“Don’t buy me anything, I don’t need anything.” If you have elderly parents, you have probably heard it every December for years. And often they are right. Their homes are full, their tastes are settled, and the last thing they want is another ornament to dust or a sweater they will not wear. The Christmas gifts that...
A teenage girl’s Christmas list is usually written by her social media feed. The products on it are specific, the brands matter, and the generic gift set from the pharmacy aisle will not be mistaken for the real thing. The good news is that most of what is genuinely on those lists costs far less than you might expect. Every one of these...
Ask a teenage boy what he wants for Christmas and there is a good chance the answer is a game, a gaming console upgrade, or in-game currency. That is easy to buy, but it is also easy to forget. It disappears into an account, and it does nothing to get him off the sofa. If you would rather give him something he can hold, use with his friends, or...
Buying for a woman who has everything is harder than buying for someone who wants nothing, because she usually has taste. She already owns the throw on the sofa, the candle on the shelf and the coffee machine on the counter, and she chose each of them herself. Anything you add has to be at least as good as what she would have picked, which rules...
Every family has one. You ask what he wants for Christmas and the answer is the same every year: “Nothing. I don’t need anything.” He means it, which is exactly the problem. Men who say they want nothing are usually men who already own a working version of everything, and they are not going to get excited about a novelty gadget...
