To have bought the majority of 2016 Christmas presents

[iwannadancewithsomebody]

Online, in the sales without leaving the comfort of my sofa?

Bargains include:

Half price Playmobil from Boots
Half price handbags and make up brushes from Debenhams
Half price VTech toys at Debenhams and some Disney stuff too
30/50% of jumpers from M&S
Massively discounted smellies from Tesco

And now I feel incredibly smug with my bargains,plus I remembered to use quidco

Has anyone else done the same or am I the only mad one?

[limitedperiodonly]

Why do people want to take things back? It's a present, not wages due on work performed.

If you don't like it and can't return it for a cash refund, then tear it up for cleaning rags. Because it's a bonus, isn't it? Or were you actually expecting it and keeping a tally?

I received this for my 30th birthday from my mum, who was obsessed by anthropomorphic depictions of animals

So, in that way, she did put a lot of thought into it. She probably spent ages deliberating between that and a hedgehog in a pinny.

It's a painting btw. Yes, someone has painted it and posted it on the internet.

I have the real thing though. I'd photograph it, but my charger has broken and I can't transfer pictures. If any one wants to give me one of those iPhone double-ended chargers btw...

No I didn't cash it in. It makes me laugh.

Plus, whenever there are crap present competitions, it always makes me a strong contender for top spot.

[WhoKn0wsWhereTheMistletoes]

If the OP had startedthe same thread but phrased it "I just wanted to share a few bargains I've found for next year's presents" rather than "I'm feeling incredibly smug" which come across as superior and gloaty the responses might have been different.

[Sparklingbrook]

Yes a chatty thread in Chat about bargains?

[ObsidianBlackbirdMcNight]

Joyless because part of the enjoyment of the Christmas season is choosing gifts for people
Weird because it's weird to buy gifts with the plan of storing them for a whole year before giving them
And indicative of a shopping fixation because we have just been through a period of bingeing on buying and it's really odd to be planning for the next one already. Buy things you want or need in the January sales by all means - but buying gifts for a year in advance is not necessary or normal behaviour. It suggests the person just wants to shop for the sake of shopping.

[SagaNorensLeatherTrousers]

What's the problem with the OP feeling smug about her bargains, though? Does it affect you personally? Does it warrant her character being dissected and nasty assumptions being made?

I genuinely don't get why posting in AIBU is a licence for going well beyond just differences of opinion. YABU. Fine. But YABU, you have a shopping addiction, your DCs won't like any of the tat you've thoughtlessly bought them, and there are much bigger problems out there than this are utterly ridiculous responses. It's become a place to rip into someone over sometimes really trivial things. It's getting quite dull, this out-twatting of each other.

[Sparklingbrook]

AIBU is not the topic if serious opinions are genuinely wanted. But I am not allowed to say that without being told people can post where they like.

[limitedperiodonly]

is the reason I don't attempt to buy anything for DH.

Soon after we met I told him: 'You are Julian from American Gigolo and I claim my £5' and he admitted it was one of his favourite films.

We have many of those things, apart from the cocaine at the beginning. He does lay out clothes on the bed and prances around in front of the mirror practicing his forrin.

The thing discarded on the bedroom floor that looks like a sado-masochistic sex toy is a cedar wood shoe tree with a brass articulated centre for perfect alignment. They are expensive, but then if you have expensive shoes...

His mum buys some wildly inappropriate presents. The best was a pair of stringbacked driving gloves she'd sent off for from an ad in the back pages of the Telegraph magazine.

Like the American Gigolo he is charming enough to fake appreciation and would never dream of upsetting the giver by asking for a receipt.

[SagaNorensLeatherTrousers]

I can see what you mean, Sparkling. But surely there's still a difference between serious opinion and an onslaught of viciousness. I really felt it yesterday looking at threads... made me feel like MN just seems mean a lot these days. I just miss the more jovial tone we used to have here, "OP you're a twat for buying all the presents now " vs. You're pretty much a shit person all around. Know what I mean?

[limitedperiodonly]

But isn't enjoying finding the perfect Christmas present for someone possibly indicative of a shopping fixation?

Or maybe it's proof of another fixation: like the desire to express your love through things and to have the recipient express suitable gratitude? Or the other way around?

We can lovingly craft a special something from driftwood found on a romantic beach, but let's face it, most of us just buy them, don't we? So, does it matter when we do it?

[Sparklingbrook]

Yes I do see that Saga. I have sort of resigned myself to MN being like that these days. I miss jovial a lot, I really do. I do have AIBU hidden but threads pop up on Trending and I have a look.

[limitedperiodonly]

"OP you're a twat for buying all the presents now grin" vs. You're pretty much a shit person all around. Know what I mean?

I agree saga

[SagaNorensLeatherTrousers]

I might have to adopt your hiding whole topics policy...cos my one woman mission to turn AIBU into a place for respectful debate ain't gonna happen, is it?!

[Sparklingbrook]

Unless a completely new poster its unfortunately fairly obvious how a thread like this in AIBU would go. No surprise.

[NowBringUsSomeFuzzpiggyPudding]

I get a lot of joy out of choosing presents for people! I think that's why I start so early - I just spread the joy throughout the year and now that Christmas is (nearly) over I can't wait to start again. I know that whenever I think of the marble run I've bought for next year, I'll get a little thrill imagining their faces when they see it. It was just delivered and it was so hard to pretend it was something boring, rather than running upstairs to look admiringly at it. It really does give me a buzz, thinking about my family and what makes them happy and finding that perfect present.

There's an added bonus in that I have very little energy/pain free time, so by doing a lot of the Christmas shopping in a relaxed fashion throughout the year, I don't have to do much in December - so the time/energy I would've spent at the shops finding/ordering/wrapping/collecting presents can instead be used on all the things I actually want (but find difficult due to my limitations) to do leading up to Christmas - crafts, cooking etc with my DCs.

It would be different if it was just grabbing random bargains and ticking names off a list, like it was a chore. But it's definitely not the case for me, and I'd hazard a guess it's not the case for the people on the Christmas 2016 threads either. Ho ho ho

Life would be so boring if we all did the same thing.

[Sparklingbrook]

It really isn't Saga the whole topic is a bit of a joke one now.

[limitedperiodonly]

Instead of hiding it, why not reclaim it from the spiteful joysuckers who ruin AIBU and seem not to realise that they are far less full of the spirit of Christmas than the OP?

She's given us an opportunity to laugh about the crap presents we have given and received.

My first xmas with DH I bought him a Scalextric set (good) and shirt from Benetton (not so good). He has seriously good taste.

It had an embroidered tableaux across the chest featuring fairytale characters on it in a story - some kind of woodcutter and his daughter and handsome prince thing. I love fairytales.

It was like the Bayeux Tapestry by way of Grimm via Disney.

It was, indeed grim. I never saw it again. He's probably locked it into the secret room where he keeps his other brides

[SagaNorensLeatherTrousers]

My first Christmas with DH I got him a float in the bath iPod speaker in the shape of a rubber duck.

I don't think it ever came out of the box. Sadly I can't even blame it on cheap bargain-finding, either.

[ninared]

smug you are not hahahaha rolling up here that you post that you are smug. Errrrrr yup noooooo you are not. Facetious perhaps smug nope

you bought half price Christmas presents 'from the comfort of your own sofa' a year before you give them???? yeah that's what Christmas is all about girlfriend

so not what it's about on just so many levels

personifying Bogan right here right now

[SagaNorensLeatherTrousers]

usual I'd be happy with last year's fashions.

[Sparklingbrook]

Do M&S jumpers change that much year to year?

[nanetterose]

I had no idea it was such a faux pas to be wearing a jumper from last year either.
Do those if you who object make sure you donate your wardrobe reg-u-larr-ly?

[limitedperiodonly]

Bogan?

I think it's Boden for spiteful people.