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Please stop on-line shopping! (A vent)
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Anonymous
| OP, thanks for posting this. I just spent $30 on giftwrap at Amazon for gifts for my sister's family. I'd thought about asking her to do the wrapping for her kids & husband's gifts, then shelled out the $ for the company to do it--your post is an affirmation that I didn't waste that money. |
Anonymous
| Man, some of you PPs are waaay too harsh on the OP. She's venting bc her retired in-laws can't be bothered to wrap presents for their grandkids. Compared to some of the other vents on DCUM, this seems a perfectly reasonable complaint. They should at least have called her in advance to say hey, we're having the gifts sent to your house, do you mind wrapping? It's entirely possible they couldn't figure out how to get that done online. |
Anonymous
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Enough bashing of the OP - of course there are more desperate problems in the world than this. DCUM is not a forum to discuss those, for the most part, however. If you want to solve world poverty or the global economic crisis, more power to you! I'd be happy to refer you to lots of good organizations devoted to just that, and web forums as well. But it's pretty ridiculous to come on a parenting forum and snap at people for engaging in discussions about the mundane annoyances associated with parenting.
OP, I sympathize, as I have to wrap the gifts that my siblings sent for my dad, who is visiting; of course I also balked at spending $4 a book on Amazon for every single gift I sent to my nieces, nephews, etc. so I can see the other side of the argument. I also second the complaint of one of the PPs about inlaws who refuse to shop for their grandchildren. I also don't understand why my retired inlaws can't put in the slightest effort to get something for their one and only grandson. It's not very hard... he's 4yo and (still) very easily thrilled by a matchbox car or a book or something similarly inexpensive and easy to find. Instead I get a pointless dress-up outfit for him and a gift card to toys-r-us which ends up being used for someone else's birthday present a few months later. I know it shouldn't bother me, but even at 9mos pregnant and working FT I take a lot of effort to buy presents for others that I think/hope they'll like and I just can't figure out why others don't even try. |
Anonymous
| We are also a family of Amazon shoppers. I am always happy to wrap the gifts we receive. Amazon, like most stores, charges way too much for gift wrap, and last time I looked (years ago admittedly), the gift wrap was ugly! Wrapping really doesn't take much time, and I rather like beign able to check out my kids' presents before I put them under the tree. Some of our close relatives know that if there are too many gifts, I will hold a few back and present them later. (We don't do gifts for adults, so that part of the complaint is not an issue.) |
Anonymous
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In addition to everything else they sell, Amazon also sells gift bags:
http://www.amazon.com/Century-Novelty-Medium-Red-Gift/dp/B001FW96CA/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1230124180&sr=8-1 Send the gift AND a gift bag. Problem solved. |
Anonymous
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As for shopping for kids, some people find this genuinely difficult. It's easy for us--we're around kids and their friends and their schools and their toy catalogs all day long. We know what we want our kids to have and what we think is junk. My nearly 80-year-old father does not know what to get his grandchildren. For now he asks me to pick something out, and I have the gifts sent to his house so that he can wrap them. When they're older he says he'll give them a check. It doesn't mean he loves them any less.
(And honestly, the gift-card-giving grandparents are probably trying to be accommodating. It's not their fault you use the gift card for somebody else's birthday present.) |
Anonymous
This is another reason I love Amazon - if you can get people to make wish lists. |
Anonymous
| My gmother sends me a check and a nice note that asks me to be Santa. I LOVE it. I buy some presents for my daughter and then use the rest to pay bills. |
Anonymous
Sure, why not explain that everybody does things differently. And, that people have different priorities. And, just say that it's nice enough that Granny gets us gifts, regardless of whether they come wrapped or not. Some people find wrapping paper important, others would rather spend that extra $5 on the gift itself. It's a great opportunity to teach your kids tolerance for other people's ways of doing things. (and maybe remind yourself to be a little more tolerant also?) |
Anonymous
I concur with this poster. Sure this is a little thing - but don't we all let ourselves get frustrated by little things every now and then? I know I do. I remember last year my DS' grandparents were coming to visit and I got an email in advance instructing me to go out and buy something for him and wrap it from them so they could give it to him on Xmas day. In addition to not being sure what he wanted, I guess they just didn't want to deal with shipping something ahead of time or bringing it with them. I think it was partly the way I was asked (or not asked) but it pissed me off too that instead of getting in the car (or online) and going to choose a gift for their grandson themselves (I would have been happy to give guidance) they just put another item on my to-do list. |
Anonymous
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I think you are completely unreasonable. You should just be gracious, and happy that you are even receiving a gift.
If it's such a big deal, skip the wrapping and just put each gift into a Xmas gift bag. I save and reuse my gift bags each Xmas, and it is little or no work at all. Personally, I think companies charge so much for the wrapping, which is a waste of money. I'd rather put the money into the gift to give to the person. So, I would not be offended if someone asked me to wrap the gifts on my end. |
Anonymous
| This is actually pretty good for me to read, because I try to save paper and conserve resources etc (whatever, I am just like every one of you, admit it, you carry your reusable water bottle too so I am not that extreme) -- so it bugs *me* when people send us gifts pre-wrapped. That way, I can't pop them in an old gift bag and tissue paper I've saved from last year! Just agreeing with PPs who say that everyone has a different perspective! Realizing again that I am right to just tell myself that everyone does things differently. That said, I don't think OP is an ogre for complaining. Heck, we all have our buttons. OP? Have a glass of wine and toast to all of us on DCUM who get that sometimes you just need to vent. |
Anonymous
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You can always choose to look at the bright side of things...at least they saved a few trees by not wrapping.
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Anonymous
70 cents for the bag....and $10 for shipping! (not sold by amazon) so it wouldn't arrive in the same shipment. not really practical. |
Anonymous
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Some people miss the whole point of Christmas. It's not about the wrapping paper! It's about Jesus, giving and being gracious.
Go work in a soup kitchen for the holidays, then maybe you won't care if your presents are wrapped. I can barely afford Christmas this year and my kids better be happy they're getting presents at all! |