When you do your Christmas shopping...

i dont wait til any particular time of year to buy stuff i just buy it when i see it...if it is good for that person, then i buy it...currently i have about one third of my stuff bought already.

I take mental notes from conversations with our daughters and make a list if I actually am in the mood to shop. I prefer, most of the time, buying gift cards since they are now older. Nobody has to bother with returns and it works for me! I generally don't buy gifts outside the family.

We don't buy gifts for those type of people as we get a letter stating not to give gifts. But they will take a card with cash. Sometimes we leave the mail lady a card with a 10 or a 20 in it. Not too often though. I can shop easily and quickly except come Christmas time. That's the time I shop like a woman not knowing what I want or what I'll end up buying. Hahahaha!! HAPPY POSTINGS FROM GRANDPA BOB !!~

I usually shop year round, so I don't always know what I'm going to buy. If I happen to be somewhere and see something that I think someone will like, I buy it, and put it away for the holidays. I don't like to just buy gifts because I see something on sale or what happens to be big that year. I always try to think about the individual, I usually end up giving some unusual but thoughtful and appreciated gifts. This year will be different, I haven't really done too much, my sisters want to exchange names and we won't do that until Thanksgiving, so who knows what I'll end up buying. I have a few things for my husband and I know what we're getting for my mother-in-law. I don't buy things for the mailman, since we don't always have the same one, I used to when I was still living at home because we had the same mailman for so many years, he even bought me a graduation and a wedding gift.

Too be honest i usually start late summer picking up things i see here and there on sale etc but i just didnt have the time or money this summer so i actually started this week! i dont usually go out looking for a particular item but i have a variety of ideas and when i get to the store or mall i focus on those ideas. i hvae ALOT of people to shop for and my christmas gifts at the end come out totalling very large amount of money (or atleast for me, i budget about 2500$ for gifts give or take )so i started this week and i probably will be shopping up until the weekend/days just before Christmas.

We just started our Christmas shopping. It will be easy though since we are buying everyone gift cards this year. Since everyone lives so far apart it is much easier than trying to transport a bunch of big gifts.

i buy all year long and year things actully change while i'm shopping. i try to figure out what i'm going to get some one and i set my self a spending limit and how many gifts i want to get that person

I know what I am going to get, but not if it is at the price I want. Like I have already planned what to get for my husband for Christmas, a DVd, and I have an idea of what movie I want to give him (it is one of his favorites) but there is another that he also likes, and it would depend on which one costs the less. I have an idea of what to get our sons and our daughter-in-law, but I do not know if I can get the presents separately (and we have to get something for the baby) or whether to have the presents from me and my husband. If it is both of us, we can get one big present for each instead of me going my little present or to give gift certificates. We wlll not give gifts to our mailman. They change and here in Canada, we are into multiculturalism and we have a couple of malmen deliver the wrong mail because their reading English is not that good.

I remember years ago we used to start buying stuff all summer. So we got most of our shopping done early. We didn't give gifts to others just family unless we had to do so at work. The last couple of years we have not had any extra money to buy stuff for our kids and grandkids. There came a point when we got the feeling that our family expected things from us rather that appreciating things. I used to spend a lot to time trying to find just the right gift only to discover that they really didnt appreciate it. Then when the money ran out and we could not buy presents we all quit givning gifts.

Well usually we end up leaving it to the last minute but this year we were smart and started early. We started about 2 weeks ago and almost done thank god and with lots of time to spare.

I started a couple of months ago when I found an awesome buy on an auction web site and got it for my granddaughter. Since then I've been picking things up when I see them.

I always start my shopping around halloween and try to do a lot of it then and finish the rest of it around thanksgiving right before the crowds show up and I try not to do too much of it all at once so I don't spend too much money all at once. The holliadys can be very straining on ones wallet.

I start late and rush like crazy until the last minute. This year may be easy. I have my kids (They are never easy but very blunt about what they want), my husband, my mother in law, and probably just the kids in the family (I have six nieces and nephews under the age of 10). We will probably pick names meaning we only buy one or two gifts for one or two of the adults. That will help soooo much. When we try to buy for everyone, it's just stupid and costly. But yeah, I am a last minute shopper and a last minute wrapper and I don't enjoy it at all. I do like buying for people but I hate all the decisions and the wrapping and making sure everyone is "even" etc. Ergh.

We do Christmas shopping when Christmas is fast approaching. Oh yes, my mom would tell us that we should shop ahead of time to avoid big bulk of people in shopping areas but no, we would still cram and shop like at most a month before Christmas. LOL. And btw, we get gifts randomly. We find stuff and get it if we feel it is suited a gift for a particular person (well, unless we made a list for very special people).

I have started already with my christmas shopping. My son did this awesome art picture that I am going to get printed onto a hand towel, pot holders, note cards etc for my family - they will get a peice of his artwork for life!