I really like the Lolavie hair products.
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LOL was thinking for a while that everyone only wanted Advent calendars! Chanukah has its own built in eight day countdown, or perhaps count up. We grew up getting small gifts for most nights and one or two big gifts. Our biggest disappointment one year was that from the shape of the gift wrapped boxes, we thought we were getting telescopes. They were music stands.
Other than son, no gift buying issues in our family. Son and his two cousins all have birthdays around the winter holiday time of year. I usually send an Amazon gift card, although a couple of times Iāve found some little fun decoration for the cousins. For son, I just note through the year what he vaguely mentions needing then send it all as gifts. But right now thereās nothing pending and heās specifically said thereās nothing he can use.
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All someone needs is 24 days to enjoy an Advent calendar - doesnāt really matter when they start it! A wine or beer advent calendar really has nothing to do with religion!! 
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We cheat on the advent calendar. It is wrapped under the Christmas tree, opened on Christmas morning, and then we open all the 24 boxes at one time (and split the goods - some stay with my husband and me and some go home with my daughter.)
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I gift the advent calendar at Thanksgiving. 
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Regardless of what is included, an Advent calendar has everything to do with Christmas by definition. Itās the reason they exist. And Christmas is a religious occasion, I believe?
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Understood. And it certainly is an individual choice to subscribe or not subscribe to the product.
I come from a mixed background of a Catholic father and a Jewish mother. Recognizing and being very aware of the differences, I think my mom would have still enjoyed opening a treat for 24 days whether that was in December, January or June. The last treat would just indicateā¦the end of treats!
No intent to dis the meaning of advent for anyone. And as mentioned, with the array of āadvent calendarsā on the market promoting alcohol, toys, sweets and other food type items not defined by religion, I didnāt see the harm in making an alternative recommendation for calendar enjoyment.
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Oh sure, some of them do look fun and are tempting. I guess I just am always aware of statements that just because something is based in Christian ideology and practice and is only promoted at Christmas, that it has nothing to do with religion. Itās an assumption that stands out to me.
But right now there are more important holidays that I am preparing for and (food) shopping. Lāshana tova!
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I just sent my order for the Bonne Maman calendar. Never ordered one before but it appears to be perfect for a couple of people!
You people just sent me over the edge!
Now I have to look up the Lego Calendar!
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My mother tried that. She had us mark in catalogs (like LLBean) what we wanted. She thought she had it all figured out but said āI canāt believe R wants these pants. I donāt think they are very attractive but if he wants theā¦ā Of course, after weād marked what we wanted we went through and marked ugly stuff for our siblings.
corduroy pants with whales on them? R
some hideous print shirt? J
a pink sweater for an 8 year old boy? Yep, Iām sure he really wants that mom.
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Many previous years I have a list to pick from, but now I even draw the line on that. I have been getting rid of stuff, I even found a Tiffany necklace, a gift from someone.
Yep. Itās hard to explain but we just donāt feel participation in Christmas rituals is appropriate. Itās a no go for us. We really played up the 8 nights of gifts even though some felt it was too Christmas-y. I disagreed. To me it was a great way to focus on the 8 day miracle. We werenāt about small gifts either which inexplicably irked some people I knew. When the kids were growing up, we really tried to have each night have a theme. We had a book night where we would go to dinner and then Barnes & Noble and they could pick out 7 book for themselves and one to donate to the library ( for several years that was usually a Harry Potter book which were often in great demand with long wait lists). We had an entertainment night too, where weād see a play or movie and then thereād be an accompanying sleep shirt/pjs. Ahhh, those were fun times!
@Marilyn Wishing you a sweet New Year!
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If you donāt want to get into completely putting an end to gift giving, you give food. Itās perishable so it doesnāt add to clutter and regiftable if they donāt want it. If you want to you can support some local bakers and put together a gift basket, or you can go the easy way (and more expensive probably) and look at Harry & David, or you can bake some cookies yourself. This is what we do with extended family now. I have one brother and one sister and so does my husband. On my side we tried giving to charity in our siblings honor when my brother suggested it, but it didnāt stick for whatever reason, so now we usually do some kind of food gift. My husbandās sister always bakes for us. My brotherās wife usually bakes a bunch of unusual Armenian cookies (sheās part Armenian). My sister does Harry & David. I usually buy some local goodies and bring them along to the holiday celebration or ship them to my sister.
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This thread is stressing me out! I never should have opened it. I used to love Christmas as a kid, but itās probably my least favorite holiday now. Just not my thing. Overwhelmingly stressful and full of familial obligations.
My young adults love Halloween. That was always fun around our house. Letās talk about Halloween!!
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I am at Sās house in FL for a few days and we were having the discussion about how both he & his sister have nice homes, but not enough room (particularly since each has dedicated some space in their homes for remote work). S said he wanted to get rid of stuff and not receive more stuff for the holidays. He loves coffee and was telling me about this subscription for coffee lessons from a UK company. At more than $600, it is out of my budget, but not out of his grandmotherās budget, so maybe heāll get lucky. He said it would be fun and it wouldnāt add to the clutter.Twelve Lessons in Coffee | Square Mile Coffee Roasters
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@Sweetgum We just bought our Halloween candy because it was on sale at Costco. We buy the full size bars because as my husband says, āOnce you do that the first time you canāt go back. The kids will feel betrayed!ā
We started buying the full size bars because there were so relatively few trick or treaters in our neighborhood (lots of elderly owners). In the past 3-4 years, all of a sudden the number of young families had sky rocketed in our neighborhood and so we need to save all the money we can while still buying those full size bars. Wouldnāt want to ābetrayā the children! 
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Check out Starbucks Coffee Academyātons of on line lessons about coffeeāfor FREE.
That Iām sure is in your budget!
If he doesnāt already have one get him a pour over system from Starbucks.
Has anyone found a coffee advent calendar that is made by the manufacturer (ex. Keurig, Starbucks, Peets)?
We always buy the full size bars and have for years. Sometimes we went through over 100 of them. I loved that the kids were so excited when they got them! Some of the kids knew we always did this and I would overhear whispers of āthis is the house with the big candy barsā as the kids were walking up my driveway. I loved it.
This year we are in a new city but I have 3 boxes of full size candy bars from Costco.
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Also for those interested in coffee gifts, cometeer is a company that makes frozen coffee pods, similar to keurig or Nespresso but you donāt need a machine (but I believe they can be used in k-cup machines). You simply add a certain amount of water (hot or cold) depending on how strong you want your coffee/whether youāre making a cappuccino, latte or regular cup of coffee. Itās a free subscription and you can gift the first box. My college kid loves it because it stays in the freezer, no machine required.
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