Buying For People Who Are Hard to Shop For

This year I have found myself struggling to come up with awesome gifts to give my loved ones.  I set the bar pretty high with my stepdad's gift last year.  He keeps saying when they add on to their house there will be a huge media room.  He will have a awesome record player, his awesome keyboard my mom got for him two years ago, and musical/movie themed art.  So I framed some awesome albums for the walls.  He was absolutely thrilled with them; I believe he said "best gift ever".   I have spent hours online window shopping for everyone on my list (mom, stepdad, brother, stepsister, brother-in-law, ect.) and I can not come up with something awesome to purchase and gift for my mom and brother.  What do you buy a mother with everything or the ability to purchase it for herself? As for my brother, well he's just so damn picky, claiming he just wants a Visa gift card, nothing really tangible, except the plastic card and outer wrapper. But we'll get to that later.

My mom is my best friend.  I know her likes and dislikes.  I know her have's and have not's. She just has the capability to purchase anything for herself.  My stepdad is very successful and my mom could be on the Real Housewives of South Florida or something like that. I think I have finally decided on something Adele or Lady Gaga related. She's a huge fan of both and we jam out all the time.  My stepsister got them vintage vinyl this year, but lets face it, it's kinda copying my gift from last year.

Now my brother and I had a huge disagreement over his gift. He asks for Visa gift cards from everyone so he can waste his money on something stupid he'll use once and never use again.  I have a problem with that because I don't want to know he's pawned the item he purchased with the money.  He does that pretty often.  So this year when I pretty much demanded he chose a gift under $200, he wasn't happy.  When he asked for a gift card, I let him know the gift card would be for substantially less.  Is that wrong of me?  I don't think so.  I want to hand something to someone rather than money or a card.  Especially him, because he will waste it on something he doesn't need.  He is a jobless man-child who lives with our grandfather.  He has things he really needs, but he won't spend money the correct way.   He ended up asking for something for the entire amount, go figure.  First he wanted me to buy him a PS3.  Finally, I bought him a crazy expensive coffee maker for him and my grandpa.  My coffee maker cost $60. I spent $190 on this Keurig maker for them.

I wanted to buy my aunt something nice, but she only wants money also.  She took in my Golden Retriever when I lost the time to take care of her. She has done A LOT for me over the years.  She's my second mom.  She works really hard, and is a care giver to my grandpa.

As for me, I say I'm pretty easy to buy for.  I love the Red Sox, Bruins, Mountaineers, pretty dresses, nice shoes, Fiesta ware, movies, books, and music, in no specific order.  Oh, and sea turtles; I like sea turtle trinkets.  My stepsis got me two of those things with her gifts for me doing her hair for her wedding and my Christmas gift.  She got me this really cute sea turtle bracelet and Bruins earrings.  I adore both of them.  My parents, however, gave me money.

Money, after I sent them lists of things I find amazing.  The lists had probably a thousand things to chose from.  Now the decision for what to purchase for myself is up to me.  When I don't need anything, it's hard to decide what I need the most of my wants.  When it comes down to it, I don't need any of it.  My mom will tell me to get something for my apartment.  There's a problem with that, I've lived on my own for 6 years, I have all those things.  I purchased the last of the needs last year, a new dining table and chairs.  I really want a record player, but I have no albums to play on it.  I left all of them at my dad's and have no way to get them.

My mom's sisters are giving me gift cards also.  They don't have to, they just chose to be lazy.  One basically told me I can only have a gift card from two places: The Gap, or American Eagle.  I don't shop at either store.  I saved the gift cards from AE from last Christmas until July this year.  I had $60 and got a bunch of tops on sale.  A few of them, I haven't worn.  I told her the stores I like shopping at, and she could have one of her sisters get the gift card for her or order online.  I don't feel like if someone is going to give me a gift, it's in bad taste for me to tell them what I like or that I won't like it.  I also told my family to donate the money to one of my charities.  And NO ONE has done so.  My stepdad was going to, but my mom told him not to.

What does an adult buy when they have money to spare?  Do tell please.