year old Cecilia. She likes science and I found on Amazon an “Uncle Milton Ant Farm Live Ant Habitat” and both mom and dad responded – NO! Well I still thought it would have been cool.
And with Amazon there is no driving to several stores and or malls either after a long day at work or on a weekend, no trying to find a parking space, no schlepping around a store while wearing a heavy winter coat and feeling about to pass out from the heat, no carrying several heavy bags back to the car, no dealing with rude shoppers or waiting in long lines, no trying to look through racks or tables that have been picked through and with stuff put back in the wrong place, no dealing with something I find and really want to buy but that is missing a tag, no standing behind someone in line who has several exchanges to make and then wants to pay for her new purchases via check, no exasperated and or over worked or incompetent sales clerks (and having worked in retail, I’m pretty patient and understanding most times but have my limits), no having to wait for a “price check” if something rings up wrong, no having the sales clerk ask me if I want to open a CC with them or if I have a rewards card and why not and how much money I could save if I …..
