I am friends on Facebook with a group of girls I used to be acquaintances with, although at present we don’t really communicate with each other. A few days before Thanksgiving, what should pop up on my newsfeed but this– one of the girls in question decided to make a photo album, viewable to the public, containing stock images of presents she wants people to give her for the holidays. Her list included: gift certificates to mid-level clothing stores; two different kitchen appliances (a frozen yogurt maker?!); a personalized jersey; a purebred dog; photo lenses, which apparently range in price from $100-$4000 (yes, four THOUSAND, that’s not a typo); a hot air balloon ride; and cruise ship tickets.
Another girl in this group, a mutual friend, decided this was a brilliant idea and made her own gimme-gimme album. Her list included a new iPhone, a new laptop, and a new Ford truck.
Someone commented on the first girl’s album that they hoped she had some rich friends. She responded with something along the lines of, “Well, I don’t really EXPECT any of this.” Yeah, I would be a lot more convinced if you didn’t specify, for example, precisely what you wanted your personalized jersey to say. 1130-11
Gift wish lists should be treated just like wedding registries. It’s OK to have one as long as its existence is not “pushed” on potential givers. Only when stumped gift givers “pull” that information from you by asking if you happened to have a wish list can a gift wish list see the light of day.
Publishing a Christmas wish “album” to Facebook would hardly be called “pushing” this information on friends and family. Nay, dear readers, it is a full body slam and tackle to the ground to the entire world.
P.S. If you are single, using social media to broadcast your wishes to receive specific gifts that are well out of the price range of most people is a surefire way to limit the pool of potential mates. More practical, thrifty, discreet people will mentally write off obvious gimme pigs since the likelihood is exceptionally high that a gimme Bridezilla/Groomonster is the next phase.
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I’m agreeing with the joke assessment. Sounds like she was being goofy.
@MellowedOne
In my family gift certificates are seen as tacky too, I know that makes my family unusual but that’s how we are. My dad especially feels that the sender didn’t put any thought in the gift and took the easy way out. I know from your post that that isn’t the way you go about things, I just wanted to point out that different people and groups think about things in different ways. Not buying someone a gift at Christmases and birthdays is a punnishable offence in my family too, because we feel as though that kind of family time is scared and that you put time outside of it into thinking of the other person. Mind you that present can be home made, or just really inexpensive, as long as the interests of the reciever are kept in mind. We do by “just cause” presents too, if we happen to see something that calls to us or something like that.
So far as I’ve noticed, no one in my facebook feed has posted an entire Christmas Wist List or Christmas Wish Album, but last year I went back through my family members’ posts for gift ideas. My SIL did post a couple specific ideas; I used one of the ideas and was very grateful to have it. Come to think of, she posts things she’s wishing for fairly frequently. Sometimes she’s clearly sharing nothing more than a pipe dream, and sometimes she’s pining after an affordable gizmo or doo-dad and I file the mention away for future reference. If I need a gift idea down the line, I have some choices to cull from, and if I want to buy her something else entirely, she’s no less appreciate.
A wish is a suggestion, not an obligation. There’s nothing rude about wishing; what a sad world it would be if we couldn’t have our dreams.
I agree this this sounds more like someone decided to put together a “dream list” for fun. A social media version of sitting around with your best friend and playing “if I won the lottery…” Putting together that kind of wish list can be a lot of fun, and it may not have occured to her that it would be mistaken for a “gimme” list in that context.
It’s a wish list. Not a gimme list. The wording “presents she wants people to give her for the holidays” is the OP’s, but given what’s on it, we’re talking “stuff I’d like to have,” which can encompass both high-end “fantasy” items and the more mundane ones.
I’m not poor, but I’m frugal, and a single-purpose kitchen appliance or midrange store gift card are things I wouldn’t buy for myself. (I’m not a Shopper but would enjoy going on a mini-spree at Macy’s, Bed Bath & Beyond, or even Target if someone were to give me a gift card.) So that sort of thing would be on my wish list, if I had one, along with a cruise to Alaska and a blues session with Hugh Laurie.
I treat wish lists like this as another getting-to-know-you meme rather than as a set of demands. If this is someone I need to get a gift for, the list is a source of ideas.
I’ve never understood why some people think facebook is some magical land where they can do and say anything they want and it’s ok because it’s facebook. They’re still communicating with real people, so I don’t see why something we wouldn’t do face to face is excusable over facebook.
I had to comment on this and defend the OP slightly. It’s on facebook, so you have to take it with a grain of salt. Every year, I put up the Grand Ole Wishlist. I’m the one who usually has a laugh or two for everyone, so this list is not meant to get people to buy me things as most of my friends are broke, like myself, and the gifts are obviously not feasible.
For example, I might say I want 1.)Gold Encrusted Diamond Xbox 2.)A hot sexy man, 3)a hug, 4)100 Zillion Dollars given to me by said sexy man….with a hug…while on a horse….with tickets to that thing I like….while wearing old spice…etc.
My friends know that’s just my sense of humor. Giving the pictures and the exact details is a bit tacky, but there MAY be a SMALL chance it was all done in jest.
It COULD be a joke list, like other commenters said. If not, then wow.
I think the Amazon wish lists are awesome because they pretty much stay hidden unless someone is actively looking for them. Then when someone asks if you want something in particular, you can point them toward it. It also helps me get something I know the recipient really wants. I wish to high heaven my mother went online because she’s HORRIBLE at picking out gifts for people and this would help her so much!
@kimi, I totally understand about the gift card thing, as I too prefer to give a personally selected gift if possible. But if not, then a gift card–perhaps to the recipient’s favorite store or restaurant–to me is an acceptable substitute. Why?
I feel it’s very important to appreciate the thought of the sender, and not the gift. When I am a gift recipient, I am just thrilled that the sender decided to take a portion of their hard-earned money (whatever the amount) and spend it on me! Little ole me! And it is my hope that when I give a gift, it will be as well received
Oops! I did something awful.
I wrote on Facebook “I just broke my quilling tool, anyone want to buy me a new one for Christmas?” as a joke, and now my Aunt has bought me one for Christmas. I actually did break it and it’s not particularly expensive ($25) but I feel bad now.
I have to agree with Admin that the inclusion of quite affordable gift ideas is what gives the validity to this not being a fantasy list at all.
If this where filled entirely with quite clearly out of the question items with some identifying comment on this being just for kicks and something silly, I could understand it.
But it wasn’t. And that’s the entire point.
You don’t know how old the person is who posted the list. Something costing $50 might be perfectly affordable & obtainable if you’re 40+ but if you’re in your teens or early 20′s there is going to be a long list of priorities to use up that $50 before that item would even be considered & it would very possibly be a ‘must save up for’ item anyway. It’s a fantasy wish list. Bah humbug.
I’m 21 years old, I have a job, but my income is budgeted down to the last penny. The most I can spend on a non-necessary item is maybe $30 if I’m lucky. A $120 cruise (which I’m pretty sure isn’t including port fees and tons of other fees which will add a few extra hundreds to that price) would be a HUGE luxury, a $50 item or a gift card would be a big luxury for me. I buy my clothing at thrift stores – I can’t afford the prices of even mid-leerl clothing stores most of the time. Who can afford to spend $20 or $30 on one shirt?
Just because an item isn’t extravagant to YOU doesn’t mean it’s not extravagant to somebody else. There are a lot of people making just above minimum wage out there, and a lot of them are younger (i.e., college age and the type to put a Christmas list on FB as a joke).
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