Don’t want to make excuses as to why you’re not wearing that sweater your Aunt Dolores gave you for Christmas? Avoid that whole mess with one simple idea — skip gift exchanges and just give yourself what you want for the holidays.
Time.com says surveys of holiday shoppers indicate self-gifting is the new cool thing to do, partly to sidestep the awkward moments involved in receiving presents you don’t want. Last year, 57% of consumers said they were probably going to give themselves something awesome, up from 52% in 2009.
And according to a National Retail Federation poll, 6 in 10 holiday shoppers are going in for the “self-gift” idea. Things like TVs, nice clothing, home goods — basically anything.
The average person will spend approximately $130.43 during the holiday season to take advantage of sales and discounts on apparel, electronics, home goods and other items for themselves or a family member, up from $112.20 last year.
Consumers are apparently ready to let loose after months and years of reining in spending. So go on, treat yourself. ‘Tis the season, after all.
New Holiday Tradition: Buying Yourself a Gift [Time]
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I treat myself all the time… don’t need know holiday season
Then treat yourself to a book on grammar.
Hehe. Clever one.
I’m giving everybody the gift of getting myself snow tires.
thank you, that’s very considerate of you.
If I was a Dog, I’d give myself a blowjob for Christmas.
Us Cats are too dignified for that.
Instead, you just hump every stuffed animal in the house.
True, but you don’t want to bring that up.
I still have those pictures of you and your inflatable love doll Isis…
Hey! We love each other very much and she’s always very helpful at hiding the bodies.
I do this every year and have ever since I became an adult and (sort of) have money. No one ever buys me what I want for my birthday or Christmas, so I buy myself everything I want. Works out rather nicely. Though to be fair at least my current S/O is trying.
Heh, me too.
Clothes. Treat yo self. Fragrances. Treat yo self. Messages. Treat yo self. Mimosas. Treat yo self. Fine leather goods. Treat yo self.
YES! Just watched that episode last night. That show is so hilarious.
Edit button: That’s massages, not messages.
Brilliant episode. (I’m sitting here dressed as Batman).
How exactly is buying something for yourself at all Christmas-y? I’m not saying you should never buy frivolous stuff you don’t truly need, but I’m not seeing what that has to do with Christmas (or other late-December holiday of your choice.)
how is it not Christmas-y?
Because Xmas is supposed to be about GIVING???
Not specifically for Christmas, but several years ago my brother and I stopped exchanging birthday gifts. We live in different cities, so we resorted to buying Gift Cards for one another and as we have similar interests, we were buying Gift Cards to the same place.
Technically, I don’t buy myself anything for Christmas anymore. My dog, however, is very generous. Half the stuff under my tree is to me from him. He’s a good boy!
With all the people b*tch*ng about how commercial Christmas is, and saying “We need to put the Christ back in Christmas” I’m surprised that there haven’t been more people doing this and saying that they want to just have a good meal with lots of family. I’m no historian, but how long has Christmas been celebrated and how long has it been celebrated by piling presents under a tree?
Tradition is what you make it. If taking some stress and expense out of a holiday works for you, so be it.
All I ask for is a giant laser than can vaporize an entire planet and disguise itself as a small moon. Is that too much to ask for?
You should ask your son and daughter for one. I hear they are usually on sale at this time of year when the new models come out.
My daughter ran away with a space cowboy and my son is mad because I just happened to cut off one of his hands.
Don’t worry, I hear most stories like yours have a happy ending…
For the kids.
My wife and I are getting his-and-hers root canals for Christmas this year. Not much of a gift, yeah, but at least we can go out and mumble and drool together as s couple.
Those that drool together stay together…or something like that.
I wonder if people are buying more for themselves to give a bit of a pick-me-up…
Rather than moving, people are purchasing new furniture to organize their spaces, and give an old room a new look;
Rather than buying a whole new wardrobe, people are purchasing a new sweater, or some accessories to give an old outfit a new look.
Rather than redoing the entire kitchen, people are purchasing some new matching appliances to update the kitchen, and will look at replacing cabinets and countertops in a few years.
I’d rather a friend buy something they want and not worry about a gift for me, so that I can justify doing the same to them.
I hate getting gifts and buying gifts unless there is some real thought behind the gift. I’d just rather not do gifts than someone buy me a country blue table cloth that will go right to Goodwill. When people get me random gifts, it reminds me that the person doesn’t care enough to get to know me.
My husband and I have a $600 budget that we split to spend on each other. We save all year to do that. We each get to spend $100 of the money on whatever we want for ourselves. The rest is then spent on each other. This year I got myself new PJs, slippers, a calendar & a Cause an Uproar t-shirt. My hubby got himself a new GPS. That way we each get a little something that we wanted. I am debating saying let’s take the other $400 and save it for a trip in the middle of winter. If this winter is anything like last year was here in NJ, I might really kick myself for not doing that!
I am getting a Brazilian blowout and a good hair cut for Christmas. That costs a small fortune.
It’s not the naughty bit Brazilian…
Make sure your stylist gives you a mask. No joke. The fumes can give you nosebleeds. However, you hair will be DAMN STRAIGHT AND ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!
They are also aparently quite dangerous…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/13/brazilian-blowout-hazard-alert-osha_n_848741.html
http://www.fda.gov/Cosmetics/ProductandIngredientSafety/ProductInformation/ucm228898.htm
http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/ucm270809.htm
I’m giving myself a will. Also, curtains for the guest room. Not sure how those things are going to help ME but what the hell, I’ll call it self-gifting. They are the 2 things I could take care of with my extra paycheck this month and still have the majority of it leftover to keep in the bank.
My fiance and I set a budget an bought ourselves our own gifts online one night. We don’t have the budget for big exciting surprises, so at least we know we’re getting what we want. It takes most of the fun out of gift giving, but also ALL of the stress.
I’ve been doing this for years, my husband and I don’t exchange gifts, we put money toward travel/vacation/concert that we do together. I don’t exchange gifts with friends or family (adults, I give the kiddos gifts). So, yes at the holiday time I pick up a few things for me, I even wrap them up and stick them in my stocking.
That’s awesome except the WHOLE point of the holiday season is to selflessly think of someone else….
Honestly, you’d think in the last 20 or so years people had completely forgot about that.
I already gifted a new printer to myself, and a new bird feeder is coming my way, too. A bear stole the old one, and only left the metal lid (thanks so much).
My parents and I agreed that we have everything we need, so we’re giving more to local charities.
Of course, the cats and dog will get little gifts, and my daughter will also receive stuff from Santa, but aside from that, no more just buying stuff willy nilly for everyone.
Just give me cash please.
I’ve been doing something similar for years. I’ll go out or go online and purchase things for all the people on my Christmas list and I’ll always splurge on myself in the process and buy two or three things that I’ve been holding off on for awhile.
My husband and I have foregone expensive exchange gifts to buy ourselves something nice for the holidays. Last year we bought a hitch and bike rack for the car and this year a new sofa (which is awesome and I love it). We exchange $50 or so small gifts on Xmas eve with the family solely to have something to open.
The inevitable conclusion to the commercialization of Christmas.
Not to sound too jaded, but between gift cards and online wishlists Christmas gift giving has been reduced to pretty much exchanging equal amounts of cash. I admit it’s hard to buy gifts for people you don’t see on a regular basis so rather than give a gift that’s not wanted we defer to the recipient’s gift list. But I’ve got to admit it’s pretty much taken the surprise out of Christmas for me. I know just about every gift I open will have been selected from my Amazon gift list.
Um, I’ve been doing this for decades…
I thought that was what Black Friday was all about, most people buying stuff for THEMSELVES?
Already bought my Christmas gift to myself: I’m having the fence in my yard finished out so I can let the dog run around without a leash. My sanity is priceless.
I bought myself a brand new vehicle.