Christmas hits and flops

[StephlovesDisney2]

What was a hit and what was a flop under the tree?

 

[Sadie22]

The thermal underwear seemed to be a flop at the time. Not so much this week.

 

[indimom]

Hits: DH's watch and super cheap fishtank. DD's crossbow and bedroom shelving. DS's IPOD and jacket. DM's artwork for the living room and my new furry housecoat. (it's soooo cuddly and warm!)

I thought the warm (furry on the inside) jacket I bought DS was a major flop. He opened the box and said, oh, this was for DD (he thought there were sparkles on the jacket because the tissue paper had glitter on it and it spread to the coat. Once he realized there were no sparkles, he said, oh, okay, and moved on.)

BUT, he has worn that jacket daily since this cold weather hit and he loves it, and says it's the best, warmest jacket he's ever owned. Happy mom here. I hated that he would go out in the cold in nothing more than a t-shirt and a lightweight hoodie. It's still not a real winter coat, but it's a step closer.

So, really, no fails at all this year.

 

[willowsnn3]

The tablets I bought my 3 youngest grandsons were a big hit. They have barely put them down since they opened them.
Granddaughter loved her gift certificate to the local nail shop she goes to.
My adult kids always love their gift (cash)

As for me, I'm loving my new microwave and the sneakers my dd got me.

 

[Pugsly]

Don't think we had any flops this year.

DD and SiL loved their tickets to see The Lion King - it gave them their first date-night while we babysat our 6-week old granddaughter.

DS2 loved his new jeans, Eagle Creek packing sleeves and cube, and money to get his car windows tinted and even his pj's.

DS1 loved the cash. Who doesn't?!

I was quite happy with the Disney Pandora charms I received and a wall clock for our home office.

And DH was tickled with a mousepad that has one of his favorite pictures on it. He also liked his Fitbit and an Amope (he always complains about his rough feet, but will rarely go with me to get a pedicure).

 

[Lilliputian]

We got our oldest son Lego Mindstorms. That was a hit. He loves programming his robot.

Not big gifts, but we got the card game Dutch Blitz, and it's a lot of fun. I also got a series of books called Moomin. All of my readers (ages 12, 10, and 7) have read them cover to cover. Even my son who just turned 5 a few weeks ago looks at them all the time and says that he's read them, but he can't read.

 

[Bamagirl43]

Hit: DDs socks from Little Miss Matched

Flop: DDs leather boots I ordered that turned out not to be leather.

 

[Jedana]

What was a hit and what was a flop under the tree?

Biggest Hits:
DS---Kindle Fire HD (I don't think he's put it down since he got it. He's reading The Maze Runner on it right now.) Also, the drawing stuff that we (mom and dad) and DD1 got him---real drawing pencils and watercolors, drawing paper and books on how to draw (sea creatures, Pokemon, Marvel superheroes and Boy stuff)
DH----T shirt DS got him from ThinkGeek, says something about parenting right by teaching Episode 4 comes first (Star Wars)
Me---DD1 sent a bottle of this amazing wine. Dragon's Red http://soaringwingswine.com/our_wine/


Flops:
DS----Fablehaven books. He hasn't even looked at them.
DH---a coffee mug set from DD2's BFF (who we think of as a daugher)---2 Star Wars coffee mugs with some horrible hot chocolate. He has 15 mugs now (just him!)
Me---DD2 sent a lavender/vanilla candle. Smelled nice, but lavender makes me sneeze (and yes, she knows that).

 

[scottmel]

Hits - the Pokémon Symphony Tickets for next weekend! Xbox and Nintendo DS3 all for DD15. All last minute impulse buys on my part! I do better in the last week or so before Christmas!

Misses: No real misses per say but a cute make up bag I got her and clothings she was neutral on. I could have saved the money!!!

 

[goofy!]

All our flops were actually planned flops so that the kids (almost adult and adult) would think their parents had gone mad. Things like underwear and socks that we never give as presents and they know we would never give those for presents.

Then they opened their last, but big gift which was a hit: a trip to Universal last week.

 

[StephMK]

Hits -

DH - massage gc, favorite East Coast beer
DD20 - ipad, no misses
DD14-hits- iphone & Utz pretzels, miss - DVD of history cartoons. She loved them when she was younger and I thought they'd be a cute aw, remember when little gift. Nope, she was confused and had no sentimental feelings towards them now.
DS12-hit-Smite game codes, miss-Robotics set because it needed extra kits that did not come with it - typed on the box in very, very fine print.

me - hit - bracelet from DH, sweater from my mom, miss - junior size leggings and foldable colander - did not have enough holes to be effective

Pretty good year for us, not very many returns at all.

 

[StephMK]

All our flops were actually planned flops so that the kids (almost adult and adult) would think their parents had gone mad. Things like underwear and socks that we never give as presents and they know we would never give those for presents.

Then they opened their last, but big gift which was a hit: a trip to Universal last week.

That must have been so much fun to watch them!

 

[MomofKatie]

Hits:

DH and I got each other a new mattress and box spring set. It is sooooo much more comfortable than our sad old mattress.

DH got a great lightweight fleece lined jacket that he loves.

DD got a new phone, Grinch pj pants, brown leather lace up ankle boots, and unicorn socks. She loved all of them!

Misses:

I got DD 2 "fun" T shirts that she seemed to be pretty lukewarm on. One was Pusheen the cartoon cat eating ramen, and the other said "Always be yourself, unless you can be a unicorn. Then, always be a unicorn." DD's high school mascot is a unicorn (I think this is rather funny), so she got all unicorn-themed things in her stocking.

 

[Breezy_Carol]

A hit that I thought might have been a flop. In addition to other things, I gave DD 28 and her husband, and DS 26 and his fiance, each fondue pots. DS already had chocolate fondue for friends New years Eve.

 

[cybrkitn]

A hit for me were an electric skillet and a laptop from DH (now I don't have to borrow my mom's skillet anymore) For both of us, it was the crock pot hook ups my mom got us. For DH it was a gift certificate for ThinkGeek.com.

For DS12 it was a 4 ball bowling bag. He gets his 4th bowling ball this month from the Scholarship league he is on. Other hits for him were a few Xbox One games, zippered sweatshirt jacket and a nice, warm throw blanket that DH and I picked for him at BJ's.

I think we only had one flop and that was a lap desk that I had picked up for DS. It seemed a great idea at the time, but I should have checked it to make sure the light worked on it before wrapping it. After DS opened it, we put batteries in and the light didn't work. Ok, that's not a big thing, it could still be used, except I immediately noticed that it was smoking! Great, there went that gift . We took it back to the store where I got it from and returned it. We got the refund back, which was good and I told them not to put it back out on the floor due to the defect. The only problem we had was that the store didn't have any more of them. It was The Christmas Tree Shops, which I've found that if you find something you like and don't get it then, they won't have it when you go back. Kind of reminds me of Home Goods

 

[Handbag Lady]

Hits were pretty much everything. My sister loved her HM Dooney I got her and got all mushy because she really wanted one.

I got my niece a Disney Dooney that she didn't love but she returned it the next day for the one she wanted so that was a hit regardless.

The only miss that I got was a snorkel set. I already had one so now we have a spare.

 

[mom2rtk]

My 14 yo daughter's hit was a selfie stick. We lots of people using them at Disneyland. My husband and I thought they looked obnoxious, then looked at each other at the same time and said "we should get her one!" She had a ball with it.

 

[MOpGrad2013]

All home runs here!

DS (and all his friends) loves his BB pistol. A bunch of 20-somethings in my garage practicing.

He bought his sister boxing gloves. At first, she wasn't too sure, but now they spend hours sparring.

 

[Sparkly]

I put together 2 gift sets of stuff for both Mum and Grandma- Mum's, which was 3 nice scented shower gels and a box of fruit tea was well received, Grandma's wasn't really, but then I didn't know what to get her anyway.

Dad loved the DVD I brought him and Grandpa enjoyed his Allsorts in a Bertie Basset tin!

 

[Luv Bunnies]

DH loved the laptop I got him.
Both teen boys loved their gift cards, cash, clothes and calendars.
I loved the Shark vacuum my parents' got me. Couldn't believe how much crud came out of the rug with a decent vacuum.

My brother decided our family needed a Twinkie maker. He said it was meant to be a gag gift, but he expects a sample from the first batch. So far, it's still tucked safely in the box. A Twinkie maker? Seriously?