Christmas Shopping with Rules

So it's a Friday night and my weekend of blogging has officially begun. I would've started sooner, but somehow I managed to convince myself to get some actual work done first. There's still plenty to be done, but it's 2 in the morning and I deem myself off-duty. I have several things I want to cover in the next couple days of piecing together stuff here from tree menopause to knuckle tattoos. Anywho, on with the blogging....

Apparently there are about 44 days left until Christmas and some people started shopping months ago....others won't shop until a maximum of a week before the holiday. Regardless, some gift giving comes with rules. Most are at least somewhat conscious of giving 'equivalent' gifts to people they hold on the same level (like giving your two best friends gifts that are of equal importance and are both equally as special....or spending about the same amount of money on each grandchild).
This couple, though, goes so far as to limit where they can shop and exactly what their limit of money spent can be.

This year, Jon and I have decided to make holiday-shopping for a each other just a bit more challenging: Gifts can only be purchased at Target, with a specific spending cap that we have agreed upon. Yes, receipts must be presented and numbers will be tallied.

Hehe. I actually quite enjoy this idea. She goes on to say how it's harder than she thought because although she shops at Target quite often, it's usually for household items....not for each other. Regardless, it limits that guessing game of trying to figure out how much is too much, and how much is not enough. Yes, yes, it's supposed to be from the heart and price doesn't matter.....but if the guy buys an expensive diamond ensemble and she gets him a tie....see the problem? I thought it was interesting to limit the place to Target, too, because it could lead to some creativity on either part....after all, if they're usually shopping there for toilet paper and toothbrushes, finding gifts that say "I put real thought into this." 'can' be quite the challenge.
Hehe. I actually quite enjoy this idea. She goes on to say how it's harder than she thought because although she shops at Target quite often, it's usually for household items....not for each other. Regardless, it limits that guessing game of trying to figure out how much is too much, and how much is not enough. Yes, yes, it's supposed to be from the heart and price doesn't matter.....but if the guy buys an expensive diamond ensemble and she gets him a tie....see the problem? I thought it was interesting to limit the place to Target, too, because it could lead to some creativity on either part....after all, if they're usually shopping there for toilet paper and toothbrushes, finding gifts that say "I put real thought into this." 'can' be quite the challenge.
I'll have to remember this for future reference. Now I'm never one who can easily answer the question "What do you want for Christmas?" because in all honesty, I don't 'want' anything....I much prefer giving...but this could get even more interesting if we decided on a different kind of place. How about....a pet food store (I wonder if he prefers dry or with gravy)....or a thrift store (Hey, I could get 10 pair of used underwear for a dollar!). Victoria's Secret could be fatal....I can see him now..."here honey, I bought this for 'you'" as I unwrap the tiniest piece of lingerie I've ever seen. And by limiting it to a smaller place, I wonder what the odds of getting each other the same thing would be....after all, we probably enjoy similar things, right? (Although I can honestly say we'd have two clearly different perspectives in the VS department, lol).
And when do they tally the receipts? Maybe those should be the stocking stuffers. I was going to say that they'd need to go through them after they opened the gifts, but it could be equally as interesting if they did it 'before'. Stores always abbreviate items in weird ways or leave it completely generic....so it'd leave you guessing what each one meant. If they're going to compare numbers, they might as well make it a bit fun.(This pic was from a woman's blog about going to hell actually...notice the order number...)