My mother, without fail, would ask me to make my Christmas list every year. Like clockwork, she'd take it, go shopping, and more or less ignore it. I think it took a fit of hysterics at age seven or so to get her to finally listen to me. To her credit, she did take me to Toys R Us twice the day after Christmas to try to get a Power Glove that worked (little did I know it never worked in the first place).
Yahoo
posted a bit today about how parents regularly screw up requests from their kids for games and consoles for Christmas. According to a survey with Weekly Reader Research, 60% of kids expect to get a game they didn't want or ask for. Grandparents also were expected to give wrong gifts (although you kind of expect that from grandparents, regardless).
I think I mostly got the game gifts I wanted because my parents let me pick them out myself, which is probably a good way for kids to avoid this problem. I do remember the year I got the Super Nintendo, my grandmother shipped my NES to my cousin without asking. In her mind, the SNES replaced the old console, so I didn't need it anymore.
The Fresh Prince was so right.
[Thanks Justin!]
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Contest:
11:13 AM on 11.20.2007
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One year I had hounded my parents for a N64 and they got us a PS instead, they said because the guy at the store showed them the larger selection of games for it. It may not have been what I wanted, but I remember playing Crash Bandicoot late into the night many times that Christmas break with my bros and not really caring about the 64 for another couple years...
Even after doing that though, my grandparents would sometimes bungle it by getting me a gift card to Borders and telling me to pick out my games there. Borders does NOT sell video games.
A few years ago she actually found me a copy of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (PS2).
But they did manage to get one I didn't ask for orignially (they got me and my brothers an Xbox once; didn't get us Halo though >.<)
Then when I was about eight, he bought us a SNES with Super Mario World, Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts, and Krusty's Super Fun House.
... Then, whn I was about 13, he bought us a PlayStation with Final Fantasy VII...
Wow, I think I'm gonna call my brother right now and tell him I love him...
And PwnDaddy, legos are freakin awesome. I went to toys r' us just the other day and we were just looking at all the legos and nerf guns.
From that day on, I declared my parents clairvoyance a gift from the universe gods and I never second guessed them.
Now I'm writing scripts for TV SHOWS!
Go figure...
THAT WAS THE BEST GIFT EVERRR!!!
...and oh yeah, i got a sega 32x on my birthday a few months after that. lol
I've been a fan of games since the NES days, but sadly, my parents would never get me a system, so I ended up having to play at friends' houses. The year the N64 came out, I put it on my Christmas wishlist; by the time Christmas rolled around, I had completely forgotten what I had asked for and was (temporarily) overjoyed to own a used Sega Game Gear, with Sonic Chaos and...some crap.
Then, 2 years in a row, they performed EPIC win. The first year it was Donkey Kong Country for SNES, which I LOVED and played over and over again.
Then, the next Christmas, it was 3 gameboys, one for each kid, and 3 games. Link's Awakening and Pokemon Red and Blue. FUCK YES! 2 (3 if your technical, Pokemon is 1 game IMO) of my top favorite games of all time!
Then all I got was socks. :(
God that place is a dump, honestly, if you're ever in Philly, you've got better things to do on Market St. than the Gallery...
So first I was like, "But, this is for PS2..." "Wait, you guys got me a PS2 aswell? Awesome!" only to hear that "No, we didn't get you a PS2".
That was a sad christmas...
The best one is when they made me choose a 64 or ps1 on a black friday, we picked the 64 then my parents turned around and brought us the ps1 unrequested.
My brother got me Call Of Duty 3 last Christmas. That is he got me the XBox version. Having a 360 (and even though there weren't many differences between the two) I really wanted the version for my system to ensure it was playable as well as being afforded the opportunity to get more achievements when I did get around to playing it. (Sadly it's still unopened on my shelf while I've beaten COD4 twice lol). Luckily the exchange was pretty easy at a local Gamestop even sans-gift receipt.
Nothing sucks more than getting something you totally didn't want though. ET the Extra Terrestrial anyone?
THANKS MOM, THANKS DAD! LOVE YOU!
Although, one year (and this is really not a complaint against my parents) I remember going to the mall with my parents to buy a present for my cousin. We both had an NES, so they decided to get him a NES game. Much like how I picked out my own games in the NES era, they randomly chose Astyanax (I don't care what ppl say, Astyanax was awesome, great music, huge sprites, tight controls...).
Anyhow, I was extremely jelous. I WANTED ASTYANAX. But no, they were only buying for him. They said just wait and get what you get from your aunt and uncle. So Christmas comes, we open presents, my cousin gets an awesome nes game from my parents....and me? I got a VHS tape of Waynes World. Fucking gay. Even if I did like the movie, a VHS tape does no compare in value to a freakin NES game! I was totally gyped!
To my aunt and uncle. You guys suck! You rich bastards, you are cheap!
If I wasn't already a member I'd be sending this link to my mom and dad. Seriously... This seems like a no brainer to me.
I've already bought two of them for friends. No gift wrap, no giving the wrong gift. Pretty much eliminates the need for decision making altogether. I'm big on the gift certificate. It comes from years of getting (alright and maybe giving) stuff I have no use for whatsoever. If you're going to give a gift, it might as well be useful.