Here's the $10 Gift
Despite all your wonderful suggestions, I brought one of those gifts that no one wanted to steal. It just wasn't meant to be.By mid-afternoon yesterday I had realized that by the time I went to my class directly from work, there was not even a minute to shop.
So when my husband called to say he was going to REI, I said, "Please find the COOLEST thing you can for my $10 gift exchange present." He dutifully called me with two ideas – variations on a flashlight – and ended up buying both.
As it turned out, the popular items that everyone wanted to steal included 2 bottles of wine (that didn't even cost $10 each), a Santa cookie jar (empty), chocolate truffles, and a LARGE flashlight. I got the flashlight idea right, just not the size! You can always bet on the booze, but the rest is just a crap shoot.
I stole a ceramic garlic roaster as everyone looked aghast (like why would you want that?). My boss later confessed that she almost stole it from me, but figured we had had enough conflict for one week. (It's a good sign when you can start to joke about a problem.)
Next year I simply need to look back at your comments on my previous post for plenty of ideas for COOL gifts. Right now I'm leaning toward a FILLED cookie jar. I can already see it changing hands multiple times.
Thanks for all your collective help and happy holidays to all!
posted by Barbara at 4:45 PM
10 Comments:
I'm holding out for a "Desperate Housewives" Game.
LOL. My sister said she's bringing the "Desperate Housewives" Game to my gift exchange with friends.
I'm glad that you shared a joke with your boss. Definitely a good sign. And a flashlight seems pretty handy, at any size.
Asking the spouse to buy something is usually iffy at best - at least in my experience. (That is either spouse, BTW).
I had no ideas on what to buy for $10 - my usual gifts involve food (the more exotic the better), however, my penchant for finding unique food items has not endeared me to the recipients.
Steve -- I can only hope you find a desparate housewife, or was that Desparate Housewives?...just kidding
Kristin -- I am much encouraged by the situation at work. It's not all said and done yet, but things are looking much better and I'm now having a much-needed dialogue with my boss. Very encouraging.
Richard -- I can't blame this on on the spouse. He did the best he could at REI. I just screwed up and forgot about the gift exchange until the last minute. It was fine. I just laughed everytime the flashlight recipient tried to give it away! Actually it was a very cool little flashlight that also had a built-in clock. The whole thing clips on your jacket zipper pull. But this shows that what is cool to one person may not have any appeal for another!
For all you Type-A typo-haters out there, I just realized I spelled DESPERATE wrong, not once but twice!
A woo woo! I would want the flashlight! I like gadgety things like that.
I'm glad it worked out. But the coolest gift at REI? To paraphrase Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman's character) in Almost Famous, "hey [REI]. I met you. You are not cool."
MediaConcepts -- Yeah, unfortunately REI, like LL Bean and all those type of stores, is about FUNCTION not about COOL! For the right person, that little flashlight would have been just perfect. But most would not find it COOL, just USEFUL!
I didn't have any choice in where my personal shopper was going...
I would have gone for your flashlight! We've had 2 power outages already!
Last night, my choir did that present thing for 27 of us. I had 325 so got what I wanted, a home-knit scarf! Well, so much was candy, baked stuff, and wine, none of which I can consume!
wow, a home knit sweater at a gift exchange! as a knitter i'm very impressed that someone would put that much work into a gift exchange gift. plus, i'd be too scared after "the office" yankee swap episode with the handknit oven mitts. when we saw that episode, i was yelling to my boyfriend: "that would be me! i'd be the one giving the handknit oven mitts!"
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